Harvesting from Your Garden

Harvesting from your garden is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!

You’ve probably heard it’s best to harvest from your garden in the morning. Maybe you’ve also heard not to harvest from your garden when wet… These can seem contradictory especially on damp, dewy mornings. But there’s more behind the ‘not wet and not wilted’ reasoning.

I’m sharing some best practices to harvest lots of delicious and nutritious food to make your garden healthier and more productive.

Why Not When Wet?

We should generally hold off harvesting from our gardens until plants are dried off because when we open a wound on a plant from harvesting by cutting or breaking off we’re leaving an entrance on the plant for diseases.

Fungal and bacterial diseases (blight, powdery mildew, rust, etc.) multiply while the leaves are wet. So, the chance of them getting directly into a wound is greater with a wet plant as well. This timing also makes it harder for the plant to fend off the diseases in general.

When it rains, any ‘germs’ a plant has on its surface are captured in rain drops. If a gardener were to go through while the plants are wet, the ‘germy’ water from one plant is shared with neighboring plants as the gardener brushes the leaves and moves from one plant to the next.

Even though I love walking through a garden right after it rains (it feels so lush and primal doesn’t it!?) I try to remember to stay in the wide paths and not touch plants to minimize the spread of diseases.

When leaves are wet, their pores become much more open to their surroundings. A plant’s roots and leaves will take up the most water in the morning.  Later in the heat of the day, the water-absorbing pores on the leaves tend to close up as a way to retain the moisture they have. This closing of the pores can make plants LOOK like they need water later in the afternoon, but it’s just the plant’s biology taking care of itself and holding onto water from the inside out.  That’s why middle-of-the-day-watering is pretty much a waste of time and resources. You’re likely watering a plant that doesn’t need it and can’t really absorb it. Plus the heat will evaporate most of the water anyways. Remember, even water under the surface of soil turns to gas as it heats up. Another reason to mulch your gardens.

*Note – you may still want to water seeds and tiny seedlings in the middle of the day to keep that thin layer of soil where the plant is active sufficiently damp. Consider mulching shallow rooted plants as well.

Avoid Harvesting from your Garden When Dry

Herbs are easy to grow, but do best when harvested during that not wet but not yet wilted stage. One exception to is if you’re just grabbing a handful to make Infused water. Herbs are at their best flavor when no extra water is present on any leaves. But also, you don’t want them heated up by the sun as this causes the plant’s essential oils to vaporize. You can generally tell when it’s too late in the day to harvest an herb if you can smell it before you get to the plants. All the oils you want to capture are already floating in the air.

Read my blog for detailed information on Harvesting, Preserving and Using Herbs

Harvesting Tips

Think about the produce you’re picking. The thinner the skin the higher the respiration rate. We don’t usually think of plants as breathing but they’re continually respirating which is why food will eventually rot.

In general food with thicker skin (Winter Squash) respirate at a slower rate and can stay ‘shelf stable’ for months.

*Pick berries only when dry. Berries in particular have incredibly thin skin and a high respiration rate. Berries picked in the rain will retain this moisture and start to rapidly mold.

*Clean snips between harvests. Using the same snips or knife to harvest at this time might also spread those same disease around. I try to always have some rubbing alcohol around (extra hand sanitizer works too) to spray and wipe down blades between pruning.

*Dunk in water. You can submerge + store cucumbers, celery and heads of lettuce/greens in clean water for an hour or so post harvest to help keep moisture content.

*Have a clean, smooth container ready. Bruising, or puncturing skin of just harvested veggies can be easily avoided.

*A few plants should be harvested while still wet– lettuce greens, and sweet corn.

Tomatoes-

Not only are tomatoes more susceptible to diseases if picked after a rain, but they also tend to split/crack open after a large rain event. So, if you’ve got some ‘almost ripe’ tomatoes hanging on the vine- go ahead and pick them before that big storm rolls in. They can finish ripening inside. There’s nothing wrong with picking a tomato in the afternoon – especially if you’re going to eat it right away. Remember the thinner skin of tomatoes though, they’ve lost some of their water content from the heat of the day. But I think this can make their flavor even more intense- sun warmed tomatoes for the win!

Beans–

Bacterial Bean Blight- causes light green or yellow spots to form on bean leaves. The blight eventually kills the leaf and weakens the plant, which may stop producing or die all together. The disease is more readily spread when you disturb wet plants during harvest. It is best to avoid picking beans from wet plants if they are still producing. 

Cucumbers and Zucchini-

Pick them often and on the small side, the seeds will be smaller and the skin thinner on most varieties the earlier you pick them. Using a snips to cut cucumbers from the vine and a sharp (clean) knife to cut zucchini and summer squash off the vine will keep you from damaging the plant. These are known to get powdery mildew which can be spread by splashing water.

I hope this help you with harvesting from your garden and growing happier healthier plants!

Dig In!
Michelle