Harvest Times

Soon all the toil and trouble will be history, and you can finally enjoy the benefits of having a garden. All the work will bring you fresh grown, hand-picked vegetables of your choosing, right when you want them. Assuming they are ready though. One of the advantages of having your own vegetable garden is you can harvest them when they are the optimal flavor. So how do you know?

Less is more:
The less you handle the plants and the crops the better they will be. Be careful not to step on vines or break stems, through which diseases and insects can attack the plant. Handle any harvest with care. Bruises, nicks, and cuts affect quality and storage capability. Avoid working in the garden when it is wet. Some diseases are waterborne and are spread through incidental contact, water is easy transferred by shoes, clothing, and pets.

Size doesn’t always matter:
Color, firmness, and texture are indicators of whether a crop is ready or not, size being a lessor factor. Look for uniform color on tomatoes, and red peppers. Preference is given to useable size on green peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce. Look for full color and a bright shiny finish on eggplants.

Other factors:
Vegetable growing is not an exact science, so other factors may determine whether a crop is ready or not. Some are simple preferences. Lima beans can be picked in the immature stage if you like them tender; for meatier lima beans wait until the pods are full but not yellow. Cantaloupes are ready when the stem slips easily from the vine, the surface netting turns beige, or the blossom end is soft and sweet-smelling.

Watermelon are ripe when the melon gives a ringing metallic sound as it is being thumped with your fingers. A hollow thud means it is not ready. Horseradish, turnips, some beets and carrots do much better after a frost.

Once you have picked your bounty, use the vegetables as quickly as possible. Keep them in a cool, dark, but well ventilated space. And make sure they are protected from rodents. If you refrigerate the vegetables, use a perforated plastic bag. Regular storage bags trap moisture and condensation and will hasten the degradation of the vegetables.

For more information on harvest times, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at 570-963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu and request a free copy of “Harvesting Home Garden Vegetables”


Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County

Harvest

Finally, after all the hard work, timing the weather, and defending your garden from invaders, it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. There are so many advantages to a home garden: you plant what you know you will like, you are confident in the manner of care because you did it yourself, and you know what was used or not used on the plants. The hobby is in full production now. In order to pick the vegetables when they are at their peak, keep in mind the following:

Bigger isn’t always better
Most vegetables attain their best eating quality when allowed to ripen on the plant, but often this peak quality is reached before the vegetable is fully mature. Many crops can be harvested several times over the growing season. Some plants, like green peppers, can be picked when they are of useable size, but red peppers should be picked when the color is uniform. Color and firmness, not size, applies to tomatoes too.

Time matters
Seed and transplant producers usually provide “days to maturity”, but this information is a guide. Several factors such as weather, soil fertility, and overall care can influence the growth cycle. Pick your vegetables in the morning, but when the plants are dry. Working in your garden when it is wet is an easy way to spread disease, such as septoria leaf spot on tomatoes. Harvesting early in the day means they are at their peak for crispness, sweetness, and juiciness, after resting and regaining their lost moisture from the previous day. Frequent picking prolongs the harvest.

Handle with care
Be gentle with garden plants while harvesting. Damaged or bruised vegetables can become decayed easily, rendering them useless. If vegetables are not easily removed when twisted or pulled, use a knife, scissors, or hand pruners. These tools help prevent tearing or breaking of a plant which could lead to disease infection. Remember to sanitize and clean your tools frequently. Be gentle with the host plant too. Most bear fruit several times in a season. Future harvest depends on the quality and health of the whole plant.

These are general tips to help in harvesting. Each particular vegetable variety has its own timetable. Some crops are early season, liking cooler weather, and others do better picked after the first frost. For more information on picking vegetables, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at (570) 963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu and request the free publication “Guidelines for Harvesting Vegetables.”


Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County

Blueberries!

You’ve heard that blueberries are good for you, have you considered growing your own? It is not hard. Some of the varieties that have done well in our area are Patriot, Sunrise, Bluecrop, Bluejay, Chandler and Aurora. Blueberries are easy to grow if you do the proper soil preparation. Blueberries grow in soil with a pH of 4.5 to 5.0. It is advised to get a soil test a year before you plant. Adjust the soil pH a year before you plant. When planting, mix peat moss in with the soil (50/50 mixture) you are filling in around the plant. Place about 3” of mulch around each plant. Replenish the mulch each spring as needed. No fertilizer is needed the first year. Apply fertilizer each May starting the second year. Remove all blossoms the first year and half of the blossoms the second year. This allows the plant to establish itself.

When the plants are around 5 years old you will need to prune out the largest canes. A rule of thumb is to remove one large old cane for every 6 canes the plant contains. If the plant has 12 canes, prune out the two oldest. Prune in March or April.

Be prepared to protect the fruit from birds. Blueberries will turn blue before their flavor is fully developed. Be patient. Let the fruit fully ripen before harvest.

For more information contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County call 963-6842 and ask for the Garden Helpline or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu



John Esslinger, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Sweet Onions

If you like sweet, mild onions let me suggest including them in your vegetable garden. Onions do not take up much garden space. They are easy to grow and reliable. An outstanding variety is Candy. Candy makes a large, mild, sweet onion that stores until Christmas. You can purchase Candy transplants in April from some local greenhouses or you can order seed and grow your own transplants. If you grow your own, you need to order the seed now and plant it the first week of February. I sprinkle the seed in potting soil so the seed is spaced about a ½ inch apart. Cover the seed with about ¼ inch of soil and keep the soil moist. Onion seedlings like temperatures in the low 60’s. Give them as much sun as possible. Supply supplemental light if they get less than 8 hours a day of direct sunlight.

Onions can be planted in the garden in mid to late April. The onion transplant roots are smooth and can be separated easily with a little care. Plant them 8” apart in the garden. Keep them from being stressed by dry weather if you want the flavor to remain mild. Harvest in Early August.

For more information contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County call 963-6842 and ask for the Garden Helpline or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu


John Esslinger, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Vegetable Garden Update

Here are a few observations of what is happening in vegetable gardens this week.

• Harvest is finally in full swing, yeah!
• Late blight continues to spread to additional gardens. It is infecting more tomato plants than potato plants.
• Early blight and bacterial spot are abundant also.
• Downy Mildew has arrived. Downy will kill cucumbers and other vine crops.
• Powdery mildew is showing up on early planted summer squash. I expect to see it attack pumpkins and winter squash soon.
• Squash bugs are out in force on summer squash.
• You should have fall cole crops planted by now. You will need to check them for cabbage worms.
• You have time for a fall lettuce and spinach planting if you do it this week.
• If you have not harvested your onions, do it ASAP. Store them in a cool place.
• Be prepared to water. Because the soil has been wet all season, your plants do not have a deep root system so they are more susceptible to dry periods.
• Finally, keep the fruit picked. If fruit is allowed to stay on the plant beyond its usable stage, the plant will put energy into the old fruit and stop producing new fruit.

For more information contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County call 963-6842 and ask for the Garden Helpline or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu

John Esslinger, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County

So. What's happening in YOUR garden, be it vegetable, fruit or flower? We'd love to hear from you!