Since my granddaughter could walk, she has enjoyed strolling through the garden with me between the tall hollyhocks and under the clematis-covered arch. By 3 she could identify marigolds, daisies and her favorites, Johnny jump-ups.
So a year ago, I put her to work picking peas. After that, every time she visited, she wanted to pick vegetables. It was difficult to explain to a 4-year-old the green tomatoes weren’t ready to pick. But now as a 5-year-old, she understands how to look for the ripe tomatoes, mature cucumbers and is ready to dig up beets.
Here are some tips on harvesting the vegetables from your garden, with or without little helpers:
Green beans: Pick when firm and when they “snap” when bent in half. Left too long, beans become yellowy-green and soft.
Beets: Dig using a pitch fork when the shoulders show through the soil. Smaller beets are tender and flavorful.
Broccoli: Mature when heads are dark green, 6 inches in diameter with tight buds. After picking, side shoots produce other heads.
Carrots: Dig using a garden fork when leafy head is dark green, about an inch in diameter, depending on the variety. Plant a fall crop, cover with mulch as cold weather sets in and harvest during the winter.
Corn: Mature when silk turns brown and top kernels are milky when squeezed.
Cucumbers: Pick when dark green and the size described on the seed package. Salad cucumbers are 6 to 8 inches long, while cucumbers for dill pickles are 5 to 6 inches long. Lemon cucumbers are 4 inches round and yellow. Keep mature cucumbers picked, so vine continues to produce.
Lettuce: Pick outer leaf lettuce leaves when 6 inches long. Head lettuces will be firm. All lettuces should be picked before flower stalks appear.
Onions: Dig using a pitch fork when tops fall over. Lay out in sun to dry and form a skin. Store in a cool, dry place.
Peas: Harvest snow peas when bright green and still flat. Pick regular peas when seeds (peas) are round. Overly mature peas turn yellow.
Peppers: Jalapeños are dark green and 2 inches long when mature. Hot peppers turn bright red. Sweet green peppers are firm when mature and if left on the plant, turn red.
Pumpkins: Harvest after the vine withers and pumpkin is dark orange. The rind will be hard.
Radishes: Harvest when an inch in diameter or when they become very woody. Like beets, their shoulders show above the soil.
Spinach: When leaves are 4 to 6 inches long, cut off at base of plant. Do not pull up plant. Left in the ground, more leaves will appear for another harvest.
Summer squash: Pick when 6 to 8 inches long to keep plant producing.
Many vegetables have a prime time for picking. Typically I wait a day too long and have boat-size zucchini and seedy cucumbers. That’s when an eager granddaughter is very helpful.
Colorado State University Extension in the City and County of Broomfield provides unbiased, research-based information about 4-H youth development, family and consumer issues, gardening, horticulture and natural resources. As part of a nationwide system, Extension brings the research and resources of the university to the community. The Broomfield County Extension office is at 1 DesCombes Drive, Broomfield, 80020. For information, call 720-887-2286.
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