Harvesting How-To

Harvesting is one of the most satisfying parts of gardening and if done correctly will help yield a seemingly unending supply of produce.  Generally, it's best to harvest only ripe produce, allowing the newer veggies to grow to their full potential over the next few days.  In the Garden we harvest  ripe stuff together as a group every Tuesday and Saturday, and then encourage people to harvest individual portions of greens (chard, kale, arugula, mustard etc) and herbs on their own. Below are a few tips to harvesting in the Community Garden, with some photos of ripe produce.

Carrots: Pull carrots very carefully to avoid pulling of the tops. You may want to gently loosen the soil around the carrots with a garden fork then wiggle and pull them out. A carrot is ready when you can see a little bit of it above the soil, or when the soil is brushed away you can seen the top orange part.

Basil: Basil shoudl be harvest regularly every week. Simply snip off the flowering heads, just below the two big leaves as shown above.

Beans: So far we only have fresh eating green and purple string beans. These should be harvested regularly 2x per week. The beans are ripe when they are firm, a few inches long, and BEFORE they turn woody. Once a bean has bumps (where the seeds are developing) the bean is likely a little too ripe. These can still be eaten, but aren't choice. When harvesting beans, pick the older woody ones as well and throw them in the compost. If the plant isn't cleaned of beans, it will start putting it's growing power into developing seeds in the old beans instead of producing new yummy green beans.

Beets: We have traditional purple, yellow and white nad pink striped Chioga beets. They are all ready around the same time. Generally you can see the top of the beet and they should be 1-2" in diameter before pulling them. If, as illustrated above, there are a group of beets growing together, pull the one in the middle, aka thinning, to allow the others to mature.

Chard (& Other Greens): Feel free to harvest 1-2 leaves per plant. These should be fairly decent size when harvesting- at least 8-12" long. If the plant just has small leaves, then move onto the next. Arugla, spinach, lettuce and mustard should be harvested when they are smaller 2-5" long.

Cucumbers: Harvest these when they are starting to look smooth, but still have slightly visible ridges. They should also still have a few prickles on the skin. Though the leaves may not look prolific, we have a LOT of cucumbers this year so make sure to look through the leaves thoroughly.

Lemon Cucumbers: Harvest these when they are starting to look smooth, but still have slightly visible ridges. They should also still have a few prickles on the skin. Lemon cucumbers may turn a bit yellow prior to harvesting- this is OK and they are still delicious!

Eggplant: These round eggplant should be harvest at once they reach 5"  across, and NOT earlier. If they look close, allow them to mature and grow until next week. Cut the stem off with scissors or a knife about 1/2" away from the plant.

Eggplant: These long Thai eggplant should be harvested once they reach 8-12"  long, and NOT earlier. Cut the stem off with scissors or a knife about 1/2" away from the plant.

Kale: This dinosaur looking kale should be harvest when the leaves are over 12" long. Snip off 1-2 of the outer most leaves per plant when harvesting.

Kale: This curly kale should be harvest when the leaves are over 10" long. Snip off 1-2 of the outer most leaves per plant when harvesting.

Peppers: Peppers come in many shapes and sizes! Read the following notes carefully and be aware of which type you are harvesting. All peppers should be snipped at the stem. Note that peppers can take a couple of weeks to grow, so harvesting them early is NOT advised. Green chilies- harvest when over 8". Green and Purple Bell peppers- harvest when the peppers are at least 3-4 inches long and are shiny, if still dull chances are they are not ripe. Poblanos- harvest when 3-4" long and they start looking plump, if they still look concave or skinny leave them until next week. Jalapenos' harvest when plump, 2-3" long, and shiny. Hot peppers- harvest when you need some serious spice, many will turn red when totally ride and ready.

Pepper: turn red after being on the plant for awhile, these are still wonderful to eat and cook with.

Tomatoes: We have many kinds of tomatoes in the garden, and some ripen when bright red, others purple, some yellow or orange, some even green. The best way to tell if a tomato is ripe, gently press on it and it should be just the slightest bit soft. At this point they should come off of the vine fairly easily. Make sure to lift up vines and search around for tomatoes as they are often hidden. If you find any rotten ones, please pull them off of the vine

Tomatillos: harvest these when the papery shell starts to split and make way for the green or purple fruit inside. When ripe these fruit are very easy to pick by hand as they will fall off easily. Lift up the vines when picking tomatillos and look for fruit that may have fallen naturally.