Snip peppers from the plant rather than pull or twist. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
With all the vegetables in high production mode, it’s good to know some of the best ways to bring the harvest to the table. Here are a few tips on the proper way to pick tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables.
- Harvest the vegetables. Don’t allow ripe vegetables or fruits to remain on the plants. The more you harvest, the more a plant will produce.
- Twist the tomato from the vine until the fruit breaks free. You can snip it off, too.
- Snip off peppers close to the stem. Part of the stem should remain on the pepper. The pepper is firmly attached to the vine and pulling the fruit frequently dislodges the whole plant from the ground.
- Snip off cucumber, squash, pumpkin and eggplant.
- Pick beans and peas by hand by pinching stems with your thumb and forefinger.
- Harvest the large head of broccoli by cutting the stem with a sharp, clean knife. Harvest the smaller shoots as they develop along the sides of the plant. Broccoli can take a chill or two, which sweetens its flavor.
- Cut or pull the center head of a cabbage. Or remove the whole plant and chop out the head with a sharp knife.
- Break off Brussels sprouts, starting with the largest ones. You don’t have to harvest the sprouts all at once. You can also harvest the whole stem at once if you want to preserve them by freezing or other methods.
- Pull in a downward motion to twist off ears of corn when the tassels turn brown. You can also test ripeness by pulling back the husk and pressing a kernel with your thumb. If the fluid is milky, it’s time to harvest.
Replanting veggies
Now is a good time to sow seeds for lettuces, spinach, chard, arugula and other greens. These can be harvested as soon as they come up for micro greens. When allowed to grow, they can be harvested whenever their size is just right for a freshly picked salad.
You can protect you late-season crops with a covering of about 1 foot of straw to keep frosts and freezes from damaging them. Usually a covering of straw keeps them safe from frosts and freezes for several weeks into late fall and early winter.
