I've enjoyed being lazy. Even if you don't have a vegetable plot or fruit trees, you can enjoy late produce at farmer's markets or supermarkets that sell Colorado produce.

Pears and apples are at their peaks at the moment. I've harvested my pears just one step ahead of the squirrels. They are wasteful critters that take a bite or two before they discard a pear. I try to get pears picked before they're ripe to avoid this.

Many people are canning or pickling the fall bounty at this time. It's not as hard as it might look. Hardware stores have kits with easy instructions to get you started. Cooks should love the wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Challenge yourself to try a new dish. Peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and tomatoes are also at peak, inviting all sorts of experimentation in Mediterranean and Asian cuisine. If you planted a late crop of spinach, lettuce or radishes, you may also be able to pick these now too.

Apples and pears ripen best at room temperature. So do tomatoes but peppers, eggplant and cucumbers keep best when refrigerated in plastic to keep them from shriveling.

Keep picking vegetables to keep the plants producing rather than getting over-ripe and wasting time on seed production. If frost threatens, use row covers to extend your harvest well into fall.

(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)