The Accidental Garden
Earlier this season we decided to eliminate the big pile of compost from the back of our yard. We didn’t really have the time or energy to devote to the proper maintenance of the pile, which meant that rather than becoming a pile of useable compost, what we ended up with was a pile of organic material that didn’t break down properly and which just kept on growing. We hauled the pile of uncomposted stuff away via our municipal yard waste pick-up and what was left at the bottom of the pile was actually some beautiful soil.
A month went by and I had not yet planted in that area, so naturally, the weeds took hold. Last night I went back to pull the weeds so I could continue to accomplish some of the items on my Weekend List of Garden Chores and discovered that there were some very good plants growing in among the bad. Can you find them? (Click photo to enlarge.)
In this accidental garden, there is morning glory, amaranth, a mystery squash, several tomato plants and some borage, all of which had been thrown onto the compost pile last season. See?
Of course I couldn’t rip any of these plants out of the ground…they are doing so beautifully in what is perhaps the richest soil in our yard. Our compost pile obviously wasn’t being maintained as it should have been. When compost is “made” correctly, it heats up enough so that the seeds in the soil can no longer sprout. A compost pile should be turned and watered regularly and should actually get quite warm on the inside of the pile, even in winter.
This has made us rethink the elimination our back yard compost pile, of course! We’ll just have to come up with a system that will work for us so we can continue to benefit from having compost in our yard and gardens.
I do the same kind of compost–it’s called cold composting, and it does not kill seeds either vegetable or weed. Into my compost pile only go my vegetable trimmings and potato vines, and tomato vines. The weeds go through the sheep. And one day I will spread 4-5 years of rich sheep poop onto the garden. Did you know that sheep are the only animals that digest the weed seeds–any other animal manure will also spread weed seeds.
Sigrun´s last blog ..the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and the Very Beautiful)
@Sigrun, if only I had some sheep! That’s interesting, though, I didn’t know that they were the only creatures that digest weed seeds.
Maybe this coming spring we’ll just get a load of sheep manure delivered. Seems like cheating, somehow.
I came across your blog and I'm curious what the purple leaved plant is. I had something very similar slowly growing in my yard. I didn't pull it to see if it would flower but it was in the fall. I'll have to wait till next year.
Hi Joanna,
The purple plant you see in the photo above is Bronze Amaranth. Grow it once and it will pop up in your garden for years, unless you deadhead!