Vegetable crops will begin to take longer to ripen in
September. Give melons, limas, and tomatoes more time to ripen naturally.
Eggplants are ready for harvest when they are shiny.
Beans, cucumbers, melons, zucchini and summer squash will
not ripen or mature once they are picked. They will keep for a week or two in
the refrigerator.
Large cabbages and broccoli sideshoots will come to
harvest in cooler regions. Cut-and-come again harvest of lettuce, spinach, and
greens will stimulate new fall growth.
Dig regular potatoes and sweet potatoes as late as
possible, just before frost threatens. Pick all tomatoes, peppers, beans, vine
crops, winter squashes and other tender vegetables before hard frost.
Mild-winter region
planting. Cool-season
vegetables can be planted in September in mild-winter regions. Plant now beets,
broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, fava beans, kale,
kohlrabi, leeks, both head and leaf lettuce, mustard greens, onions, parsley,
peas, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips.
Plant broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and celery
from transplants; plant potatoes from seed potatoes and onions from sets.
Onions planted now will produce scallions; wait until November to plant onions
for large onion bulbs.
Cabbage and artichoke transplants can be set in the garden
in October.
Tomatoes. Pinch off the top of all tomato
plants in September; remove at least six inches of foliage on each stem. Plucking
away fruit bearing foliage will allow the plant to put its strength into
ripening tomatoes already on the vine.
After harvest, freeze tomatoes whole or sliced. Scald
tomatoes for one minute then place them on oiled baking sheets in the freezer
for one day. After freezing, the tomatoes can be bagged or boxed and returned
to the freezer.
Peppers. Chili
peppers ripen best on the
vine; sweet peppers will ripen after picking. Sweet pepper left on the plant
will keep fresh longer than those cut off. If you harvest peppers at the green
stage, the plant will continue to set new fruit. To ripen sweet peppers out of
the garden, lift the entire plant and hang it in a room or shed at 50°F.
