I love a volunteer plant!

Went out to the compose pile yesterday, and what do I find but a lovely volunteer!  Not sure what it is - any sharp eyes out there?  Guessing either a cucumber, melon, or maybe acorn or butternut squash.

Hmmm....I'm going to go with one of the Cucurbita maxima types, though not sure.  Here's a link to a nice how to identify squash page by our super resource Joseph Lofthouse.  He may swoop in to give you a much more reliable answer.  I guessed based on the leaf margins and this picture of Joseph's, though there are a few differences.

Lacking a peduncle, fruit, or flower, I'm thinking that it's a maxima squash (buttercup, banana, hubbard, kobocha, sweet meat, etc)

I have volunteer potatoes in my chestnut tree pot. They may have to go....

This Japanese Maple was a volunteer last year and it made it through the winter.  In the top left you can see some volunteer asparagus.  I must have dropped some seeds last year.  I don't have a picture but I had a bunch of perennial strawberries come up this year.  The bed doubled in size.  

I have some volunteer Japanese maples too and tons of crepe myrtles, they are two really nice looking plants to me.

I love it when they have lots of new little plants!

I love volunteers! My quest in gardening is to try and find/breed semi feral crops that come back or stay for several years.

I grow potatoes this way. Plant 1 year then harvest forever.