Embrace self-seeding vegetables this fall – it might break with tradition, but the reward is lots of new free crops

Rows of crops growing in a vegetable garden.

The traditional way of growing vegetables is to browse catalogues or stores and buy seeds every year ahead of the season, then start sowing them in spring. I am sure many vegetable growers, including myself, have done this time after time. Still, there is another way to grow plants from seed if you want to take a step back away from a rigorous, controlled schedule and enjoy getting some vegetables for free.

Just as flowers reseed themselves around beds and borders, some vegetables also self-seed if left to their own devices. Letting these vegetables go to seed and naturally reproduce can give you lots of plants for free in your vegetable garden – but only if you let go of the control and let nature do its thing.