A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Picky

Is there a "how to guide" for when to pick? I think I can tell but I love information. I would to pick too early or too late based on my gut feeling

BTW thanks Willy for this site - it has helped me!!

Yes PLEASE! A "when to pick" guide would be super handy for this unqualified first time gardener and my somewhat nervous veggies. Everytime I go out there they get scared I'm gonna hack them off before their time LOL!

The 'comments' here might help you http://www.thegardenhelper.com/vegtips.html

Not sure if there is an 'official list' but what veggies are you curious about?

My zuchini and cucumbers I plan on just picking when they get to the size I want. I'm guessing tomatos are pretty well ripe when they turn the perfect shade of red. But what about Watermelons? Do I go by size or is there another way of telling it's ripe. And also jalpenos. I have a couple that are getting close to store bought size but dont know if I'm supposed to let them keep going until it stops getting bigger or turns red or what.

Thanks for the link! Very helpful.

Learned something already! Says Tomatos actually ripen after they are picked! Didn't know that. I thought they had to turn dark red on the vine. I think the other things might just take some experience? I'm working on my experience badge this year so maybe next year I'll know exactly what a "ripe" watermelon should look and sound like.

Here our season isn't long enough to ripen on the vine..we pick before frost..put them on our window sills and wait for the red to show

Hmm, what kind of watermelons do you plant..the length of harvest time listed on the package should give you a rough idea.

I've never planted jalapeno peppers that ever ripened..but I know they can be picked when they turn a brighter darker green,..they'll also start with red tips.

The seed packet should have information on "days to harvest." Also, you might look Florida's ag extension web site. Here's the link to the page about veggie gardening: http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/plants_and_grasses/edibles.html

Jalapenos can be picked just about anytime. In fact, you should probably start picking some now. If you don't pick more or less continuously when they begin to ripen, the plant will stop producing flowers (and thus fruit). I don't know how it is in FLorida, but in my experience once you begin to pick them, you'll have a continuous supply through fall-- except maybe in the extreme heat of the summer. But they'll come back once it cools off a bit.

The same is true for tomatoes. (Although the determinant varieties will definitely slow down once they've peaked.)

Thanks Tamara! It's been so hot here that my tomato flowers haven't set fruit. Hoping for a cooler spell to jump start it tho. Heat index was 112 yesterday It was so hot my outdoor thermometer was banging on the door to come inside! True story!

Marcia I really appreciate the local link! The watermelons I have growing right now are Sugar Baby earliest variety. seed packet says Harvest in 73 days. Does that mean 73 days from the time the fruit appears or 73 days from the time your seedling comes up? I have also planted Crimson Sweet Watermelons which is supposed to be a later variety. They are just now beginning to put out blooms.

I am contemplating going out this afternoon and picking my very first jalapeno! I'll just try it out and if it's not ripe enough I'll wait a while before picking the others.

112*F? Wow, we never see even close to that here, even if you counted in the humidity...no wonder you have no fruit flowers, yikes.

For seeds, days to harvest is date planted + # days. So if I planted watermelon today, I'd expect to harvest around 8/27-- the end of August give or take.

When planting seedlings (transplants) I *think* it's date you planted + #days.

DISCLAIMER: Your local conditions may vary!

Lots of folks keep track of this sort of information using a calendar or a spreadsheet. It's actually pretty useful when you first start out because you can: a) plan your out of town trips; b) space out your garden (in time) so you don't boom & bust; c) co-ordinate-- like if your main mission in life is to put up gallons of salsa, you'd want to plant so that your tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, etc. are ready to pick around the same time. And it helps plan next year if you also keep track of when you really did begin to harvest. PLUS it turns you into a REAL garden geek!

Yeah-- here in Mississippi the heat index was over 105* yesterday. Then we got a lot of afternoon and evening showers. Cooled it off a bit. Today it's only about 85*. Nice.

Garden Geekhood here I come! Sounds like a good idea to use a calender and just document everything. I dont remember exactly when I planted each thing this year so it'll just have to be hit or miss. But you can bet I'll be keeping better track next year! I think I have some pictures of when if first planted stuff actually. I'll dig them out and see if they were date stamped. Glad to hear it's not going to be 73 MORE days from the time my watermellons appeared! What a bummer that would be. Those and my Jalapenos seem to be loving the heat!

Geek to geek... . The best quickest documentation you can acquire are date stamped photos. But if you want to get really geeky...

Here's my summary spreadsheet for my very first really true kick butt (at the time) veggie garden 'bout 4 years ago.



At the time, I was interested in learning the plant to product ratio. How many pounds of peppers does a pepper plant produce? How many tomato plants are needed to eat tomatoes, and to preserve enough to carry you through to the next ripe tomato? That sort of thing.

marcia

that is good, but me an charts dont get along.
I keep forgetting to do them.LOL

b

Very efficient charts tho.. What program do you use to write those?
I dont know how to get aroung the cells with out falling off.LOL

I have one word for you. WOW! That's an impressive chart! I like it! I'm inspired to bust out a spread sheet of my own. I'd like to keep track of how many of each thing I harvest and how much money it saved us if we had to buy it in the store. Plus it'll be helpful next year to know how long it took for each thing to be ready for harvest. I can hardly wait to show off to the the hubby how much money I'm gonna save us!

One man's geeky is another man's SAVVY CHIC!!!

Great chart, I used to 'pen' things before, but now every year it seems I lose my garden to hail or early frost..I've given up on charts.

Dodge-- that's a spreadsheet in a Mac program called Numbers. It's basically the same thing as microsoft Excel. It's just a thing with me... call it a character flaw! I even made graphs out of the original day by day data to see the trends (like that tomato harvest falls off and then picks up again).

Crystal-- you are going to save a lot of money! Just think of it. Those 10 tomato plants produced nearly 100 pounds of tomatoes. If you start your own you're only in it for the seed, some peat pots and a little potting soil. And of course the cost of whatever you're amending the garden soil with, etc., and supplies to freeze or can.

We made a couple of kinds of tomato sauce, and stewed tomatoes and froze it. We canned salsa & stuff like that. From the stewed tomatoes you can make chili sauce or ketchup even in the winter. We didn't run out until April or May. That means we didn't buy a single tomato or tomato based product for 9 or 10 months. (I remember that we did buy some fresh tomatoes but then stopped b/c they tasted like cardboard.) And that was in Cincinnati. Here in Mississippi we may have a year-round supply since harvest starts earlier.

You will save a lot of money. Not to mention the fact that you'll eat better. I saw you pick your peppers and made salsa! Best ever!!

I sprayed the tomatpes today.

Blight has been recorded about 30 mile away.
Oh god save my crop of 60.

dodgte

Is this the blight that there was a post about recently? Good luck!

What did you spray them with?

Marcia, do you have tomatoes yet this year? I'm a little further south but I think we have similar weather to yours. The plant itself is doing just fine but no luck for me yet with the maters. Hope yours are doing better!

I would prefer to not talk about my tomatoes. [Hanging head in shame.]

o.k. This is our first year here and although I started my seeds on time, I didn't get them in the ground on time. So, no. I have no tomatoes yet except a few very tiny ones. Even though I don't usually use fertilizer, I purposefully gave them a dose of MG (the regular kind) because it was more important that they get their roots going and get some size on them before they started to flower. We'll see how it goes. I have 71 plants in so hopefully I'll get something!

Are your plants flowering? When did you get them in the ground? What varieties do you have?

Yes it is , whover took the time to post that .
It is not in the area ,i hope.. But I sprayed with something called copper.
There is others but soooooooooooo pricey the man said.
Would be better off buying tomatoes at the market.

b

Marcia, I'm impressed! 71 tomato plants! I'm rooting for them and i'm sure with that many, the odds are good that you will get something for all your effort!

I have 4 super beefsteak tomatos and 2 red cherry tomatos that were planted much later. From what I could find in my photos I think 2 of the beefsteak were planted mid april. I put them straight into the garden and they've grown very well. The other two were planted begining of May in an area where onion seeds had been planted but never sprouted. They are also getting large and growing well. The cherry tomato plants I started indoors in May and aren't quite big enough yet to be flowering anyway. But my beefsteak ones have put out several flowers. They just refuse to do anything else. The flowers bloom, look pretty for a couple days, then slowly wilt away without any signs of fruit!

I have read that this could be solely due to heat, but since you already have some small tomatos and you're in a similar hot area, I'm beginning to wonder if there is something else I'm doing wrong.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. As we're talking about in some other post, mulch might help. And yes, when the nighttime temps are in the 70s or so, the tomatoes stop producing flowers. If you're getting flowers you should be o.k.

Ahh.



Have you checked for aphids? If aphids are on the flowers or flower stems, they will suck the life out of the flower, literally. flowers that aren't pollinated will also drop. But tomatoes are self pollinating. All they need is a bit of wind or motion, so that's probably not it.

Don't give up!

Praying Dodge's tomato plants get passed by from blight

71 plants wow, you must put in a large garden?

I sprayed yesterday, the tomatoes.
Now we wait, an wait.

They said it comes in the wind or folks just walking the gardens brushing it.
I live between 2 potato farmers an has one jumpy.. THey get it on them also.

Every week we must spray. I put on rubber gloves .

dodge

I cant even remember what row I planted my carrots in versus my parsley (I did figure it out eventually)!! The link is helpful but its still gonna be a guessing game. Im not a very good chart person!!! I cant believe that planting chart now thats some organization!!

Do red peppers turn red on the vine??

Fairy some tips I got at the farmers market for tomatoes. Ripen upside in a paper bag for best results. It works pretty good.

Off to read the rest as I am not organizized enough to reply in just one post

Yes, if they are indeed 'true red pepper' plants, they will.

yes

they turn red when they are ready to be harvested?? or at some point they just turn red??

Are they Sweet Bells? Those peppers can be harvested when they're firm and full size usually around 4 inches or so and still green. You can wait for them to turn red. The less green you see usually the sweeter the pepper. Watch them close though, they'll decay quick once they turn their true color.

I rarely let mine turn red. I use them green & if I have extras I clean them out & freeze them for stuffed peppers in the winter.

Good tip Tamara the one is about 4" but completely green. Another week till harvest?? Yes sweet bells

Marcia you were right! Look at my baby watermellon! It's definately NOT going to be another 70 days before this little beauty is ripe! I'm so stoked! Going to put mulch underneath it tomorrow.

Plum Sized Baby Watermellon

I put mulch under my cukes, squash, and cantaloupe last night. I dont have any baby lopes yet but I do have flowers. I thought the thing was going to die when I planted it. It was one of the few transplants I did