Spring Harvest Time
We are off to a good start this year, with some sunny days mixed in with the clouds, but for the veggies to really take off, the suns needs to be shining consistently. So hang in there, do a few sun salutations every once in a while. Then in just a matter of time, the sun has been out, the plants have felt the warmth and suddenly there is an abundance of plants. It's harvest day for those spring plants. Most of us want to run out there and yank the whole plant out of the ground and eat up. But not so fast! It is in the best interest of everyone who will benefit from the garden on how you should harvest your veggies and see if you can get more out of them, than you thought. Some veggies give you all of their fruit at once, while some will keep giving. Lettuce, for instance, keeps giving. You can snip away at the leaves and continue to eat fresh salads until the weather gets too hot and the plant starts to bolt. Spinach and Swiss Chard you can also use as needed by pulling off outer leaves. Broccoli you can cut the head with a sharp knife and smaller sized heads will develop from side shoots. Make sure that broccoli is harvested when the florets are tight and before yellow flowers appear. Tomatoes should easily pluck off the vine. Harvest them when they are at full color unless you are losing them to hungry birds, then bring them in before they are red and ripen in a brown paper bag. Harvest green beans before the pods begin to bulge, use one hand to hold the stem and one hand to pinch off the pod. Harvest peas with the same technique, but they should be filled out and have their seeds starting to bulge. Potatoes are ready to be dug up when the leaves turn brown and die. Use a garden fork or pitch for to loosen the soil an sift potatoes out. Pull up bulb onions when their tops fall over and lay on the soil, so as not to break or damage the vine. And now its time to plant again with your summer plants!
