Harvest to Table

May is the month when the vegetable garden begins to look more and more like the summer garden. By the end of May, the threat of late frosts should diminish and tender crops can begin to go into the garden without worry. Crops started indoors should be hardened off before they are planted. In warm [...]

April is a time of transition in the vegetable garden. Weather extremes from snow flurries to hot weather can occur in the Northern Hemisphere. In cold-winter regions, spring weather may be weeks away. In warm-winter regions, the last frost may already have passed. When the lilacs bloom in your area, the time will be right [...]

March brings the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Spring for the northern hemisphere will arrive on March 20, the vernal equinox. On this day, the sun rises direcly in the east and sets directly in the west. There will be exactly 12 hours from sunrise to sunset. And in the northern hemisphere, [...]

Vegetable crops will begin to take longer to ripen in September. Give melons, limas, and tomatoes more time to ripen naturally. Eggplants are ready for harvest when they are shiny. Beans, cucumbers, melons, zucchini and summer squash will not ripen or mature once they are picked. They will keep for a week or two in [...]

Fruits are ripening by mid-summer. Keep fruit trees and vines thoroughly watered; avoid letting plants dry out, especially newly planted fruits and fruits growing in containers. Scavenging birds and insects will be looking for an opening as fruits ripen. Use bird netting or reflective tape to scare birds away; spray away insects with a strong [...]

Begin to think about harvest in mid to late summer. Warm-weather crops will be ready then. Keeping the soil evenly moist as crops finish maturing is important; you will stop watering many crops just a week or two before picking to concentrate flavor. Succession planting of summer crops where there is enough season left before [...]

July in the Northern Hemisphere is the month to begin enjoying the fruits of your labor in the vegetable garden. Warm-weather crops will begin ripening this month. Getting crops in at the peak of ripeness is important if you want to enjoy the most tasty and most tender harvest. Look back at your planting records–when [...]

June is the month to set out heat loving crops–zucchini, summer squashes, cucumbers, and melons. Plant these crops on hills–the soil stays warmer. Work a spadeful of compost or well-rotted manure into each hill. Summer vegetables should be kept evenly moist–transplants should be watered every day until they are well established. Don’t let tomatoes, peppers, [...]

May is the month when the vegetable garden begins to look more and more like the summer garden. By the end of May, the threat of late frosts should diminish and tender crops can begin to go into the garden without worry. Crops started indoors should be hardened off before they are planted. During May [...]

Keep a vegetable garden calendar and map. Use the calendar to record when you start seeds, when you plant in the garden, and when you expect to harvest each crop. Use the garden map to record where you plant each crop or plan to plant later in the season. Keeping track of the garden in [...]