Fall Harvest Tips

The time of summer/fall harvest glut is upon us! 

I live and garden at high elevation, so my days and nights are cooler than some other west slope communities and the front range.  So, some of the crops I discuss in this blog, you may have already harvested in your area, or they may have gone to seed in the heat.

Various greens freshly harvested in July

In my garden as well as most gardens in the state, greens are one of the first crops ready to harvest.  You can harvest different ways:  a few leaves at a time, starting with the bottom leaves that mature first or you can cut all the leaves off at the crown or you can pull up the entire plant.  

                        This spinach was just cut.  The crowns are left so the plants will re-grow.  This is often called 'cut and come again.

Notice where the bottom leaves of this kale have been cut for harvest.

Carrots and other root crops like parsnips, beets, radishes and rutabagas are all harvested similarly.  I like to water the day before I plan to harvest so the soil isn't rock hard.  If the soil is too wet, it will be more difficult to remove soil that sticks to the roots.  Grab the carrot top firmly in your hand right above the root top, wiggle and pull up slowly.  Remove the carrots tops soon after harvest, to keep them from losing water and becoming soft.

When you see the carrot top sticking out of the ground, your carrot is close to being ready to pull!

                                            If you leave your carrots in the ground too long,                                                  especially if it has been raining a lot, your carrot roots may split!




When onions are ready to harvest, the tops will usually fall over.

Cure onions by letting the tops dry down in a well-ventilated, cool, shady place.

I prefer to grow broccoli varieties that produce side shoots after you harvest the main head.  This increases both your yield and extends the season of your broccoli harvest. 

Harvest broccoli heads when they are tight, firm and green.

Harvest broccoli side shoots when they are still tight buds.

  These broccoli side shoots are elongating, will get woody and go to flower quickly.

In many produce shows, the largest veggie contest is won by a zucchini!  If you've grown zucchini, you know how fast they grow!  Cucumbers, like summer squash, can outgrow their optimum eating stage very quickly.  For best eating quality, harvest when the skin is tender and the seeds are still small.

Starting at the bottom, going clockwise:
The bottom zucchini is almost past prime stage to harvest, the second zucchini could be harvested but it is baby stage, the third zucchini is prime stage to harvest, and the last zucchini is still immature.

    This pickling variety of cucumber is almost at the stage for a large pickle.  If you want small pickles, harvest when the top is barely wider than the tip.

Some pumpkins and winter squash can be harvested immature and eaten like summer squash.  And others will undergo a color change in storage.  It is best to harvest them when they are the color they are supposed to be, the rind is hard and can barely be pierced with a fingernail.

This pumpkin is immature- it is still green.




This pumpkin is beginning to color-up but will not continue to turn orange if harvested at this stage.

These pumpkins and winter squash are all their mature color-- except the spaghetti squash on the lower left-- it is still green. 

Harvest potatoes right after bloom for small, tender 'new' potatoes.  Harvest after the tops die down for potatoes with a tougher skin that will store better. 

These potatoes are starting to die down. 

For more on harvest and storage of vegetables see this Fact Sheet:  Storage of Home-Grown Vegetables – 7.601 - Extension (colostate.edu)