Hidden Treasures

Moving into October and its is nearly time to put most of the veggie Garden to sleep, weeding, cleaning, digging certain beds and preparing for next spring. But that isn't to say that no growth is taking place; see the previous post on rutabagas and yellow turnips, for example. Bell and frying peppers are growing like they never heard of winter, jamming their plants with limb breaking yields.

SOME OF OUR RED BELL PEPPERS, STACKED ON THE PLANT
AND ABOUT TO TURN A BRIGHT CRIMSON

But even more interesting are the garden treasures we find when we least expect to, well after we though we had harvested the last of them. Like this stealth zucchini:

A STEALTHY FELLOW INDEED!

Note the ovals on the stem and base of the zucchini itself; these are squash bugs and in a day or two would have damaged the veggie. We were in time to rescue it! (So we could eat it ourselves)

We found a yellow summer squash, way past its peak season.

A LATE BUT TASTY FIND

Quite well hidden indeed were about 4 butternut squash, after we were sure we'd found all of them.

NEVER TOO MANY BUTTERNUT SQUASHES!

This unexpected bonanza of green and yellow squash, combined with tomatoes that had ripened indoors, the bell and frying peppers still on the vine and the onions which we had picked a month ago allowed us to make (with ground beef, cheese and garlic) a favorite one skillet meal known in these parts as "Wot from the Pot".

"WOT FROM THE POT", RECIPE RIGHT HERE

But these are not all the surprises the garden still holds, there are red potatoes still in the soil, and some Lima beans yet dangling on the fence.

So never give up on the garden until the last bit of fall clean up is complete. You really never know what you might find!