My faithful walking companion (four-legged, of course), and I had just started a morning walk in a nearby park when to my surprised I glanced over to the side of the paved walkway and saw this – a yellow crooked neck squash vine! How on earth did a squash plant come up in this park? I made this picture and walked on, reminding myself to keep an eye on this and see what happens.
We enjoyed our walk, following one of our favorite pathways and then taking a short cut on a dirt pathway to get back to the paved trail and return to the parking lot.
Turns out, this was a double decker surprise day. As we came back by the squash vine the second surprise leaped out at me – a bigger squash mound about 6-8 feet off the trail! It was very healthy and full of blooms. What a lovely surprise! I’m hoping no one else will notice this and maybe I can harvest a squash or two.
I suspect the plants were planted by deer who had eaten squash and deposited the seeds in this area. People do feed the deer regularly although they usually feed commercial deer corn. I have taken my fall pumpkins there to break up and leave for the deer, so perhaps someone had extra squash that they took to the deer. It appears that the deer have not bothered the plants, but I will have to time my harvest to take place before the deer discover the ready-to-eat squash.
Don’t you just love little surprises?
Small Simple Things of Life 
Yep, all day long, every day.
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What a fun surprise! Keeping an eye on the squash plant will add an interesting aspect to your walks. I hope we’ll be reading a post about what you made with it!
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Checked it yesterday and neither have set fruit. Just blooms. It is in a shady area, but maybe now that our rain is ending more sun will filter through.
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