Peek-a-boo!

Vegetables are coy.  They don't erupt in a burst of color, all dazzling and demanding.  Or send advance notice wafting through the air with an intoxicating odor. They don't strut their stuff like brazen hussies, trying to seduce by sheer force of will. 


Instead, they prefer to be sought out.  Discovered.  They need to be wanted.  So they hide, dangling behind foliage, hidden among broad fuzzy leaves, or curling out of sight on the far side of a bed.  And indeed, they are wanted; that's why we plant them in the first place. Because we know that no matter how close the nearest farmers' market is, there is still nothing fresher or tastier than even the tamest veggie plucked straight from the garden.  So we play hide-and-seek with eggplant, and peek-a-boo with squash, trying to keep track of where the emerging goodies are growing so we don't miss one.


At this point in the season, so much starts to come in so quickly that if we don't mentally catalog everything that's growing, we'll find anything we overlooked three weeks later when it's the size of a tugboat.  Last year a zucchini totally got away from us and by the time we discovered it under the cover of its leaf canopy, it had become a two foot long torpedo. We wound up sneaking it into the back seat of our dinner guests' car as a "memento."  I think they used it as a doorstop until winter, and now they lock their car doors when they come to visit.


So we have to be vigilant as we hit this point in the season -- the moment when the garden's about to explode.  Here's what we're standing watch on this week:

A bevy of purple striped eggplant dangling below the foliage

A bashful white eggplant curled behind a leaf

Cucumbers cleverly camouflaged 

Our first ripe tomatoes waaaaaaay at the bottom of the plant

Bicolor squash snuggled up next to blossoms

Haricots Vert hiding between the beds

I do appreciate the discretion of these veggies.  It means that some skill -- and hunting ability -- is required to harvest them well.  I don't, however, appreciate the fact that the insects in our garden use the same technique -- camouflaging themselves on the plants they are demolishing where we often discover them too late.  Case in point: look who I found eating my sage! 

Well, hello there!

Insects aside, there's little more satisfying than a successful garden expedition, especially  when the result is baskets filled with yummy pickin's, like these:

Squash ready to be sauteed in garlic and olive oil

Haricots vert ready to be blanched and gently simmered in garlic and butter

Lamb-burgers marinated in herbs ready to be eaten with today's haul

A delicious meal and a satisfying end to the day!  

Except, perhaps, for the grasshopper -- who was unceremoniously evicted (but not terminated).