Harvesting Vegetables and Herbs

Produce fresh from the garden are best picked in the morning. Wait for the morning dew to evaporate as touching plants when they are wet spreads diseases. The following is a list of when veggies taste their best. ​

Russian garlic forms flowers on curly stems. Don't allow them to flower, instead snip off the flowers when small and saute in butter - delish!

Once onion and garlic plants start to yellow, push them over to help mature the bulbs underground .

Bush and pole beans always taste sweetest and tender when young.

Wait for your green pepper to turn colour before harvesting as green peppers are unripe.

Basil keeps best when kept in a vase and not in the fridge.

Tight curds are ideal, but this cauliflower is a little past its prime. Still good though.

Cucumbers, as well as other members of the squash family taste best when small.

Pick them when they are red and juicy and keep them on the kitchen counter, not the fridge as it impairs flavour.

Remove shallot flowers when they form and harvest once their stalks die.

• Beans, cucumbers, zucchinis: pick when they are young and still sweet and crisp.
• Beans: pick before the beans inside start to swell and become obvious. Beans give numerous harvests when picked often however they will become tough and tasteless as the heat takes its toll. 
• Onions, garlic and shallots: harvest  when their necks (where the stem meets the bulb) turns papery and falls over.
• Herbs: To dry basil and other herbs, harvest by picking them early in the day after the morning dew has dried then hang them upside down in a dry location out of direct sun.
• Asparagus: don’t harvest spears on plants less than 3 years old. Select 6 inch long spears with tightly closed tips.
• Basil: pick when flower buds begin to appear but before they open. I always remove the flower buds as soon as they form to keep plants bushy, resulting in more leaves. This also prolongs the plant's life. Don't store in the fridge. Treat them as a cut flower and put the cut ends into a vase of water. 
• Broccoli: the heads should be dark, blue-green with closed buds. If the buds are open and in flower, use them as edible flowers in salads or saute them. To harvest, cut off the broccoli head, leaving the rest of the plant. New, smaller broccoli spears will grow from the remaining stem. 
• Brussel Sprouts: they taste best after a frost. Harvest individual sprouts from the bottom of the stalk first.
• Carrots: Best when young and when their orange ‘shoulder’s’ appear.
• Cauliflower: Pick when the heads are white, tight & compact florets that have not separated and are not green. To promote white heads, bend their leaves over top of the heads as soon as they form to keep them white. Check them daily as those heads mature fast!
• Corn: husk should be green with dry, brown silks attached. A milky liquid should ooze out when the kernels are pierced. Malformed and missing kernels are often caused by drought.
• Beets, Cucumbers, Eggplants, Kale: small ones are sweetest!
• Garlic & Onions: Snip off flowers when they appear. This will produce bigger bulbs. When their leaves start to turn yellow, push the stalks over horizontal to the ground. Harvest when the their leaves turn yellow. Trim the tops of the bulbs to about 1 inch and cut the roots off. Store bulbs up to six or seven months in a cool, dry location.
• Parsnips: wait to harvest after a few frosts for best flavour.
• Peas: pick when pods are green before they go a dull. 
• Pepper: green peppers are not ripe! Pick when they are yellow, orange or red as they are sweeter and more flavourful.
• Potatoes: harvest new potatoes when plants flower by plucking some from the soil. To harvest mature taters, wait for the entire plant to wither and fade away. Stop watering a few weeks before harvesting. After digging up the potatoes, cure for 10 days a dark and dry location. To store, rub off the extra soil and store in cardboard boxes or paper bags in a cool location, 4 to 7C (40 to 45F), away from frost, and dampness (fridge or unheated basement, garage). They must not have any light as they will turn green. The easiest way to do this is to place the potatoes, once cured, in paper bags, cloth bags or cardboard boxes (don’t use plastic as they will rot). Spuds that were damaged while being harvested should be eaten as soon as possible and not stored as they will quickly rot.
• Zucchini & Yellow Squash: Pick when young at 4 inches. The older and bigger they are the less sweet and tender. 
• Tomatoes: pick before they get too ripe. Don’t store in the fridge as it impairs flavour. The kitchen countertop is fine.
• Root Crops: Most root crops that have already been planted will continue to size up, and can remain in your garden through winter. Carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, leeks and onions planted in well-drained soils are, perhaps, better left in the soil for harvesting as you need them.  Parsnips, in particular, improve in flavour with a few light frosts. 

Harvest kohlrabi when the bulb is 3 inches in diameter. Sever the bulb from the root at soil level. The leaves are also edible.

Cut broccoli heads off the plant before their green buds expand into flowers. Don't discard the plant.

Just cut the broccoli head off above a set of leaves.

New broccoli spears will form along the main stem in a short time.

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Harvesting Fruits

Ripe fruit at their peak are packed with vitamins and other goodies. They also taste better too. Here is a quickie guide to picking the cream of the crop.

Apples are ripe when they smell divine and easily fall from the tree.

Cherries quickly fall off the tree when ripe.

Wear long sleeves and gloves when harvesting figs as their sap is an irritant.

Peaches are ripe when they smell of peaches, are soft and they fall easily when touched.

Although they don't become red, ripe pears are deliciously fragrant.

Ripe blackberries are soft and can't stay on the stem.

• Apples: should easily fall into your hand when twisted.
• Blackberries: plump, shiny and black, not dull or reddish. They should fall off easily into your hand. 
• Blueberries: plump, firm uniform dark blue with powdery white coating that fall off into your hand
• Cantaloupes: should be yellow or cream colour, make a hollow sound when tapped, fragrant, the blossom end (not the stem end) should be spongy.
• Pumpkins, Squashes: they are ripe when the skin hardens and it is difficult to pierce with your fingernail.
• Cherries: plump, firm, glossy, rich colour for the variety, fragrant.
• Figs: the tree’s sap is an irritant so wear long sleeves and gloves when picking. Figs hang down when ripe and should be slightly squishy.
• Peaches: no green on the fruit, fragrant, easily fall from branch, slightly squishy and not rock hard.
• Pears: stay green and hard even when ripe but will be fragrant, and stem end should yield when pressed.
• Plums: retain flavour if left on the tree to ripen. Should yield to pressure when squeezed and will drop easily from the tree.
• Raspberries & Blackberries: fragrant, firm – not mushy, uniform in colour, easily removed.
• Watermelon: makes a dull, hollow sound when tapped. Pick when plants turn brown and the stem curls. 

Blueberries become blue with a whitish hue when ripe and easily fall into your hand.