Guest Contributor: Cassey Anderson, Horticulture Agent, Colorado State University Extension
What if every gardener shared just one?
One small donation can have a tremendous impact. Just imagine if every gardener shared even a small portion of their harvest. Collectively, we would have an abundant source of fresh, healthy produce available to be distributed to families experiencing food insecurity in our own communities! The free Fresh Food Connect mobile app connects you to a local hunger relief program, then manages and tracks your donations of homegrown produce throughout the season. Download the app today!
Harvest season is one of the most rewarding times in the garden, whether you’re growing for yourself or to share for donation. In this post I’ll share when and how to harvest popular vegetables, so you can maximize taste and nutrition, and keep your plants producing late into the season!
Basic harvest tips
While sometimes I go into my garden and pull and tear bits of produce to snack on, it can take a toll on the health of the plant if you’re not harvesting in an ideal manner.
When to harvest
While you can harvest any time of the day, morning and evening are ideal as temperatures are cooler, and your produce will retain a better flavor profile. If you must harvest when it’s warmer (and let’s be honest, sometimes our busy schedules don’t allow otherwise!) keep a container with cool water nearby to plunge your freshly harvested crops into.
Clip, Don't Tear
Use a pair of scissors or sharp knife to remove your produce from the plant. Tearing can be quick and easy but opens pathways for disease pathogens to enter the plant and may stress more parts of the plant than is necessary which could reduce yield or flavor of future harvests.
Harvest when ripe, depending on crop
This one may seem obvious, but, for example, a bean left too long on the vine can not only have less favorable flavors (sugars begin to convert to less tasty starches) but may begin a signal to the plant that reproduction can slow and future production may reduce. Harvesting a little early can be OK, especially for tomatoes if you’re growing large beefsteak types. How do you know a crop is ripe? There are numerous ways depending on the crop you’re growing.
Crop-Specific Advice
Let’s look at some specific crops that you may be growing:
Leafy greens
If you’ve been succession sowing you may still have leafy greens in your garden and this advice will be redundant and you can feel free to skip, but if you aren’t certain of the best approach for harvesting leafy greens, read on! Leafy greens can be harvested in one of two approaches – you can cut and come again or remove the entire plant or “head.” Cut and come again harvesting will provide you with several harvests from the same planting and is often used for loose-leaf lettuce or spinach mixes but can be done for some varieties of kale as well. For this approach a pair of sharp scissors can get the best results as you can hold the leaves and clip then pull into a harvesting container. If you’re growing head lettuce, cabbage etc. you may need to harvest the entire plant.
Root vegetables
How do you know when to harvest something you can’t really see? This one can take some practice but often you can look at the “shoulders” of the vegetable, or harvest a test crop. It’s generally best to loosen the soil somewhat around the root so the whole plant comes out more easily, more important for deeply rooted crops such as carrots and parsnips than shorter crops like beets and radish. Avoid letting short-season crops like radish and beets getting too large as they can develop woody areas and lose quality of taste.
Peppers/Tomatoes/Eggplant
Knowing when to harvest these will depend on your familiarity with the variety you’ve planted, but you’ll want to be familiar with the variety you’re growing to keep an eye on the fruit reaching a mature size (At the very least you can reference the photo from the seed catalogue/plant label.) Be sure to clip fruit off the main plant to avoid damaging future growth.
Peppers
Peppers go through several color stages and depending on your needs can be harvested at any point. For peppers like a serrano or jalapeno you will harvest once the fruit has grown to its mature size but while it is still deep green. If you leave it on the plant it will continue to ripen and turn red, but the flavor profile will change. For many sweet peppers both yellow and red you’ll wait to harvest once the fruit has gained uniform color.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes can be a wild card because different sizes may be easier or harder to harvest depending on your experience in the garden. For larger tomato types such as slicer or beefsteak, it can be useful to familiarize yourself with the “blush” or breaker stage of tomato development. This is when you can see a faint color change on the blossom end of the fruit. At this point the tomato has developed enough that it can continue ripening either on or off the plant, and many larger tomato types may retain a better texture if counter ripened. Small cherry-type tomatoes can split if left on the plant too long, but as they are plentiful a good approach for time to harvest can be a taste test! Store tomatoes on the counter, never in the refrigerator as it can change their flavor profile.
Eggplant
Harvesting eggplant can vary depending on the variety you grow but generally you’ll harvest once it reaches its mature size, the skin is glossy and bounces back when you press a fingernail in, it is ready for harvest. Keep the fruit cool but dry after harvest to avoid heat scald on the tender skin
Beans
Beans are easy to harvest and tempting to just pull off the plant, but the plant will benefit from being clipped rather than torn off the main plant to avoid damaging the main vine or potentially reducing future yields. Clip the pod with a little bit of the petiole remaining until you cook (clipping the bean itself may lead to off flavors or faster deterioration even in the fridge). Cool pods immediately after harvest either in cool water or in a fridge. Dry before refrigerating.
Melons
Melons can either be one of the easiest or hardest garden crops to harvest depending on type. Cantaloupe/muskmelon are in some ways the easiest to harvest as they “slip” from their stem at which point they can continue to ripen off the vine, so eat quickly! This contrasts to the honeydew group that do not ripen once harvested off the vine. You can tell if a honeydew melon is ripe by looking a rind color (look for a faint blush), smell, or counting days after the flower has faded.
Cucumber
Cucumber should be harvested depending on the type you are growing. For pickling cucumbers, harvest when the fruit is still small (pickle sized!) and spines are still obvious with ridges. For slicer cucumbers harvest once the fruit has reached the size the variety should grow to (some cucumbers grow short, some long) and the ridges have filled out. If you have very distinct and/or tough seeds in the center, you should aim to harvest the cucumber earlier. Clip cucumbers from the vine.
Summer Squash
Summer squash are incredibly versatile! You can harvest them very small and pickle them, harvest when 5-8” long for stir fries or zucchini bread, or even once they have grown enormous you can halve them, remove the seed, and bake in the oven. Because squash have prickly vines it can be useful to harvest with scissors for quick and easy removal.
Winter Squash
Winter squash want to stay on the plant as long as possible. You can tell they are ready to harvest because the skin has become hard enough that you cannot get your fingernail in (but be gentle if you’re not sure this is the case! You don’t want to leave a wound). The vine right where it attaches to the fruit (the “stem”) should become woody and you’ll likely need to cut or even clip with pruners. If you plan to store your squash, you’ll want to cure your fruit for 7-10 days out of rain or moisture.
Onions
Onions have a great “tell” that they are ripe. They “lodge” or flop over once they are done growing for the season. Once about half of the onions in your garden have lodged you can crack the soil with a garden fork or shovel and pull the onions up. Cure in a warm, dry location before bringing inside to store. If storing onions, be sure to store them separately from other produce as they can reduce storage time for crops such as potatoes and squash.
Garlic
Garlic is ready to harvest when about 50% of the leaves have browned. You can harvest in a manner that is very similar to onions and cure similarly as well. Garlic bulbs can be tender when first harvested so avoid bumping or dropping them to encourage longer preservation. For both onion and garlic, they should come out of the ground relatively free of soil, but if there is some you can leave it to dry and then dry brush it off. Avoid washing either as that can substantially reduce their storage capacity.
Potatoes
Potato flowering does not indicate potato readiness and can safely be ignored – different cultivars bloom at different times. However, if you begin to see the potato vine yellowing it may be getting close to ready. You can also “tickle” your potatoes, reach into the soil and feel them. Harvest times can depend on the type you’re looking to grow. For “new” or fingerling type potatoes you can harvest earlier in the season. For russet type or longer-term storage potatoes you’ll want to wait until the potato skin has hardened a little more and doesn’t rub off easily. If you need to harvest due to impending frost, you can cut back watering or cut back the vines to encourage faster curing of the potato skin. Use a garden fork or shovel to loosen the soil and lift out potatoes. You may need to turn the soil several times to ensure you find all the potatoes. Cure at 60 F for a week or two. Store in a dark and cool location, preferably at around 40F, in a dark box. Potatoes exposed to light can turn green. Green potatoes should not be eaten.
As always, reach out to your local Extension office for further information if you have any questions.
Gardening in Colorado? Check out Colorado State University's Grow & Give resources.
What if every gardener planted just one extra plant to share?
One small donation can have a tremendous impact. Just imagine if every gardener planted one extra plant to share. , collectively, we would have an abundant source of fresh, healthy produce available to be distributed to families experiencing food insecurity in our own communities! The free Fresh Food Connect mobile app connects you to a local hunger relief program, then manages and tracks your donations of homegrown produce throughout the season. Download the app today!