Harvesting Tips for Greater Productivity

Increase your harvest and flavor without adding more space to the garden.

Pick leaf lettuce when the outer leaves are 4 to 6 inches. The plant will keep producing. Place your harvest in a bucket of water to keep it fresh. Use the same technique with Swiss chard. Harvest just the outer leaves when 8 to 10 inches. The plant will keep producing and looking good all season long.

Remove just the full size firm head of cabbage. Leave the lowest leaves and stem intact. Several smaller heads will develop. That’s a lot of cabbage from one plant.

Remove just the main head of broccoli when the flowerbuds are tight and bright blue-green. Then harvest the smaller side shoots that continue to develop on the plant.

Harvest eggplant when the fruit are full size, skin glossy. Gently press and release. If just a small indentation remains, it is ready to harvest.

A bit more information: Produce a creamy white head of cauliflower with blanching and proper harvesting. Cover the head of cauliflower when it is the size of a quarter. Leaves of self-blanching varieties will naturally do this. Loosely tie the leaves of other cauliflower varieties to cover the developing head, so it stays white and has a mild flavor. Check in 5 to 7 days and harvest when the head is full sized.