I'm back. The fishing was slow, but I did catch one decent fish - a 14-inch landlocked salmon - and some smaller ones as well. Unfortunately, I caught the larger one Monday, the day that catch-and-release-only-season began, so I had to put it back. No streamside fish dinner.

When I got back we still had not had a frost. And the warm weather might have had something to do with the poor fishing, but I'll take it at this end.

I picked lots of gorgeous red peppers, some good red tomatoes, took the onions that had been drying in the shed down to the cellar orf winter storage and otherwise cleaned up.

My curiosity about the sweet potatoes is killing me, however. The plants were slow to get started but now look healthy. I want to give them as much growing time as possible, but I am wondering if there are any edible sweet potatoes under there.

So the gardening season is continuing and there is no frost in the forecast until at least Saturday. The tomatoes and peppers will keep ripening, and probably the sweet potatoes will keep growing.

Actually the lack of frost in southerm Maine has another plus side. This coming Sunday my column is about saving tender plants – those killed by frost - for the winter. I was afraid I had waited too long and we already would have had a frost. Now I am in the clear.

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