When harvest comes for each crop, be thorough. The best specimens will go right to the table. All crops need to be harvested. What you can’t use fresh, store for later use. Crops that are damaged should still be picked and sent to the compost pile.
Harvest varies from crop to crop and also with your taste. You may prefer some vegetables young, small, and succulent; others you may prefer harvested mature.
Many root crops can be left in the ground in all but the coldest of regions. Lift these vegetables, as you need them. Root crops can also be stored in a cool but frost-free dark place. Clean root crops before storing them in sand or sterilized soil.
Other crops can be stored on shelves or in boxes. Just make sure these crops do not touch. Onions and garlic can be kept in open sacks or tied by string. Cabbage will keep in nets for two or three months. Brussels sprouts and turnips are best left in the garden until you need them.
Vegetables for freezing should be blanched or cooked before freezing.
Quick guide to storing your harvest:
· Asparagus. Eat fresh. Cook or blanch before freezing.
· Beets (beetroot). Shelf storage or pickle. Lift and twist off top and store in moist peat or vermiculite.
· Broad beans (fava beans). Freeze or dry.
· Broccoli. Best eaten fresh. Cut central shoot first to encourage side-shoots. Continue harvest until after first frost without protection.
· Brussels sprouts. Freeze or leave on plant until needed. Harvest from the bottom of the plant upwards.
· Bush beans. Freeze.
· Cabbages. Freeze or shelf storage. Leave in garden in mild conditions. In cold regions, hang upside down in a frost-free place for use in winter months.
· Carrots. Leave in ground in mild conditions, but they may split in time. Shelf storage in moist peat or vermiculite.
· Cauliflowers. Blanch before freezing. Store hung upside down in the dark and keeps misted to keep fresh for a few weeks.
· Celeriac. Store in boxes in moist peat in a frost-free place.
· Celery. Cook before freezing. Limited shelf storage.
· Chard (Swiss chard). Harvest a few leaves from the outside as needed. Will withstand some freezing; harvest until early winter in cold regions, longer in mild regions.
· Cucumbers. Use fresh or pickle.
· Eggplant (Aubergine). Cook before freezing.
· Garlic. Store in sacks or strung in a frost-free place. Dry before storing.
· Kale. Harvest through winter.
· Kohlrabi. Leave in ground if mild or protected. Short to medium shelf storage in boxes of moist peat in a frost-free place.
· Leeks. Freeze. Leave in ground in mild conditions until needed. Shelf storage in a box of moist peat.
· Melons. Best eaten fresh.
· Onions. In sacks or nets in a frost-free place. Tie leaves together with string ad hang.
· Parsnips. Leave in ground until needed or late winter. Lift and store loosely packed in moist peat or vermiculite in a frost-free place.
· Peas. Freeze or dry on plant.
· Peppers. Blanch before freezing. Pickle or dry.
· Potatoes. Store in paper or burlap sacks in a frost-free place once cleaned and dried. Use blemished potatoes immediately.
· Pumpkins. Cook before freezing. Good shelf storage if fully ripe. Leave them in the sun after cutting to allow the skin to harden. Store in a frost-free place and eat in autumn to mid winter.
· Radishes. Eat fresh.
· Rhubarb. Cook before freezing.
· Runner beans. Freeze.
· Rutabaga (Swedes). Leave in ground until needed (may be woody by late winter). Lift and twist off top and store in moist peat or vermiculite.
· Salsify. Lift and store in moist peat in a frost-free place. Some can stay in the ground for harvest until spring.
· Shallots. In sacks or nets or strung in a frost-free place.
· Spinach. Cook then freeze.
· Summer squash. Cook before freezing.
· Sunchokes. Cut down stems in mid autumn; leave tubers in ground to use as needed.
· Sweet potatoes. Store in paper or burlap sacks in a frost-free place once cleaned and dried. Use blemished potatoes immediately.
· Winter squash. Shelf storage.
· Sweet corn. Freeze or pickle.
· Tomatoes. Cook before freezing. Pickle.
· Turnips. Leave in ground until needed. Lift and twist off top and store in moist peat or vermiculite.
· Zucchini. Cook before freezing. Will store in a frost-free place for a short time at the end of the season.
