Harvesting Techniques

Harvesting is the exciting, rewarding part of gardening, so you want to ensure you’re doing it correctly and at the right time! After investing a season of time and effort, it would be disappointing to have lackluster vegetables or damage them when you’re trying to pick them.
Best Tools for Harvesting Vegetables
There isn’t a need to purchase special tools for harvest. You can pull many vegetables right off the plant using your hands. In some cases where the stems are thick (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) or are starting to get woody (vining crops like pumpkins, squash, and melons), use pruning shears or a sharp knife to cut what you want off the plant.
Deciding on the Best Time to Harvest
Picking your vegetables at the perfect time rewards you with the freshest, most flavorful produce. But that ideal harvesting time varies a little depending on what you’re growing.
If you harvest too early, the vegetables may not acquire their full flavor. Some veggies — those technically classified as fruits like tomatoes, peppers, peas, and beans — will continue to ripen after being picked, but they aren’t as flavorful.
You may have missed the peak taste if you wait and harvest too late. The vegetables may become woody and tough, and the produce will spoil quickly after harvesting.
As vegetables start to look ripe, pick a sample to check the flavor.
Best Harvesting Techniques
One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is neglecting to check their vegetables regularly when they are ripening. Peas and beans only take a day or two to go from tender to tough. Zucchini and cucumbers take only a few days to grow, from a couple of inches long to over a foot.
It’s also best to harvest early in the day, just after the dew dries off your plants. They are the sweetest and juiciest early in the morning. Plants picked during the hottest part of the day can wilt immediately after harvesting, especially leafy vegetables.
Harvesting Tips
  • Gently twist tomatoes until the fruit breaks free from the vine.
  • Snip or snap off peppers, so part of the stem remains on the pepper.
  • Use a garden fork to harvest root crops and potatoes.
  • Pick the larger outer leaves of lettuces and other leafy vegetables first, letting the new center continue developing.
  • Use shears to cut squash, pumpkins, eggplants, and zucchinis from the vine.
  • Twist cucumbers until they break free from the plant. You may want to wear gloves to protect your hands.
  • Pinch stems between your thumb and forefinger when picking beans and peas.
  • Cut broccoli heads off the stem with a sharp knife. Plants can withstand a light frost before harvesting.
  • Break Brussels sprouts right off the stem, starting with the largest ones.
  • Once the tassels on corn turn brown, pull the ears downward, twisting them off the stalk.