Seattle Press on Line - In the Garden: Keeping Up With Summer's Bounty

In the Garden: Keeping Up With Summer's Bounty

By Kimberly Christensen

Aug 29, 2002 -- FOR SEVERAL WEEKS now, I have been spending time in my garden petting my ripening tomatoes, speaking words of encouragement to the corn and marveling at the abundance of baby zucchini on the vine. I have been anxious for late summer’s harvest to begin! Yesterday, I made the unfortunate discovery that my neighborhood squirrels have begun to harvest for me. After loudly calling for a pox to descend upon them, I began making plans for staying ahead of the squirrels. The following is a brief list of ideas for keeping up (and extending) with summer’s bounty.

Harvest every few days.

Your plants are interested in making viable seeds and keeping their genes in the gene pool. The more fruits you let rot on the vine, the fewer fruits your plants will make. Also, if the plant is focusing its energy on growing large fruits, it’s not directing much energy toward producing new fruits. This means that your harvesting season will be short and your plants will die prematurely. Nutritionally speaking, you get the most from your fruits and veggies if you eat them soon after picking them.

Harvest when it’s cool out.

Avoid digging root crops when the sun is shining. Try to harvest other crops when it’s overcast or during the morning so that they retain as much water as possible. Folk wisdom says that harvesting during a waxing and full moon will also ensure a high water content in your fruits and veggies. Water-dense crops like cabbage, cucumbers, carrots and greens will loose less water if you plop them right into the refrigerator after harvest.

Harvest when the fruit is ripe.

Grocers know that fruits taste better when they’re vine-ripened, which is why they charge us more for them. Vine-ripened fruits are higher in vitamins and minerals as well. Letting certain fruits, like tomatoes, ripen fully before picking also allows them to emit a gas that hastens the ripening of nearby fruits.

Harvest leafy things before the plant flowers.

Many leafy greens and herbs like basil become bitter tasting once the plant has bolted, or gone to flower. You can delay the bolting process by keeping the plants watered and fertilized. If flower buds appear, pinch them off and start picking the leaves. Plants are less likely to make new flowers when they have to focus on making new leaves.

Rediscover the home arts.

Drying, freezing and canning your bounty will allow you to enjoy it all winter long. Food dehydrators can often be purchased quite cheaply second hand. Canning requires only some free time, cans and a deep pot. Simple canning instructions can be found at www.homecanning.com. You can always use your plain-old canned tomatoes to make that fancy salsa recipe on a blustery winter day.

Get creative.

There are many ways to extend your harvest. Covering root crops with mulch allows you to dig them up well past the first frost. Cloches, plastic row covers and hot caps can shelter plants from cold weather. Some people pull up their tomatoes at the first sign of fall, and hang them upside down from the rafters. The tomatoes will continue to ripen for several weeks.

Share the wealth!

Nothing makes friends out of neighbors faster than sharing your home-grown fruits and veggies. My neighbors have already started walking very slowly past my house to see if I will run out to offer them the pick of the garden. A simple box full of veggies with a “free” sign will win you fans as well. The Lettuce Link offers a wonderful opportunity to share your surplus with the hungry (see sidebar).

Practice acceptance.

While cursing the squirrels can feel great, chances are that you will need to accept the loss of some of your prized fruits. You lost whole plants to slugs earlier in the season and late blight still may strike. Fortunately, nature is quite resilient. The fruits that are scattered by squirrels and small children will become next year’s volunteer plants, stronger and better suited to your garden environment.

Lettuce Link

I love growing veggies. Yet, sometimes I can become completely overwhelmed by nature’s abundance. This year, I’ll be carting off some of my surplus to Lettuce Link’s Week of Giving.

Lettuce Link, a program of the Fremont Public Association, strives to connect low-income families with healthy, nutritious food. Folks in need can receive seeds, gardening instruction, nutrition classes and free produce. The Week of Giving (formerly the Day of Giving) connects community gardeners and backyard gardeners with local food bank and hot meal programs. This produce is then redistributed to program recipients in the form of bags of groceries and cooked meals. Last year, gardeners donated over 4500 pounds of fresh produce to 15 local agencies on the Day of Giving, and over 21,000 pounds throughout the growing season.

“Fresh produce is so essential; it is important to provide a sound nutritional base to food that is provided,” states Dannette Allen, Meals Resources Coordinator for Meals Partnership Coalition, which has been working with Lettuce Link for the past two years. “It’s a special gift, gardeners have taken months to grow and nurture this food, then they turn around and donate it to those who need it most.”

Monday September 9th 4-7 p.m.
Bradner Gardens Park
29th Ave. S. & S. Grand St., Mt. Baker (Seattle)

Tuesday September 10th 4-7 p.m.
Interbay P-Patch
15th Ave. W. & W. Wheeler St., Interbay (Seattle)

Marymoor Community Garden, King County Parks
6046 W. Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE (Redmond)

Wednesday September 11th 9 a.m. – noon
Lake Hills Greenbelt Community and Demo Garden
156th Ave. SE and SE 16th St. (Bellevue)

Thursday September 12th 4-7 p.m.
Picardo Farm P-Patch
NE 82nd St. & 26th Ave. NE, Wedgwood (Seattle)

North Green River Community Garden, King County Parks
Green River Rd & 94th Pl. S. (Kent)

Saturday September 14th 10 a.m.– 4 p.m.
Seattle Tilth Harvest Fair at the Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave N. (Seattle)

Note: Bring your extras to the Week of Giving Booth, or buy extras from the farmers and donate it.

Reader Comments

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Deryk Todd	Feb 01, 2003	Battersea Nr. Kingston Ontario	Retired Coy. Representative
I picked a low acid variety of yellow skinned tomatoes from my grden in middle of September 2002. I kept some in carboard boxes with newspaper liner, and now on 1st February 2003 still have 8 which have not gone rotten. Is this this unusua?


Nasser	Sep 30, 2004	Yemen	Farmer
Hi, I need your advice how I can protect my crop of frost during the winter season. thanks alot. Nasser


pam	Mar 24, 2005	or	self employed
is a tomatoe a fruit or a vegetable and what does determine what makes something a fruit and what makes something a vegetable? somebody please answer soon.