Keep it Green, by Michael Womack
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Saturday, May 19, 2001
Harvest veggies at peak of ripeness
In order to get the most flavor and nutrition out of your garden vegetables, it's important to know when to harvest. As plant parts mature, they often undergo chemical changes that affect sugar content and flavor.
It is important to harvest early and often to allow many crops to keep flowering and for smaller fruit to have essential nutrients and water for continued development.
The cucurbit family includes cucumbers, squash, melons and gourds. The variety of forms leads to a wide range of mature states depending on the crop. Cucumbers should be harvested as soon as they reach the desired size (depending on variety). Knowing your cucurbits will help keep you from going out of your gourd trying to figure out when to harvest.
Cucumbers are best harvested before they reach "gigantic" proportions. Oversized cucumbers have large seeds and can be tough. Smaller fruit have better texture and smaller seeds that can easily be eaten.
Summer squash (yellow crookneck and zucchini) are also harvested at a young tender stage like the cucumber.
Winter squash (acorn, butternut, spaghetti, etc.) take a lot longer to grow because we use a more mature fruit. Winter squash are harvested after dark colors develop. The skin is usually thicker than summer squash and the seeds larger due to the stage of maturity at which the fruit is picked.
Judging ripeness
Melons are harvested at more mature stages of development to allow higher sugar content in the fruit. Ripeness is easy to judge in muskmelons because the stem easily separates from the fruit at the "full slip" stage. Muskmelons should still be relatively firm and sweet smelling. Excessive softness may be a sign of bruising or over-ripening. Honeydews are sweet smelling when ripe. The seeds will loosen and can be heard when the fruit is shaken.
Watermelons are much more challenging. The tendril (the curling or clinging portion of the vine that is closest to the fruit) will turn brown and dry. The underside of the fruit should change colors from white to yellow. A mature melon will also produce a dull thud when thumped.
Tomatoes are a bit of a challenge in our area. We realize that vine-ripened tomatoes have outstanding flavor; however, the problem comes with keeping insects, particularly squash bugs, stink bugs and/or leaf-footed bugs away during the final stages of ripening. These bugs have sucking mouth parts that leave small, hard brown spots surrounded by yellow blotches. The tomatoes are still edible, but may be slightly less tender or flavorful in those areas.
The best way to beat these critters is to pick the fruit at the first signs of maturity. When tomatoes begin to slightly change color from green to a yellowish-orange, take them off the vine and finish the ripening process inside, safe from the insects. They don't have to be on a windowsill. That just allows you to watch the ripening process. Most experts actually recommend ripening in darkness by placing fruit in paper bags.
Peppers are kissing cousins of the tomato and many South Texas gardens are graced with some form of pepper. Hot peppers can be harvested at almost any time, depending on the desire of the gardener. Most jalapeños are harvested when the bright green color starts to get a purplish tinge to it.
Bell peppers are a different story. They are a little more difficult to grow and to decide when to harvest than hot varieties. These peppers do not like cool weather and therefore cannot be planted early in the spring. They suffer even more from high summer temperatures.
These garden "belles" need to be fertilized with a high nitrogen fertilizer. In fact, frequent applications of soluble fertilizers are often the key to successful bell peppers. Heavy fertilizing early on will promote early flowering and fruit set before high temperatures reduce production. "belles." Harvest fruit when they become full and the color is a rich dark green.
Leaving bell peppers on until they change colors to orange or red may reduce the mild flavor. Removing mature fruit will allow other peppers to develop.
Knowing when to pick each fruit will allow you to not only extend you garden season, but to experience the best flavor possible.
Michael Womack is a horticulturist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Got a question? Michael Womack will answer landscape and gardening questions. Call 886-4648, category 3025 to record your question. Write Keep It Green, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, TX 78469 or email wm-womack@tamu.edu
2000 Caller-Times Publishing
Company, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All
rights reserved.
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