It's fun to read about all the nice surprise plants folks have found. But my mystery vine, which resembled either a melon or squash with small white fruits, turned out to be an inedible squash. Really blah. Definitely not worth all the water I gave it. (Remember since it never rains in the summer, all the vegies must be irrigated.) And since it grew in an area where I had never planted either melon or squashes, I can't figure out how it got there.

There was another mystery vine, but that turned out to be miniature white pumpkins, kind of pretty. I gave those to my neighbor with 4 kids.

I always find squash/melons to be the surprises in my garden too. This year I planted seeds from a packet of mixed gourds. I now have some interesting gourd shapes decorating the yard, curing and awaiting harvest. Not sure what to do with the things, but they look pretty. Some are goose egg shape/size and might make nice painted 'eggs'.

When I get volunteer squash, I typically let at least one plant grow and always find whatever fruit develops to be some sort of crossbreed.