Gardening: How to tell when it’s time to pick homegrown veggies

This has been the summer of the vegetable garden! Our early heat in May and June jump-started the warm season vegetables. Our hot weather in July wasn’t so hot that it slowed fruit set on tomatoes and peppers. The question then becomes how to tell when crops are ripe and ready to pick? Some like tomatoes are easy, but what about peppers, eggplant, corn, melon and squash? Here are a few tips.

Sweet or spicy peppers are ripe at either the green or red stage when they have filled out. If the green peppers are left on the plant for another two to three weeks, they will turn shades of red or orange and be at their sweetest or spiciest. The good news is that we might get red peppers this year in Spokane. The bad news is in normal years we usually run out of summer before they color up. So, enjoy this year.

Eggplant is a beautiful vegetable with its upright fuzzy leaves and pretty, purple flowers. The fruit forms under the leaves of the plant which means you might have to hunt for them. There are many different varieties of eggplant from round and dark purple to mottled purple to long, thin and white. Regardless of the shape or color, eggplant is best harvested when it is a good size and has a shiny skin.

Telling when corn is ripe takes a bit of timing. First the tassels at the top of the plant emerge followed by the silk from the ends of the new ears. Once the silk appears, it takes about 21 days for a ripe ear to develop. To double-check if it’s ready, carefully pull back the husk at the tip of the ear to see if the kernels have completely filled out. If so, gently press on a kernel; the ear is ripe if milky juice comes out. Don’t let corn stay on the stalk too long as it loses its sweetness.

Melons like cantaloupe, muskmelon, honeydew and watermelon can be tricky to check for ripeness. For cantaloupe and muskmelons, the skin will turn a tan color underneath the veining and the stem will detach from the vine. Honeydew melons will have a creamy yellow, waxy skin and the base of the melon opposite its vine attachment point will be a little springy. For watermelons, the stem attached to the plant will be brown and the area where the fruit rested on the ground will be a definite yellow color.

Zucchini and summer squash are best picked when their skins are still shiny and they are 6 inches long. Larger zucchinis with dull skin are still good but lose some of their flavor and texture.

Winter squash - such as spaghetti, pumpkin and acorn varieties - is best left in the garden until after the first frost. The skin on ripe ones should not easily yield to a thumbnail. Leave a stub of vine at the top of the melon and store it in a cool, dry place like a basement.