The garden is fading so fast these days. I have been busy gathering seeds from my flower and herb gardens to take with me to our new home. I feel a little sad when I think about leaving this garden behind but excited at the thought of starting new.

Queen Anne's Lace starting to go to seed

I am trying to be picky when it comes to what I take with me. If I could I would take the entire garden with me. Just pick it up and put it on the moving truck with the rest of the furniture!

Borage beginning to go to seed

I’ve always enjoyed gathering seeds this time of year. There is something almost magical about watching the flowers bloom and then set seed.

Bronze Fennel beginning to set seed

I love all the different sizes and textures each seed has.Take the hollyhock seed for instance.

Hollyhock setting seed

Once you separate an individual seed from the entire seed head you will see it is like a little rough disk. I imagine its rough edges enable it to stick to fur (or clothes!) ensuring the spreading of future generations. Isn’t it just amazing that one single seed can grow into such a tall and pretty flower?

Pink Hollyhock in bloom

Ariella has been out in the garden with me during many of my seed gathering sessions and I am so happy to see her delighting in this garden ritual of mine. Yesterday she was collecting marshmallow seeds from our herb garden and scattering them all about. (Which means the next tenants of this home will be finding marshmallow babies here, there, and everywhere come next spring.)

Clary Sage gone to seed

I always collect way more seed than I can possibly grow. I suppose I just can’t let them be—I have to collect them for future use and seed swapping. And if any readers are interested in swapping some seeds with me please do contact me. I love swapping seeds with fellow gardeners and thought it might be fun to try a seed swap with my readers. Come next spring I will have a brand new garden to fill up with little seedlings so a seed swap would be a lot of fun!

Last Thursday I wrote about an unknown seedling that has germinated in my old composting spot. I am not sure but I believe it might be a type of squash growing there. After the comment made by Kevin from Kevin Oke Photography I thought it might be fun to post weekly updates on the mystery seedling’s progress.

Mystery Squash June 4, 2009

I am amazed by how much growth it has put on in one week. It has more than doubled in size. I guess it loves the warm weather we have been having. (We actually have been on the dry side here in Northern Oregon which is a big difference compared to the wet cold spring we had last year.)

I will continue to keep posting weekly updates on this unknown garden resident until it reveals its true self once and for all. My two guesses so far are either a zucchini or a pumpkin- but I am so careful when it comes to not letting seeds from our food scraps into the compost for fear they will germinate everywhere so I remain baffled.

The other day while out wandering the garden inspecting plants here and there for watering and weeding I spotted something that caused me to do a double take. About a month or so ago I decided I wanted to move our compost pile. I have never really liked where we ended up placing it and have often contemplated finding it a new home. I always felt it was an eyesore whenever I looked out at the garden. It actually was getting on my nerves in its location in the corner of our yard. I continuously found myself thinking about finding it a new home where it would not be quite so visible.

So yes, a month ago I said, “enough is enough, I am sick of looking at you” and told my husband it must be moved. He did look at me a little sideways though as I know he thought that could only mean more work for him. I assured him it was not going to be a large move, just across the yard and up the ridge where the notorious Scotch broom once resided (and is attempting its return I might add).

Now that the compost has settled in to its new home (and I am not too sure if I like it there either…just please don’t mention this to my husband) I am faced with this sort of humus and worm filled 12 foot long crater in the back of the yard. I have eyed this crater for weeks now and decided my pumpkin and melon seedlings would enjoy spending the summer growing there. There is plenty of room back there for them to sprawl all they want and I know the ground is nice and fertile thanks to my wiggly worm friends and the generous amounts of fertilizer my two rabbits provide.

That brings me back to what caused me to do a double take. I spotted the other day, coming up right smack in the middle of the compost crater, a squash seedling of some sort. It looks an awful like the zucchini seedlings I have been growing for the last three years in this garden. My confusion has to do with the fact that I never allowed any zucchinis to get enormous last year to where they could possibly produce viable seeds. In fact last year’s zucchini was pathetic thanks to them being swallowed up by towering cosmos.

So where did this little seed come from and what exactly is it? It is quite the mystery and a rather exciting one to a gardener like me that gets into unexpected seedlings emerging from nowhere. My only dilemma is the question of letting it live in squash harmony with my pumpkin and melon babies or giving it the boot. I think I would like to let it stay and see what it grows into. If I was interested in saving seeds I would probably be worried about cross pollination and I would then certainly want to yank it up. But seeing that I am not too interested in saving seed from my squashes, melons, peppers, and tomatoes this year (I couldn’t possibly give them the room they need to prevent cross pollination) I might as well let it stay and reveal itself to us as the growing season progresses.

As you can see in its picture taken just today, it is doing quite well and appears even happier than my coddled little seedlings. Go figure.