And so the season ends. I’ve picked the last of the tomatoes with the plants now on the compost heap and the contents of the pots on the veg beds.

The green fruit will ripen in the kitchen. It’s not as good as sun ripened but still better than bought. We’re usually eating homegrown tomatoes right up until Christmas.
#gardening #GrowYourOwn #cotswolds #GrowYourOwnFood #tomatoes

🥬🍓The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. 🚜
campingemporium.com

#harvest #agriculture #farming #farm #gardening #garden #nature #farmlife #organic #autumn #homegrown #growyourown #fall #farmer #growyourownfood #wine

Dinner tonight is butternut squash soup with amaranth grain and baby kale.

Amaranth is leftover from last year, butternut was harvested last month, and the kale was went straight from the garden to the pot 😋 Oh, and I used some homemade veggie broth I froze earlier this summer.

#Cooking #GardenToTable #FarmToTable #GrowYourOwn #GrowYourOwnFood

Spinach harvest!

#spinach #growyourown #growyourownfood #growbag #gardening

A timely post!

How to Harvest Sweet Peppers for the Best Flavor

By Stephen Albert

"A good pepper harvest practice is to harvest some peppers to serve green and let others mature to red or full color on the vine. This will give you a mix of flavor, heat, and nutrition. Fully ripe and immature peppers can be served fresh together. Harvest peppers when they are the right size for your use.

- Cut peppers from the plant with a pruning shear or knife. Leave a short stub of stem attached to the fruit. Do not pull peppers from the plant by hand; this can result in broken branches.
- Use gloves when you harvest hot peppers to protect your skin. Hot peppers contain capsaicin oil which can burn the hands, eyes, nose, and mouth."

Read more:
https://harvesttotable.com/harvest-store-peppers/

#SolarPunkSunday #GrowYourOwn #GrowYourOwnFood #PreservingTheHarvest #GrowingPeppers

10 Vegetables to Plant in October for Easy Crops and a Bumper Harvest

You’ll have a glut of vegetables come spring if you sow these crops in your kitchen garden this October…

By Kayleigh Dray, September 20, 2025

"The harvest moon of 2025 is almost upon us, so why not celebrate with the best vegetables to plant in October? Oh sure, most vegetable gardening basics will tell you that the growing season is almost over, but the fall is actually the perfect time to keep your beds productive and set yourself up for a glut of veg in the months to come.

"Of course, what you can grow depends heavily on your local climate. The USDA Hardiness Zones (a map dividing our beautiful country into regions based on average minimal winter temperatures) is your best guide. If you’re based somewhere warmer, you’ll likely find you can keep on planting throughout the fall and winter months; those in colder climes, however, need to be strategic.

"There’s an easy trick to help with this: pick crops that are suited to shorter days and chillier evenings. Whether that’s leafy greens that love the cold, root vegetables that bulk up underground, overwinter crops that reward patient planters come springtime, or even hardy herbs that pack a serious punch, there’s plenty of options for anyone who wants to keep their hands firmly in the soil this October…"

Learn more:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/vegetables-to-plant-in-october

#SolarPunkSunday #GrowYourOwn #GrowYourOwnFood #Kale #Cabbage #Beets #SnowPeas #BlackRadishes #Garlic #Lettuce #Herbs #Broccoli #FallPlanting

Picking Beets - Learn The Steps To Harvest Beets

By Becca Badgett
last updated March 25, 2021

"Learning when to harvest beets takes a little knowledge of the crop and understanding the use you have planned for the beets. Harvesting beets is possible as soon as 45 days after planting seeds of some varieties. Some say the smaller the beet, the more flavorful, while others allow them to reach a medium size before picking beets.

Picking the leaves for use in various culinary endeavors is also a part of harvesting beets. The attractive leaves are packed with nutrition and may be eaten raw, cooked, or used as a garnish. Making juice may be a part of your plan when harvesting beets. Picking beets is easy once you know what to look for. Shoulders of the beets will protrude from the soil. When to harvest beets depends on the size of beet you desire. The best beets are dark in color, with a smooth surface. Smaller beets are most flavorful. Larger beets may become fibrous, soft, or wrinkled. The time table for harvesting beets will depend on when the beets were planted, temperatures where the beets are growing, and what you are looking for in your beet crop. Beets are best grown as a cool season crop, in spring and fall in most areas.

How to Harvest Beets

Depending on soil and recent rainfall, you may want to water the beet crop a day or two before picking beets to make them slip from the soil more easily. This is particularly true if you will be picking beets by hand. To harvest beets by hand, firmly grasp the area where the leaves meet the beet root and give a firm and steady pull until the beet root comes out of the ground. Digging is an alternative way of harvesting beets. Carefully dig around and below the growing beet, being careful not to slice through and then lift them out of the ground. After picking beets, wash them if they will soon be used. If beets will be stored for a length of time, place them in a dry, shady place until the soil on them has dried, then gently brush the dried soil off. Wash the beets right before using. Beet greens can be sparingly and individually trimmed from the root while the roots are still in the ground, or can be cut off the beet root in a bunch after the beet has been harvested. These simple steps to harvest beets are all that is required to take this vegetable from the garden to the table, stove, or storage area. Have a plan for the beet harvest, as beet greens will last only a few days when refrigerated and beet roots only a few weeks unless stored in sand or sawdust in a cool place, such as a root cellar. When picking beets, try to eat some of them fresh for the best flavor and highest nutritional content."

Source:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/beets/harvesting-beets.htm

#SolarPunkSunday #GrowYourOwn #GrowYourOwnFood #HarvestingBeets #Beets #WeGotTheBeets

So next year, I think I'll try the straw method with my potatoes. I had a decent crop -- way better than last year (the first year I tried growing them). "Planting in straw makes it easy to harvest a few new potatoes without killing the plant. Lift up the straw layer, remove a few baby potatoes directly under the straw, and then replace the straw layer."


Harvesting Potatoes: How to Know When Your Potatoes Are Ready

Harvesting potatoes is a tricky task, since they're underground. This is your ultimate guide to knowing exactly when to dig your taters up.

Written by Sarah Jay Last updated: July 23, 2024

Excerpt:

9 Potato Harvesting Tips

"Here are a few quick tips to help your potato harvesting:

- Harvest tubers at any size. Potatoes harvested before they mature are called new potatoes. New potatoes cannot be stored but must be used right away.
- As potatoes mature, their skins harden. The skin of a new potato will easily peel off when rubbed.
- A potato plant will produce 3 to 6 regular-size potatoes and a number of small ones.
- Use a spading fork to dig up potatoes. Lift potatoes gently to avoid bruising or damaging the skins. Use your fingers to harvest potatoes if need be.
- Potatoes can be left in the ground past maturity until the first frost, but they are most nutritious if harvested when they mature.
- Protect harvested potatoes from sunlight; those exposed to light will become green potatoes and produce a bitter chemical compound called solanine.
- Cure potatoes before storing them. Curing will harden the skins for storage. Set tubers in a single layer in a dark place at 50°F to 60°F for two weeks to cure.
- Store them at about 40°F
- Save the best tubers to plant potatoes next season. Don’t save potatoes that are soft or discolored. Don’t save potatoes if any of the potato plants are diseased.

Storing Potatoes

Store potatoes in a cool, dry place. Don’t wash potatoes before storing them because moisture speeds up spoilage. When stored between 45°F – 50°F, potatoes will stay fresh for several weeks. When stored at room temperature, potatoes are at their best quality for about one week.

Do not try to store tubers that are bruised or injured from digging. Use these potatoes right away.

Do not store raw potatoes in the refrigerator because the potato starch will most likely change to sugar in this too cold environment. Refrigerated potatoes will show excessive browning during cooking (especially when frying) and will have an undesirable sweet taste.

Do not store potatoes close to fruit. Ripening apples and other fruit give off ethylene, a plant hormone that will stimulate potatoes to sprout prematurely.

Do not store potatoes where they will be exposed to light. Potato tubers are, botanically speaking, a modified stem. Exposure to light will cause tubers that are dormant to wake up, turn green, and begin to sprout and grow. This green color comes from the plant pigment chlorophyll.

Along with the 'greening' of the potato, a compound called solanine forms. Solanine is one of the compounds that give potatoes their taste, but in excess amounts, this substance can be toxic. Avoid eating the green skin—simply cut off and discard the green parts of the potato. The rest of the potato will be fine."

Full article:
https://www.epicgardening.com/harvesting-potatoes/

#SolarPunkSunday #GrowYourOwnFood #GrowYourOwn #HarvestingPotatoes #GrowingPotatoes