Take a Bite Out of Global Warming
HARVESTING & SECOND PLANTINGS
Harvest time means that finally, all your hard work has paid off and it’s time to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor! You can track roughly when a crop will be ready to harvest based on the “time to maturity” listed on the seed package. Some plants, like tomatoes and peppers, can be harvested before they are completely mature and can ripen off the vine. Others, like root vegetables, will not. All told it will likely take a few months before you start to see your fresh produce.
Organic Gardening Magazine: When to Harvest
Organic Gardening Guru: Harvesting the Garden
University of Minnesota Extension: Harvesting and Storing
Second Plantings
Fortunately, in most climates, the growing season does not end after your first round of crops has matured. Some plants, usually those that are slower to mature, will continue to produce delicious fruits and vegetables all season; others will reach maturity faster but only produce once or twice. You can do second plantings to increase the amount of produce you harvest. Spring-loving crops will exhaust themselves sooner and can be replaced with more cold-tolerant or “hardy” varieties. For example, the bed you use to plant lettuce in the spring could house kale in the fall. You could even use the same bed for one variety of lettuce in the spring and a hardier variety in the fall.For more advice on second plantings and second harvests see:
Organic Gardening Magazine: Second Plantings
Seeds of Change: Succession Plantings
Next, see: Supplementing your Harvest
A project for the Center for Food Safety and the CornerStone Campaign