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When to Harvest Vegetables

Source: NDSU Extension Service Horticulturist

To obtain the best yields and highest quality from your garden vegetables, it is important to harvest them at the right time. If you harvest immature vegetables they will yield less. If harvested too late, they may be tough and poorly flavored, unsuitable for eating fresh, storing, canning, or freezing.

Harvest the older outer leaves of vegetables like chard, beet greens, leaf lettuce, and parsley as they mature. Chard leaves are ready to pick when they are 8 to 10 inches long; lettuce leaves when they are 4 to 6 inches long; and parsley leaves when they are 3 to 5 inches long. Spinach is an exception to this rule. 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 moderately firm heads which are harvested before 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 begin to open. To keep cauliflower heads white, compact and smooth until they are full size and ready to harvest, tie the outer cauliflower leaves loosely over the heads when they are 2 or 3 inches across.

Harvest edible-podded pea and snap bean pods when they are full size, but before the seeds inside have enlarged too much. Regular peas should be picked for shelling when the pods are fully developed, but still fresh and green.

Sweet corn is ripe when the kernels are fully rounded and still full of milky juice. Peel back the husk a short distance to check the ears.

Cucumbers are ready for pickling when they are between 1 and 4 inches long, or for slicing when they are near full size but are still bright green. Remove and discard over mature fruits regularly to keep plants productive.

Firm, full-size green peppers are ready to pick, but wait an additional 2 or 3 weeks if you prefer ripe peppers. Tomatoes should also stay on the vine 3-5 days after they are fully colored for vine-ripened sweetness, although they can be picked as soon as they are colored.

For future reference, you may want to obtain a copy of Extension bulletin HE-149, "Harvesting and Storing Garden Vegetables," which is available at your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

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