A few weeks ago in my Café Motivo post, I shared with you that I have mystery plants which sprung up earlier this spring. They were growing with authority, and seem to be evenly spaced, so I suspected they may be something the previous home dwellers had planted. The people who lived here before me were really into flowers (as evidenced by rogue tulips and lilies everywhere in my outside space.)

I decided to wait and see if these green leafy plants would flower into something beautiful. I waited and waited. Nothing. Last week, I decide to pull a couple of them out. I discard one, and put the other in a glass of water on my window sill. I left one of the weed-like plants in the ground.

Fast forward to today. I get home from work. Truth be told, I’m tired and a little crabby. I look over and this no-flower-weed has grown huge; I fear it will encroach upon my snap peas and snuff them out. I’ve had enough of this fruitless waiting game, so I pull the free loader out.

I see some bulbs. This must be a plant that the retirees planted before I moved here.
Oh wait, those aren’t bulbs. Those are potatoes. Hey, they look just like the little organic potatoes I buy at Gourmet Greens. Wait, I never planted potatoes!

My compost pile was pretty full last fall, so I had worked some veggie scraps directly into the garden and flower beds. A chunk of potato must have sprouted. (I think that’s the original slice of discarded potato on the left in the photo.) I immediately feel guilty that I've untimely ripped this potato plant out of its cool dirt womb.

Fearing negative garden karma, I quickly re-plant my accidental potato seedling, using the “bag method,” along with the other seedling from my window sill. Fingers crossed.

I guess my novice gardening can be serendipitous after all.