The more experience I have as a gardener, the more ruthless I become about certain things, like pulling out plants that don’t perform well, cleaning out crops that have started to bolt in time to get another planting in of something else, and I’m even getting better at thinning.

But I still have a weakness for volunteers, plants that spring up where they weren’t planted.  They might have gotten in via the kitchen compost, last year’s crop, or a passing bird, but they seldom turn out to be what you wanted, where you wanted it.

This year, it’s not even last frost date yet and I’ve got a huge volunteer squash that’s almost ready to bloom.

Right in my bean patch.

It’s getting huge, it’s shading the beans, I don’t even know what type of squash it is, and I can NEVER get a squash to maturity because of the bugs anyway.

So why haven’t I yanked it out yet?

Good question.  One I don’t have the answer to. It makes no sense to keep it, and there are actually two of them.

I beg you to help me pull out these squashes.  Give me the push I need.  It must go.

And then we’ll get to work on the ninety-five volunteer tomato plants.