Have a Happy Harvest; How and When to Pick your Produce
Q. Vina Jane in Coopersburg PA writes: “I planted potatoes this season. The plants grew well but never flowered. Will the potatoes be safe to eat? I heard that potatoes can be poisonous.”
A. One of my favorite crops! I planted over twenty pounds of seed potatoes in big “grow bags” this season and am anxiously looking forward to the harvest. And speaking of harvesting, potatoes are a great crop to lead off this article, which is designed to help everyone out there harvest your garden of goodies at the correct time.
Potato plants will often produce a small batch of colorful flowers when the above-ground plants reach a certain size, but not always—and not having flowers doesn’t mean anything bad. But if your plants DO flower, make a note of the date. A month after that, you can harvest what are called ‘new potatoes’; tiny tubers that pack a lot of taste and go for a premium in stores.
But you don’t have to pick early. You can let the plants grow until they start to turn brown and then harvest much larger tubers. Be sure to CAREFULLY dig around a large area; potatoes can often be found hiding a foot or more away from the above-ground mother plant. And potatoes are not poisonous UNLESS the growing tubers are exposed to light and turn green. That green color is your sign that toxins have formed in the colored area. If there’s just a small patch of green, cut it off and eat the rest. But if more than half the potato is green, you should compost it.
Moving on: Steve in Wethersfield CT asked about sweet corn. Great topic Steve, as you want to make sure to harvest your tasty treasures when they have maximum sugars. And you want to make sure those sugars stay sweet after harvest!
Harvest Hunt: Note the ‘days to maturity’ or ‘days to harvest’ number on the seed packet or catalog description; that’s the number of days after you plant the seed in warm soil that your first ears should be ready. The larger the number of plants in your patch, the fuller the ears will be. (36 plants is the accepted minimum to achieve nice, full ears.) When the correct number of days to maturity have passed, the tassels at the top are no longer dropping pollen and the silks are beginning to turn brown, select one of the largest ears, gently pull back the husk, keeping the ear still attached to the plant, until the first rows of kernels are exposed. Pierce one with your finger nail. If the fluid is milky white, it's time to begin harvesting. If not, tape the top shut and leave it on the plant.
Only harvest sweet corn in the early morning, when the air is cool and the sugars have concentrated overnight. Then refrigerate it immediately. No matter how well you grew it, sweet corn that is allowed to warm up after picking will rapidly begin to lose its sweetness. Do not strip the husk off yet!
Wait until the water is boiling and you’re ready to steam (not boil) each ear for three to five minutes. Or even better, leave the husk on and grill the corn for five minutes, turning frequently. Or better yet, strip and eat it raw! No matter what, try to only harvest as much as you need each day; unharvested corn should keep its sweetness in the field for about two weeks. If you need to pick more, keep the extra ears in the refrigerator. And keep the husks on!
Tomatoes: Harvest on the first day of full ripeness. Tomatoes left on the vine after they reach full ripeness will lose flavor rapidly as they cook in the sun. Harvest in the morning to get the best flavor. Do NOT refrigerate or place tomatoes in a sunny windowsill (that’s what you just saved them from!). Tomatoes that are at least half colored up will finish ripening quickly in a cool dry spot indoors.
Sweet peppers: There is no such thing as a ‘green pepper’. All sweet peppers will ripen to a final shade of red, yellow, orange or a chocolate brown. Allowing green peppers to fully ripen allows them to achieve maximum sweetness and nutrition. (Purple peppers are not ripe; they’re at an in-between stage before turning red, and taste mostly ‘green’ with hints of the sweetness to come.)
Hot peppers: Will also ripen to a final color of red. Some varieties go through up to five color changes on the way, having a different flavor and heat intensity at each color stage, so sample some when green…or orange…or purple…or...
Cukes and summer squash like zucchini: Harvest when small for best flavor and continued production. “If you can see it, you can eat it.” Try to harvest in the morning, but not if you have to handle wet leaves. Tricky balance but do your best.
String beans (aka green beans). Harvest when small for best flavor and production. If the seeds swell too big in their pods the plants will stop producing. Do not pick when the leaves are wet or the plants will get all depressed. But don’t pick in the middle of a hot day; try and wait for a dry, cool, morning or evening.
Watermelon: If you pick too early, you wasted a darn tasty fruit; pick too late and the flesh gets all mealy. A yellow ‘field spot’ that develops where the melon sits on the ground is a good indicator of ripeness.
A ripe melon should also feel heavy; and the tendril closest to the fruit will have turned brown. There’s also a ‘rap test’ where you want the melon to sound more hollow than full.
And finally, try ritually sacrificing a cucumber to appease the gods of watermelon ripeness before you pick.
