To get the best yield and highest quality vegetables, it is important that they be harvested at the right time. If harvested too early the vegetables won't be full size. If you harvest them too late they may be tough and poorly flavored, with poor quality. Fruit and vegetables which ripen in the fall should not be harvested until they are completely mature and ready to be conditioned or cured for storage.

Harvest the outer leaves of vegetables like chard, beet greens, and leaf lettuce as they mature. Chard leaves are ready to pick when they are 8 to 10 inches long, and lettuce leaves when they are 4 to 6 inches. Use the whole spinach plant when the larger leaves are 4 to 6 inches long.

Head lettuce can be harvested like leaf lettuce or allowed to form firm heads, which are harvested before the seed stalks appear. Similarly, cabbage heads are ready to cut when they become solid. The edible parts of broccoli and cauliflower are the flower stalks and flower buds. Cut the broccoli stalk 6 to 7 inches below the flower head when the head is fully enlarged, but before the individual flowers start opening. To keep the cauliflower heads white, compact, and smooth until they're full size and ready to harvest, tie the outer leaves loosely over the heads when they become 2 or 3 inches across.

Harvest edible podded peas and snap bean pods when they're full size but before the seeds get too large. Peas should be harvested when the pods are full size, but still fresh and green. Sweet corn is ripe when the kernels are full rounded and still in the milk stage. You can peel the husk back a short distance to check.

Cucumbers are ready for pickling when they're between 1½ and 4 inches long, or for slicing when nearly full size but still bright green. Older cucumbers become soft and yellow. Firm, full sized green peppers are ready to pick, but an additional two or three weeks for ripe peppers.

Tomatoes should stay on the vines five to eight days after they are fully colored for vine ripened sweetness. Large green tomatoes can be harvested before frost and allowed to ripen in a warm room. They will ripen slowly and provide quality tomatoes for one to six weeks.  Tomatoes and other tender vegetables can be protected from the first light frosts by covering with burlap, blankets, or anything else which will hold the heat from the soil. Remove the covering as soon as the temperature warms.

When the tops of onions break over at the neck naturally, the onion is mature and can be pulled for curing. Cure onions in a dry well ventilated area for one to two weeks before placing in storage. After the tops are shriveled at the neck they can be cut off 2 to 3 inches about the bulb.

Before harvesting pumpkins and squash, make sure they are mature. If the skin resists the thumb nail at the stem end of the fruit, they are mature. As the fruit matures it will lose the bright shiny appearance and become dull in color.

Don't be too hasty in harvesting beets and carrots for storage. They can endure several frosts without damage to the roots.

This page was last updated April 2003

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