A quick tour of my accidental garden

There are some strange things afoot in my garden this year. After a very hot and very dry summer, many of my plants have passed on to that big garden in the sky (in other words they've died of neglect since their owner frequently forgets to water them). But oddly, my garden seems to be thriving despite all of my efforts to the contrary. It seems as though the plants have taken matters into their own hands this year.


Every spring I get excited about the warmer temperatures and the thoughts of sitting outside on the patio surrounded by beautiful flowers while eating herbs and vegetables picked from my very own garden. So, every year I run out to one of my local nurseries and purchase flowers, herbs and tomatoes and eventually (after several reminders from Mr. Crackers that the plants won't be beautiful if they all die in the containers before I actually get them into some dirt) plant them in pots and mulched beds around the backyard. And for those first lovely weeks of summer I diligently water them and feel a fierce sense of pride in my beautiful surroundings.


And then...it gets hot. And we go on vacation. And I forget to water and those lovely flowers and plants that I purchased just 6 weeks earlier. And so they start to look like this....





(I just noticed that the flower painted on this pot is upside down...and I've had this pot for years. Yes, I know that the bottom of the pot doesn't match the top. I am really cheap when it comes to buying pots for outside...it's just something I hate to spend money on. I don't know why.)


Or in extreme cases, the pots start looking like this...



(The dead daisies that used to live in this pot have been put out of their misery so that you don't have to see the brown death that my neglect has caused. You're welcome. And yes, I know this pot is broken. As I mentioned before I hate spending money on pots for the patio. )


But then this year as plants began to die around the garden, I noticed something strange happening. New flowers and plants that I did not buy started appearing around the garden.


This was the first one I noticed. I didn't buy any wave petunias this year, and yet this plant was bravely growing in a small crack between the patio stones and the house. I have no idea how it got there nor do I understand how it has survived the past 4 weeks, but I've started watering it. I just can't bear to watch it die now.





(I have no idea what that broken pipe is that is leading directly into my house. I thought it had something to do with the heating/cooling system, but I was informed by my heating/cooling guy that it wasn't. He told me that frankly he couldn't tell what it was or where it was leading to. I'm scared of this pipe. I am also scared of all of the creatures that might be living in it. Sometimes I think of this pipe late at night & I'm sure it's some kind of highway system for all of our neighborhood rodents to gain access to our home. But that's probably a story for another day...)



Then I noticed this petunia growing in a pot that had once housed what I think was a beautiful African yellow daisy that I couldn't resist back in early May. Again, I'm not sure where this new plant came from, but I'm happy that this pot has a pretty occupant again.








It's not just flowers that are making their way into my garden uninvited. Mr. Crackers was weeding his roses about a month ago when he noticed another new plant. This cherry tomato plant seems to have found a home amongst the roses. It makes for a tricky harvest, but I'm not complaining. Free tomatoes (and no we didn't plant any cherry tomatoes this year either).








We have since found two other tomato plants growing around the yard. They haven't produced any tomatoes yet, but I'm pretty sure these are cherry tomato plants too. This one found a nice home next to the fountain and I've been making sure he's been getting plenty of water.








This little guy is growing right next to the play set, which is definitely not a prime location for vegetable habitation. I cut the plant back & even ran it over with the lawn mower, but it just keeps coming back.




I'm not sure what this all means, but I'm not complaining about it. Heck, I hope it continues. Maybe next spring I won't even have to go to the nursery to buy any plants. Maybe the garden will just take of itself. Wouldn't that be lovely? Maybe I could train them to help clean the house too. A girl can dream right?

P.S. Anyone need any cherry tomatoes? I have a feeling we'll have a bumper crop soon.