Fruit Vegetables Archives - Harvest to Table

Join our gardening family to receive the latest tips. Subscribe

Okra plant and flower1

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Okra

Watermelons on tiles to ripen

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Watermelon

in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Eggplant

by Stephen Albert

Eggplant is a very tender warm season perennial grown as an annual. Grow eggplant in the warmest, frost-free time of the year. The edible fruit can be long and slender or round or egg-shaped fruit. The fruit is creamy-white, yellow, brown, purple, or sometimes almost black. Eggplant is a small- to a medium-size bush vegetable […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Zucchini and Summer Squash

by Stephen Albert

Zucchini and summer squashes are frost-tender, warm-season annuals. The most popular summer squashes are crookneck, straightneck, scallop, and zucchini. Summer squashes are eaten when they are immature, usually when their skins are soft and thin. Summer squash commonly grows as a bush or smaller weak-stemmed vining plant. Squashes have large, broad leaves; 4 to 6 […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Cucumbers

by Stephen Albert

Cucumbers are weak-stemmed tender annuals that grow best in temperatures ranging from 60° to 90°F (15°-32° C). Some varieties grow like a bush, others are vining. Quick Cucumber Growing Tips Sow cucumber seed in the garden or set out transplants 3 to 4 weeks after the average last frost date in spring. The ideal soil […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Melons

by Stephen Albert

The melons are tender, warm-weather plants. Melons grow best in very warm to hot weather summer regions. Melons are long, trailing annuals that belong to the cucumber and watermelon family. The netted melon or muskmelon is commonly called a cantaloupe, but should not be confused with the real cantaloupe, which is a warty rock melon. […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Winter Melons: Casaba, Crenshaw, Honeydew, and Persian

by Stephen Albert

Winter melons are summer-grown, warm-weather, tender plants that are commonly ready for harvest in late summer, autumn, or early winter. So-called winter melons include casaba, charental, Crenshaw, honeydew, and Persian. Winter melons require 110 frost-free days to reach harvest, more days than required by the summer melons, cantaloupe or muskmelon and the watermelon. • Sow […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Winter Squash

by Stephen Albert

Winter squash is a frost-tender, warm-season annual. Winter squashes are eaten after they have matured and their skins have thickened and hardened. Some winter squashes grow fruit as long as 30 inches (76cm). Fruits vary in shape from round to oblong, to cylindrical to turban shaped. Separate male and female flowers appear on the same […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Hot Peppers

by Stephen Albert

Hot peppers are distinguished from sweet peppers simply by their pungency or hotness of flavor. There are thousands of hot pepper varieties in the world. (This is the case because peppers easily cross-pollinate to produce new kinds.) The hotness of a pepper is determined by a number of blister-like sacs of capsaicinoids on the interior […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Pumpkins

by Stephen Albert

Pumpkins are a warm-season annual that requires from 90 to 120 frost-free days to reach harvest. Grow pumpkins in the warmest, frost-free part of the year. Here is your complete guide to growing potatoes. Pumpkin Growing Quick Tips Sow pumpkins in the garden in spring when all danger of frost has passed and the soil […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow. Prune, and Harvest Chayote

by Stephen Albert

Chayote is a warm-season, tender perennial. Plant the whole fruit 3 to 4 weeks after the last average frost date in spring when the weather has warmed. Chayote grows best where summer temperatures are very warm to hot, in tropical or subtropical regions. Chayote requires 120 to 150 frost-free days to reach harvest. Here is […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Tomatoes

by Stephen Albert

Tomatoes are warm-season annuals that grow best when the soil temperature is at least 55°F (12°C) and the air temperature ranges between 65° and 90°F (18-32°C). Here is your complete guide to growing tomatoes. Quick Tomato Growing Guide Types of Tomatoes Bush and Dwarf Tomatoes Vining Tomatoes Other Tomato Classifications Good Products for Growing Your […] More
in Fruit Vegetables, How to Grow, Plant

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Peppers

by Stephen Albert

Sweet peppers and hot peppers are most easily grown in the garden from transplants started indoors. Start seed indoors 7 to 10 weeks before the date you intend to set peppers into the garden. Don’t rush peppers into the garden. Transplant pepper seedlings into the garden 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost in […] More
in Cooking, Fruit Vegetables, Prepare

How to Cook Winter Squash

by Stephen Albert

Winter squashes are the most plentiful from early autumn until late winter. Unlike the summer squashes, the winter squashes must be cooked before they are eaten. Add winter squash to soups, stews, couscous, and curries. Use winter squash to make pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, pudding, soufflés, and cream desserts. Choose a winter squash—such as the […] More