I wish you luck. As a seasoned gardener I know how challenging it can be to grow something when you are taking care if it. With no one doing anything to them the weeds may just choke 'em out,or lack of water. JMO

matts wild cherry, riesentraube, black cherry, sun gold......... in my experience, these grow like weeds, huge and provide a bountiful and tasty harvest

Thanks for the ideas. Black Cherry would be gorgeous growing in some abandoned space!

I can back-up the Matts Wild Cherry recommendation - I'm pulling them like weeds from my front yard!

I recommend Roma tomatoes. I pulled up a couple dozen "weed" plants from last year's crop (kept a few)....and I don't have a real big garden (probably got 5 or more self seeded plants this year than what we planted last year).

Roma tomatoes also grow a bit easier for me than some of the larger/slicing varieties.

Same goes for cucumbers. I have a few of those that reseeded themselves from last year.

FWIW...you can probably find cheap seed packs at the dollar store (5 for $1 or 3 for $1).

I second (3d?) Cherry tomatoes. For a plant to volunteer, some very ripe fruit must make it to the ground. If you have dedicated gleaners, the only chance that will happen is if fallen fruit is to small to bother picking up. Also, don't forget lettuce. That stuff reseeds like crazy. And sunflowers. I've never planted a seed, but the droppings from my bird feeders keep me in flowers ... might as well plant something for the birds too!

Yellow Pear cherry tomatoes. I haven't actually planted one on purpose for more than 5 years. They just keep coming back year after year! In the darnedest places too. I don't get as many tomatoes as plants I actually take care of, but I do get them.

I second sungold. Also, Mexico Midget reseeds year after year. Of course.. the maters are extremely small. More like berry size.

Good luck!!

instead of buying grocery store tomatoes, why don't you just buy some seed packs and cast them out; or do both ways and see what works. sounds like you might need to do some initial work at first to get the ground to "accept" the seeds. if you just cast them into the weeds or grass, i don't see it working.

Just make sure what you plant is recognizable and not hard work to eat. I've found it amazing how lazy most young city people are about fixing food, unless they grow they're own or are older and have grown up with fresh produce. My stepson won't even get a cucumber or fresh peach out of the fridge, much less cook a vegetable.
Now, if you do this in an ethnic neighborhood it's a whole different story. They will fix and try almost any produce available to them, which gives you all kinds of options.
Love your idea!

I'm not rolling my eyes at all. I think it is a fabulous idea! Like others have suggested, cherry tomatoes are vary prolific and big reseeders. Also, sprawling-type plants (Matt's Wild Cherry immediately comes to mind) would be good because they (presumably) won't have any cage or support system in place and will have to spread out on the ground. Also, beans and squash are easy to grow, prolific, and reseed like crazy. Good luck and let us know how it works out!

If you want to draw attention to your space, plant some fava beans in early spring. They will help enrich the soil and produce beans that can be seen a block away. I plant them where other stuff won't grow. They probably won't reseed, however.

Rick

Thanks again for the ideas. I got my Ildi seeds today and have two Yellow Pear plants (I forgot abut them when I said I wasn't growing any cherries) that should be producing soon. I also have a bunch of cuke seeds and a whole lot of extra bean seeds and perhaps I will add some arugula and cilantro since they reseed like crazy.