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September Gardening & Harvest Tips

What You Should Plant ... and When: Starting Your Vegetable Garden: Fruits And Veggies More Matters.org

Hosted by our expert gardener, these timely suggestions will guide you through harvesting particular fruits and veggies during certain times [See Regional Info]. Topics will include harvesting, planting, fertilizing, thinning and watering.
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Regions: Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE), East Central (EC), Upper Central (UC), Southwest (SW) [See States]

Vegetable Garden: what you should be doing in September: Fruits and Veggies More Matters.org 

Harvest
Beans, Broccoli, Cauliflower (NE, upper parts of SE, EC, UC)

Harvesting Tips

Beans 
The three most common types of beans planted in a home garden are green, yellow (or wax), and lima beans.

      Green Beans
      Harvest beans when they are 3-5 inches in length and are a light grass to dark green (color will vary depending on the variety planted). With one hand, hold the bean plant right above a bean that is ready to be harvested and with the other hand gently pull or ‘pick’ the bean from the plant. It’s okay if a little bit of the stem remains attached to the bean. Video Recipe: Southern Style Green Beans

      Yellow (Wax) Beans
      Harvest beans when they are 3-5 inches in length and are yellow/green to sunshine yellow (color will vary depending on the variety planted). With one hand, hold the bean plant right above a bean that is ready to be harvested and with the other hand gently pull or ‘pick’ the bean from the plant. It’s okay if a little bit of the stem remains attached to the bean.

      Lima Beans
      The beans grow inside of pods, similar to peas. Harvest when the pod is 3-4 inches in length and 1-1 1/2” wide. Place the pod between your thumb and forefinger and gently apply pressure until the pod ‘pops’ open. Remove the beans and discard the pod. Approximately 2-4 beans will be in each pod. The color of the pod will be a light grass green.

Broccoli
Harvest broccoli when the head is 7-12 inches in diameter, firm or hard to the touch, and the flowerets are varying shades of green/gray. Gently grip the sides of the head with your fingers and using a kitchen pairing knife, cut the stem, leaving 4-6 inches attached to the head of the broccoli. You will likely get 1-2 additional cuttings from the same plant before it dies. If you see small yellow flowers on the plant or anywhere on the head of the broccoli, it’s over-ripe and should be placed on the compost pile, thrown away or left in the yard for animal friends to eat. It’s best to harvest broccoli as needed. Video: Using Broccoli

Cauliflower
Harvest cauliflower when the head is 7-12 inches in diameter, firm or hard to the touch, and the flowerets are white or light cream. Gently grip the sides of the head with your fingers, and using a kitchen pairing knife, cut the stem, leaving no more than two (2) inches attached to the head of the cauliflower. You will likely get 1-2 additional cuttings from the same plant before it dies. It’s best to harvest cauliflower as needed.
Video Recipe: Spicy Cauliflower

Monitor Soil Moisture
The soil should be moist to the touch and a small amount should stick to your fingertip. If no soil sticks to your fingertip, you need to water. All watering should be done in the very early morning or as close to dusk as possible to allow for maximum penetration into the soil, and to prevent damaging and ultimately killing the fruit and vegetable plants. The hot sun will heat the water droplets remaining on the leaves of fruit and vegetable plants and ultimately burn the plant, killing it.

A general rule of thumb is to water for 20-30 minutes. During very hot and humid conditions, with little or no rain, it may be necessary to water 4-5 times per week.

Fertilize
Fertilizer is necessary for replacing and building nutrients and minerals in the soil and feeding the plants; it allows the plants to grow healthy fruits and vegetables. Use any organic or chemical fertilizer.

Weed
Weed, if necessary. Once vegetables and melons begin to appear on your plants, weeding becomes very important. The plants need to pull all of the nutrients it can from the soil to ‘feed’ the vegetables and melons. If weeds are also in the soil, they compete for the nutrients and typically win out resulting in few and small vegetables and melons. Also pull out any dead fruit or vegetable plants so they are not also competing for the nutrients in the soil.

Inspection
Inspect leaves of plants and check for signs of disease/bugs – use organic or chemical pesticides as needed/desired.

    Typical signs of disease are:

    • White specks or spots on top or underside of leaves
    • Brown spots on top or underside of leaves
    • Holes in leaves
    • White or brown spots on vegetables

Most bugs are easily visible and are commonly found on the top or underside of leaves, but can also be found on the stalk of the plant and at times on or in the vegetable itself. If you believe a plant might be diseased or have bugs, organic and chemical pesticides are easily found at your local lawn and garden store. The label of each pesticide will list the type of diseases and bugs that will be treated. Match the disease/bug to the pesticide. If you can’t determine the type of disease or bug, purchase a general or all purpose pesticide.

What’s Next?

Vegetable Garden: what you should be doing in October: Fruits and Veggies More Matters.org
Harvest: Beans, Broccoli and Cauliflower planted in May/June (NE, upper parts of SE, EC, UC)
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