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Plants don't read books

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 12637

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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posted 1 year ago

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Why is it that my lovely garden bed mulched over winter, raked and spread with home made compost grew not one carrot this year, and this one decided that the compacted stony path outside the front of our house was a good place to grow?
I think it fell from fresh seed from the carrot seed I did manage to grow last year. I certainly didn't plant it there deliberately!

Anyone else have a plant achieve a strange success?

carrot-in-pathway.jpg

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Nikki Roche

gardener

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Location: South Carolina

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posted 1 year ago

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Ha! That seems to be how it goes often, doesn't it? My surprise this year was echinacea. I grew it several years ago, and it came back for awhile. About 7 years ago, it stopped coming back, and I didn't plant anymore echinacea seeds. I let that spot get overgrown this year, with weeds nearly as tall as me. I glanced at it recently, and standing proudly among the weeds was echinacea blooms. I know seeds can last a long time in the soil, but I had given up on echinacea sprouting at this point.

(Reminder to myself) God didn't say, "well said, well planned, and well thought out." He said, "well done."
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Timothy Norton

Steward of piddlers

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Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 1 year ago

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My biggest, thickest, most headed Sunflower this year is not in the specially prepared bed that I made for sunflowers. It is not even in ANY of my prepared beds. It is in a pathway full of woodchips that gets trampled throughout the year. This thing has to be at least six foot tall, twelve seed heads so far, and about two to three inches thick on the main stalk.

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Riona Abhainn

pollinator

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Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b

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posted 1 year ago

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That helps me not feel so bad that I tried planting lots of carrot seeds in a pot, three rounds, and only one carrot is growing, but its happy and feathery so I guess that is good.

When things don't work out in others' planting processes, I feel disappointed for them, but I will admit that it helps me not take it "personally" when things don't grow how I'd hoped.

I forgot to pick up the growlights from my MIL's house last weekend, so I'm still discouraged about my forested balcony where things aren't getting enough sun. But that carrot is going to taste very good.

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Jay Angler

master steward

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Location: Pacific Wet Coast

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I have a sweet pepper plant growing out between the slats of wood at the front of one of my compost bins.

It looks quite happy there, but the deer already found it and pruned it once, so it will not be successful at producing fruit.

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Jill Dyer

pollinator

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Location: Oz; Centre South

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posted 1 year ago

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Good to know we all are subject to "Plant Volunteerism" Mine was a caper plant, growing in the minute space between the house foundations and the paving. The length of the house plus a corner then the width of the house away from the mother plant. Personally I'm blaming rodents for that one. Also parsley, both flat leaf and the curly leaf kind, similar place but closer to the original plant.

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Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 12637

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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Jay Angler wrote:I have a sweet pepper plant growing out between the slats of wood at the front of one of my compost bins.

Haha! The potatoes that grow from the peelings and green ones in the compost bin, are always the largest and best!

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My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

marie-helene kutek

pollinator

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Location: SE France

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posted 1 year ago

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Salut,

Here it’s horseradish - original plant decimated by slug attacks, I noticed a new plant in the woodpile, growing out between the slats of a palette.

It is a clear case of self preservation, perhaps learnt from reading in a previous existence.

I have had several experiences of careful planting with plants appearing somewhere quite different!?!

Blessings from here with weirdly changeable weather
M-H

With blessings, always

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 12637

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

6547

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posted 1 year ago

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We often get a strange false spring in autumn - after a cool summer a brighter spell seems to fool the plants into thinking it is already spring. There are flowers on the elder, fresh green tips on the spruce, and I'm hoping for a nice bonus crop of sea cabbage sprouts - yummy!

cabbage_flowers_autumn.jpg

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

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