Nature has its way of communicating! Every vegetable and fruit can tell us the time that it tastes best. And it happens before you picked the leafy greens and fruits. Are you growing blackberries in your garden? If yes, then it’s essential to choose the fattest and darkest ones, which fall off in your hand very quickly.
As a gardener, you should know to read these signs. However, sometimes expert gardeners also require many attempts before they can be sure about the best harvest time for fruits and vegetables. There are times when they pick a vegetable which is either overripe or under ripe. Getting a perfect balance is the task at hand!
Best Time of Day to Harvest a Vegetable Garden
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Factors that Impact Flavor
If you are growing oranges and melons in your garden, you need to aware of subtle signs as well. For instance, sometimes when an orange turns yellow, and you think it’s ripe, it might taste sour. Several aspects impact flavors in your fruits and vegetables. These include the soil type, seed quality, water quantity, season, availability of sunlight, temperature and also whether they can be grown in a greenhouse or outdoors.
When it comes to harvesting, the time of the day is an essential consideration you should make. It impacts the ripeness.
Summertime has its own stories concerning harvest. Most farmers and gardeners during this time get up much ahead of sunrise for picking the vegetables and fruits that they can see with the existing light. The best time to harvest vegetables during the cold morning hours when they are crisp and have a longer storage time.
If you harvest very late in the day, the vegetables and fruits might wilt down fast and also limp. It is because then it takes up excess moisture and also draws in the midday heat. It holds true for leafy greens such as chard and lettuce. The same applies to fresh herbs like basil and parsley. Crisp fruity vegetables like radish, broccoli, and peas also face the same issue.
The Alternative to Morning Harvesting
Just in case the morning harvest becomes challenging to maintain, you can pick the vegetables during evening time. It is also a good time as the heat subsides and the temperature becomes cool again. Tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers are less sensitive to heat and don’t wilt so quickly. You can pick these during the later hours of the day.
Even root vegetables such as carrots can get picked later. However, ensure that you take it out in the sun once and then place it inside the refrigerator, especially in warm weather condition.
Detecting ripeness in fruits and vegetables is a matter of excellent sense as well. You can smell and tap to understand whether it’s the best time to harvest melons. It requires years of practice. You might find it challenging to master the technique, but the learning is interesting.
Discussed below are the best harvest times for chosen vegetables and fruits.
Beets
You can pick the small beets which an inch and half in diameter and allow a few to grow bigger. If you want to get the correct flavor in the warm season, it’s best to keep the beets well hydrated. At any cost, don’t leave the beets in the ground; else it will become woody or pithy.
Chard
You can harvest chard’s outer leaves the moment this vegetable is sturdy. Make sure that you keep four to six leaves for the plant to keep growing. This way it can produce extra leaves during the summer time. In some areas, you can also harvest chard during overwinter time where the ground doesn’t freeze excessively.
Broccoli
The best time to harvest broccoli is in the morning. In the morning the broccoli heads are entirely developed and big. The buds need to stay close tightly. They will start to expand gradually and bloom into yellow flowers. But it’s advised not to wait that long. If you do, then the broccoli will become very woody and tough.
You should cut the broccoli about halfway and allow the side shoots to keep growing. It is essential to hydrate the plants so that they don’t have a sulphuric or bitter taste. Cold weather is ideal for harvesting ripe broccoli which tastes the best.
Carrots
The best time to harvest carrot is when they get a yellow or orange tinge, based on the variety. Just in case the carrot tops break completely as you pull them, loosen the soil using a digging fork. The baby carrots can get harvested when they become half an inch thick. And the round carrots are apt to harvest when it’s an inch to an inch and a half in diameter.
Cucumbers
You can harvest Middle Eastern and English cucumbers when they grow proportionately. The skin should be glossy and smooth, and the seeds remain small. However, don’t wait excess that is not good for cucumber. It is best to pick cucumbers every alternate day so that they don’t get over-matured and develop a bitter taste.
Frequent harvesting also maximizes the production of fresh fruits. You can also harvest lemon cucumbers when they become light green having a simple lemon color tinge. It tastes less crisp. And when you wait for a long time, it might become yellow.
Corn
You know that it’s time to harvest corn when the ears are round right at the base. Also, the silks right on top become dark brown but don’t dry completely. You can peel the ear back for exposing the corn. Also, puncture one kernel using your fingernail.
If you find the kernel to be juicy and fat, that means it’s perfect for consumption. To get the best results to harvest and shuck the corn ears when you want to consume it. The improved sugar variants will keep the sweetness intact for a long time.
Every fruit and vegetable has its own time for harvesting. If you maintain that then it tastes good, it is essential to keep learning about the harvesting techniques and times for all fruits and vegetables. Gardeners who are expert at guessing the best harvesting times have honed their skills over time.
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