This gardening trick will save you countless back-breaking hours of toil on your hands and knees, poking one tiny seed after another into the dirt. It will also reduce the amount of money you spend on seeds annually. And it comes in time for the fall crop.
What must you do to reap these benefits and still reap a harvest?
Nothing.
Okay, maybe it’s not quite that easy. But it’s still pretty painless.
All you have to do is let your spring vegetables go to seed, and then keep the weeds in check. A light mulch and some water also helps, although most volunteer vegetables seem to do quite well without it.
Even as you read this post, that bolted lettuce is scattering seeds far and near, ready to sprout either this fall or next spring. Same story with the radishes. The carrot that sat in the ground long enough to flower will also spread its offspring around the garden. With proper protection over the winter, the seedlings will develop into edible carrots early in the spring.
And here’s another idea. Leave some of the bad produce in the garden to rot. You know—those gooey, smelly tomatoes and squash that you don’t really want to touch anyway. As they decompose, they will leave their seeds behind them to sprout up in the spring, even after the garden has been tilled.
Planting vegetables has never been so easy!
Caution: There is one very good reason why you might not want to try this at home, and that is bugs. Aphids and other pests are sometimes attracted to bolted and rotting produce. If your labor-saving efforts result in an infestation, destroy the affected plants at once.
Homestead on the Range 