Perfect picks: how to tell when your summer garden's ready to harvest

Sunset, August, 1999 by Jim McCausland

You've weeded, watered, fertilized, and fought off A legion of pests. At last, the fruit of your labor is ready to harvest - or is it? Pick that corn too early and its kernels will be watery; pick it too late and it will be starchy and tough.

How do you know exactly when to harvest your summer crops? Keep an eye on them and compare your observations with the hints listed in the guide that follows. Our harvest and storage tips reflect the experience of Sunset's garden and food staff, as well as the advice of farmers and university horticulturists.

While some crops slip easily off the plant when they're ready, others need a helping hand. Use a sharp knife or pruning shears to harvest vegetables such as green or snap beans and eggplant, which should be picked when they are slightly immature.

With many vegetables, the act of harvesting fruits that contain developing seeds stimulates the plants to keep producing (corn, melons, and onions are exceptions). Prompt harvest also prevents crops like summer squash from getting too big and pithy to use, and fruits like tomatoes from rotting on the vine. If you do spot overripe or rotten vegetables, pick and toss them on the compost pile.

* BEANS. Green or snap types (such as 'Blue Lake'). Nip beans off as sides of pods start to swell, but before they get stringy and lose their ability to snap. Storage: Refrigerate unwashed beans in plastic bags for up to four days. Freeze or can for longer storage. Shelling and dry beans (such as scarlet runner or 'Vermont Cranberry'). Shelling stage: Shell beans after pods become too stringy to eat and beans inside are full size, but not crisp and hard. Eat immediately. Dry stage: Strip the beans out with your thumb after pods have dried and shattered (started to split). Storage: You can refrigerate shelling beans for a couple of days, but it makes more sense to eat them fresh. Store dry beans in sealed jars.

* CORN. When silk tassels start to dry, peel husk from an ear and pop a kernel with your thumbnail. If water comes out, it's immature. If it's toothpasty, the corn is past its prime. If milky fluid comes out, it's perfect. The "milk" of white corn is clearer, while liquid from yellow corn is yellowish. Storage: Never refrigerate; the whole point of growing sweet corn is to eat it immediately, before sugars convert to starch. Freeze whole ears or kernels.

* CUCUMBERS. For fresh eating. Pick standard cukes at about 8 inches long, Armenian and Japanese types up to 20 inches, lemon cukes under 3 inches. Storage: Store bagged, fresh cukes in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

For canning. Pick sweet pickles at 2 to 3 inches long, dill pickles at 5 to 6 inches.

* EGGPLANT. Shiny-skinned, immature eggplant is tender and good. Dull-skinned, mature eggplant has hard seeds and flesh that separates into channels - not what you want. Storage: You can refrigerate eggplant for a few days. Freeze or dry sliced eggplant and store in containers.

* MUSKMELONS (CANTALOUPES). After the skin has become netted, give the fruit a gentle tug, bending the vine slightly as you do; when it's ready, it will "slip" (separate) from the vine. Storage: Store in a cool, humid spot (like a cellar) for two to four weeks.

* ONIONS. Before bulbs mature, harvest green onions (scallions) for chopping into salads. When bulbs are large enough to pick, use your foot to bend the leafy tops down to the ground and let the bulbs harden and cure for three weeks before you pull them. Storage: Refrigerate green onions or store in a cool, humid place for up to three months. Store bulbs in a cool, dry spot for three weeks to seven months, depending on variety. Or freeze, can, or dry.

* PEPPERS. You can pick any pepper when the pod is firm and fully developed, regardless of color. But for maximum flavor, look for these signs.

Hot peppers. They develop the most flavor and heat after pods show color. Jalapenos turn red at maturity; serranos can go red, orange, brown, or yellow. Harvest both red and green pods for salsa.

Sweet peppers. These are sweetest and most flavorful when fully mature. That's usually (but not always) signaled by a color change. Bell peppers can mature green, yellow, red, orange, maroon, or brown; pimiento ripens red; wax types go from yellow to orange or red.

Storage: Keep fresh peppers cool and humid for up to six weeks. Dry, freeze, or can for winter storage.

* SQUASH. Summer squash. Harvest fruits before they mature. Pick zucchini at 5 to 8 inches long, yellow crookneck at 4 to 7 inches, scalloped squash (pattypan) before it turns ivory white.

Winter squash (acorn, Hubbard, spaghetti, pumpkin). Harvest when the shell hardens, after the vine dries.

Storage: Eat summer squash immediately. Cut winter squash with 2- to 3-inch stems; store in a dry place between 45 [degrees] and 55 [degrees].

* TOMATOES. In summer, harvest after fruit colors fully. In fall, when night temperatures drop below 55 [degrees], pick any tomato with color to ripen indoors on a windowsill (dark green fruit will never ripen). Or pull the whole plant up and hang it upside down in a warm garage or porch; most of its fruit will ripen. Storage: Store between 55 [degrees] and 70 [degrees], or put fruits on a windowsill for faster ripening. Don't refrigerate (temperatures below 55 [degrees] stop flavor development). You can dry paste tomatoes; puree and freeze standard varieties.