Local Life, Opinion

Grow with Grace: Dig In and Pick It!

Welcome to Grow with Grace! Every week I’ll share simple garden tips, seasonal advice, and a few tricks I’ve learned along the way. Let’s dig in!

If you planted a garden this season, you’re probably starting to see results. Peppers are maturing, cucumbers are sizing up, and tomatoes may even be starting to blush. That means it’s time to start talking about harvesting.

Harvesting encourages a longer, more productive season. Leaving mature vegetables and fruits on the vine tells the plant it’s done its job and can slow production. The more you harvest, the more many plants will produce.

Let’s take a look at some of the garden favorites that are getting ready to make the trip from your yard to your table.

Peppers

Imitate Peter Piper — pick them! Large bell peppers and giant jalapeños may need a little more time, and red, orange, and yellow peppers probably haven’t finished coloring up yet. Smaller peppers, though, should be ready. If you grow shishitos (and I think everyone should), they’re likely ready to harvest now. Pick every couple of days, and they’ll reward you with peppers all season. Last year, mine produced well into October.

Added bonus: You have about a 1-in-10 chance of harvesting a pepper that could cause spontaneous combustion!

Cucumbers

Snip cucumbers from the vine as they become ready. Give them a gentle squeeze—they should be firm and crisp, a medium to dark green, and the recommended size for their variety. For most slicing cucumbers, that’s about 6 to 8 inches. If they start turning yellow, they’re overripe and likely to be bitter.

Don’t let oversized cucumbers linger on the vine. Sometimes a cucumber will be thin or bent at one end. It won’t fill out if you leave it. If it’s firm, dark green, and mature, harvest it and enjoy it.

Tomatoes

Small-fruited and early varieties will be the first to blush. With the drought followed by heavy rain we’ve experienced this season, your first tomatoes may be cracked or develop blossom end rot.

Blossom end rot makes a tomato unattractive, but the unaffected portion is still perfectly edible. Unfortunately, the damaged fruit won’t recover, so go ahead and pick it.

Blossom end rot isn’t usually caused by a lack of calcium in the soil. It happens when the plant can’t take up calcium because of inconsistent watering. Translation: drought followed by deluge. Aim to give your tomatoes 1 to 1½ inches of water each week … and hope Mother Nature cooperates.

Zucchini

Don’t do it! Don’t leave that beautiful zucchini on the plant “just one more day” so it’ll get a little bigger. If you’ve ever tried that, you already know today’s perfect squash becomes tomorrow’s Louisville Slugger.

Herbs

Keep trimming basil and other herbs to prevent them from flowering. Regular harvesting keeps them producing tender, flavorful leaves. For the best flavor, harvest herbs in the morning after the dew has dried.

For basil, think haircut, not leaf-picking. Snip the stem just above a pair of leaves and always pinch off flower buds.

Oregano and thyme get haircuts similar to basil. Snip the green stems just above a pair of leaves, and pinch off any flowers to keep the plants flavorful and productive.

Harvest parsley from the outside in, cutting the outer stems at the base of the plant. If you’re not ready to use it, keep it in the refrigerator with the stems in a jar of water, just like a bouquet.

I’ll share some of my favorite herb preservation tips in next week’s column.

As the season progresses, you may find yourself with more vegetables than you, your neighbors, and your friends can use — a phenomenon known as the August Tomato Avalanche or Ding Dong Ditch Zucchini.

If that happens, please consider donating your extra produce to Lunch Break or another local food pantry. Fresh, homegrown produce is always appreciated.

I’m headed out to toil in the soil.

Happy growing!

Grace

** Grace Cangemi Ryan is a longtime area resident and master gardener who graduated from Rumson Country Day School in 1980, is an alum of the famous Barn Theatre in Rumson, a former longtime entertainment industry professional and Red Bank councilwoman from years back. She supports hyperlocal journalism and is a friend to this hyperlocal labor of love, R-FH Retro. Growing with Grace will appear in R-FH Retro weekly, offering gardening tips from Grace — or with Grace. If you need a little Grace in the form of help with your garden, give Grace a call. See her sponsorship above. **