DATE: Sunday, August 17, 1997               TAG: 9708160086

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: GARDENING

SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

PICK VEGETABLES FREQUENTLY OR RISK MISSING PEAK FLAVOR AND NUTRIENTS

DURING HOT, hazy August days it's easy to stop tending the garden every day. Now is harvest time for many vegetables, and it's important to pick them at their peak if you want the best flavor and nutritional value.

Here are a few suggestions, with help from Louisiana State University:

Cucumbers: It's important to pick cucumbers when they're young and tender and store them in the refrigerator. A yellowish skin indicates the cucumber is past the best edible stage. Pick them frequently, daily if possible. Remove oversized cucumbers to encourage new flower and fruit.

Summer squash: The same rules apply to squash as to cucumbers. The only additional reminder is that you should be able to easily puncture or scratch the rind of the fruit with your thumbnail when it's ready to pick.

Bell peppers: Harvest after they reach full size and the fruit becomes firm. Mature peppers will easily snap off a plant when lifted lightly.

Tomatoes: Tomato harvest should be at its peak now. Pick them at least twice a week. Store in a cool place but do not refrigerate until fully ripe and ready to eat. Fruit that has begun to turn pink on the blossom end will ripen when removed from the vine. This is important if you're leaving on vacation. If you leave ripening fruit on the vine, it will rot or the birds will eat it, and you'll have a mess when you return.

Eggplants: Eggplant can be picked any time after it reaches one-third of its normal mature size. It should have a high gloss or sheen to its skin. If you cut it and the seed inside has turned brown, it is past the best eating stage.

Lima or butter beans: This Southern delight is at its peak now. Pods are ready to pick when beans are three-quarters of their full size or when pods can be shelled easily, before pods show any yellowing.

Snap beans: Harvest while tender and before the beans inside cause pods to bulge. Pick frequently and chill immediately.

Field peas or Southern peas: Pods should be plump before picking. Purple-hulled varieties should show 50 percent purple on the pod. Green-hulled varieties should show light yellowing on the pod.

Cantaloupes: Pick when the stem separates readily from the fruit with only slight pressure, leaving a clean stem scar on the fruit. If picked immature, cantaloupes will not increase in sweetness, but the texture may improve some.

Watermelons: Nothing beats experience in knowing when to pick a watermelon. Ripe fruit will give a dull, flat sound when thumped. Watermelon that is not ripe will give a crisp metallic sound. The most reliable sign is that the spot where it's touching the ground will change from white to light yellow.

Figs: Figs are ready to pick when the fruit has turned slightly brown. If left too long on the bush, figs will rot and attract bees, birds, squirrels and raccoons.

Potatoes: Potatoes should have been dug before now, but remember to store them in a cool, dark place.

Keep in mind that high temperatures, day and night, interfere with pollination and fruit set on many vegetables.

Snap beans tend to drop their flowers. Squash will produce a large number of male flowers and consequently bear little fruit. Tomatoes and bell peppers set few fruit under hot conditions. Butter beans will drop their flowers but will set some fruit. Eggplant is an exception - it will continue to set fruit in summer. ILLUSTRATION: FILE COLOR PHOTO

Cucumbers should be picked...

Photo

Harvest snap beans before the beans inside cause pods to bulge.

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