After long, hot days tending to produce in the summer, fall is the time to celebrate and enjoy all of the flavors of your garden. Here are a few ways to ensure your harvest goes smoothly.
Harvesting
Pumpkins
Straders Garden
Make sure to harvest these fall favorites before the first frost. This ensures the seeds are still salvageable and can be replanted in the spring. Before harvesting, check if the skins of the vegetables have hardened. If knocking on the pumpkin creates a hollow sound, the pumpkin is ready to harvest. After collecting, leave the pumpkin outside to cure the vegetable and intensify its flavor prior to cooking or baking.
Apples
If planted in early spring, along with proper pruning and fertilization, this crisp fruit will be ready to pick by fall, just in time for seasonal pies, salads and cobbler. Although the time to harvest and the correct color to harvest depends on the type of apple planted, they are typically ready to pick once the apple’s green tint is replaced with a white and yellow cast.
Sweet potatoes
Harvesting before the first frost and on a cloudy day without recent rain ensures these sensitive yams do not sun-scald once dug up. Before removing the vines of the plant, finding the crown or thickest stem of the plant will save time searching for the potatoes. To cure and ensure longevity, avoid washing after first harvesting. Instead, brush off excess soil and store the potatoes in a garage or warm basement for about a week.
Planting
Just because the weather is cooling down, doesn’t mean your gardening hobby has to. Plenty of plants can survive the chillier autumn months.
Greens
Fall’s cooler temperatures allow leafy greens such as kale, romaine, spinach and various lettuces to thrive. Planting peas, such as snap, snow and shelling, during September is another opportunity to diversify winter plates.
Roots
The cooler temperatures allow root vegetables such as beets, radishes, carrots and turnips to flourish. These mighty vegetables can withstand unexpected colder temperatures and early frosts.
Brassicas
Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bok choy and broccoli are flavorful plants that will be ready to harvest late November through January if planted in the fall months.
Recipe
Maple + Mango
Pumpkin and Beetroot Salad
Recipe and photo courtesy of Maple and Mango
Salad ingredients
- 2 lbs. of peeled and cut pumpkin/squash
- 4 beets
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- Pine nuts
- Pumpkin seeds
- Arugula, spinach, other greens
- Black pepper
Dressing ingredients
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. apple cider or balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Cube pumpkin and place on baking sheet. Coat pumpkin and beets with olive oil, salt and pepper before wrapping the beets in foil and placing everything in the oven.
- Roast beets and pumpkin for 45 minutes to one hour, flipping pumpkin cubes halfway through. Remove from oven and open beet foil packages to allow steam to escape. Set aside to cool.
- Prepare dressing by whisking together ingredients.
- Slice and cut cooled beets.
- Assemble salad by tossing together roasted pumpkin and beets with dressing. Then add in remaining ingredients.
Disha Hoque is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
