Harvesting Tips...

Here are some great tips I found on when and how to harvest some popular summer vegetables. For more information go to Care2 website

• Beans (snap): Pick before you can see the seeds bulging. They should snap in two easily and because they can get tough quickly, check them daily.


• Corn (sweet): Harvest sweet corn when the silks are dry/brown and the kernels are plump and tender. The kernels should exude a milky substance when pricked. You can check a few ears for maturity by opening them at the top of the ear and pressing a few kernels with your thumbnail and looking for this milky juice.


• Cucumbers: Make sure to harvest them early, before the seeds become about 1/2 inch in size although seed size does vary by variety. Generally, most varieties will be 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter and five to eight inches long. Over-ripe cucumbers can be bitter or stringy so make sure to check them daily. They should be firm and smooth.


• Peppers (sweet): Harvest when fruits are firm and full size. If red peppers are desired, leave on plant until they are red in color.


• Summer Squash - Always harvest when the fruit is young and tender because the smaller the squash is when you pick it, the better it will taste. Cut all fruit off and never lift squash by the stem. You want to cut it before it gets about eight inches long when the skin is still soft (when skin can be easily broken by a fingernail) and before seeds ripen. Letting it get too big will also slow down production of tender new fruit.


• Tomatoes - While each variety varies, in general, the best time to pick your tomatoes is when the fruit is evenly red and the end is still firm and not soft. Try to pull them from the vine by gently twisting them. Leave the fruit on the plant to ripen as long as possible unless you are having trouble with pests to give yourself a longer season