Isn't that fun...I have spuds growing in my flower beds in back where I dump all my kitchen compost...the peels produce some nice potatoes last year and then I just left some of the small ones to grow...

I filled an entire bed with transplanted potato volunteers this spring.
-O

I had a volunteer lettuce growing right in my gravel path with no irrigation. It was so funny looking, I left it there, and finally pulled the 3' tall column the other day (yes, they get that big).

If I did not plant it myself this season, I pull it out of the ground. There are no exceptions to this rule.

I love volunteers. It's the natural selection of the best seeds from last year's harvest. I figure if they made it thru this winter and spring on their own and still sprouted, they deserve the opportunity to do their thing and grow out produce and seeds for the following year. These seeds will be more hardy to my area because they'll be acclimated over time if I continue to allow them to volunteer. More pest resistant and disease resistant.

I get a lot of volunteers in my garden, some planned, some surprises:

- Tomatoes & peppers get pulled out, because there's no room for any that weren't planned for... and as a seed saver, I can't trust their purity. Currant tomatoes, especially, can be a real weed... I will never again grow them in my vegi garden!
- There's always a few garlic plants from missed bulbils, which I transplant & keep.
- Dill comes up everywhere (I guess that's why some call it "dill weed"), I always let a few plants grow for pickles, and let a few go to seed for next year.
- Ground cherries volunteer readily, you only need to plant them once.
- An exploding gourd (Cylanthera explodens) surprised me by coming up strongly in the cool weather of early May.
- Soybeans also came up in early May, I wish I knew what variety (I grew 28 last year).
- Many of the flowers that I grow to attract pollinators (cosmos, sunflower, cleome, flowering mallow) volunteer, and are moved to better locations.

I've got a volunteer pumpkin coming up. Moved the compost bin location, but guess I didn't move everything! I have a 4 year old son who thinks this is the coolest thing ever!

But then again so does his Newbie gardener Mom!

I have lots of volunteers every year, and I get in a predicament every year trying to save every one. I transplant the sunflowers to the fence row and the back row of the garden. I transplant the zinnias and marigolds to intersperse them between the squash and at the ends of the rows. I let the lettuce, parsley, cilantro, dill, swiss chard, and spinach develop where they begin, for the most part. I do thin them if needed. Ones that are in the way for other beds are potted up to give to others or pulled and added to the compost bin. I used to let the tomatoes go as they are the grape/cherry tomatoes for the most part. Last year they didn't remain true to the grape/cherry size so I'm pulling the volunteer tomatoes up this year and have planted one new cherry million plant. All of the volunteer squash/gourd/pumpkin/watermelon plants get pulled up and composted as I am trying to change over they variety I grow.