Compost treats

mantajohn9 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-07-2008, 12:43 PM

We have kept a compost bin for the last 2 years and have finally got to use our first "crop" of compost this year. Great stuff it is too. Aside from being really good for our soil we have the added bonus of unplanted crops growing. So far we have loads of tomatoes and some carrots growing from the compost itself. I don't ever recall throwing anything that is even likely to contain carrot seeds into the compost. What's the most unusual crop you have had growing for "free" from your compost?

djackso · #2 (**permalink**) 07-07-2008, 01:58 PM

After several attempts at growing rhubarb, I had given up on any of my seedlings surviving the autumn/winter. I threw their dead stalks in my compost early in the winter and used it the following spring. In the summer, I was amazed to find a healthy little rhubarb plant, larger and more robust than before, growing where I had put some of the compost. I planted it and it still survives today, several years later.

Talk about coming back from the dead!

Kayleigh · #3 (**permalink**) 07-07-2008, 05:02 PM

Lots of gorgeous red native poppies and loads of potatoes you can't get rid of them.

ron1863 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-07-2008, 09:20 PM

The strange thing about carrots is that they turn up everywhere, have you ever vomited - carrots, even though you don't eat them.

Once had Honey - we had a bees hive in one years ago. We left it to the bees

mantajohn9 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-07-2008, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron1863

The strange thing about carrots is that they turn up everywhere, have you ever vomited - carrots, even though you don't eat them.

Once had Honey - we had a bees hive in one years ago. We left it to the bees

Should i expect sweetcorn, peppers and peanuts as well then? They seem to turn up in funny places too

Paul mabbott · #6 (**permalink**) 08-07-2008, 05:59 PM

I'm surprised at the carrots - when does anyone let carrots go to seed? What we regularly get are other umbellifers - fennel, angelica and, especially, chervil. I'm not sure how much of this is due to the compost and how much from self-seeding on my low-energy maintenance system!

Elsewhere I've noticed a couple of unusual growths which must have come from the compost: flag iris appearing all over the place and, a few years back, Dierama sp, the devils fishing rod - very pretty plant but a pig to get out of places you don't want it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mantajohn9

We have kept a compost bin for the last 2 years and have finally got to use our first "crop" of compost this year. Great stuff it is too. Aside from being really good for our soil we have the added bonus of unplanted crops growing. So far we have loads of tomatoes and some carrots growing from the compost itself. I don't ever recall throwing anything that is even likely to contain carrot seeds into the compost. What's the most unusual crop you have had growing for "free" from your compost?

Lance Morgan · #7 (**permalink**) 09-07-2008, 01:19 PM

Funny that Paul
I know it as Angel's Fishing Rod - a pretty plant though

Paul mabbott · #8 (**permalink**) 09-07-2008, 05:27 PM

It depends on your viewpoint, I suppose.
They are, indeed, an attractive plant and can make a nice feature but randomly scattered around the garden is not how I would want them!

Cheryl · #9 (**permalink**) 10-07-2008, 11:58 AM

We've had tomatoes growing around our garden too which originated from the compost.

We get carrots and radishes but I think thats from the birdseed.

Susie · #10 (**permalink**) 10-07-2008, 09:31 PM

I've had potatoes turn up unexpectedly.

Last autumn I gave the garden a tidy up and put a lot of stuff on one side in readiness for when we got our new compost bin. This spring I went to transfer the stuff into the bin and noticed that loads of seed pods were sprouting. I potted them up as best I could and now have a bed of beautiful poppies, cornflowers, corncockles, etc., as a result.