Harvest Know How:

• Pick green beans before the pods get lumpy.

• Swiss chard should be picked when the outer leaves are four to ten inches long.

• Corn is ready to harvest when the silk turns brown and dry. Puncture a kernel with your fingernail—the sap should be milky.

• Cucumbers can be picked when the size is appropriate for the intended use, but don’t let them turn yellow.

• Use eggplant while they are young and the skin glossy.

• Pick summer squash while it is young and tender.

• When cucumbers, okra, eggplant and summer squash are allowed to grow until the seeds mature, the skin becomes tough and bitter, and the plant stops producing.

• Sweet peppers can be picked when they are at the correct size for the intended use. You can wait and let them turn color if desired.

• Hot peppers should be left to turn red if they are going to be dried.

• Tomatoes should be harvested when the fruit is red and when the area around the stem is still a little green. Depending on your tomato variety, the mature color may be something other than red.

• Winter squash (acorn, butternut and pumpkin) should be left on the vines until the squash skin is too hard to be punctured with your fingernail.

The authors have received training through Colorado State University Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener program and is a Master Gardener volunteer for Larimer County.

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This page updated:  July 24, 2006