Harvesting and storing your fruits and vegetables

SALT LAKE CITY – It is time to harvest your fruits and vegetables. Don’t know how to properly store them? Taun and Maria gave some tips on the KSL Greenhouse show.

When harvesting fruits and vegetables, you have to know if they’re ripe

One of the most common ones that people ask about is watermelon.

“If you turn the watermelon over so that the brown side is up, you will see that there’s a white patch on the bottom where it hasn’t been exposed to sunlight. When that white patch turns creamy yellow, that’s one indication,” Taun said.

Another indication of a watermelon’s ripeness is a brown tendril, which you can find within two or three inches of the stem. If it is green, that means it’s not ripe.

When it comes to cantaloupes, the stem will either fall off or become easily removable. For winter squash, you can test the ripeness with your fingernail.

“If your fingernail bends over instead of penetrating and the fruit’s gone from a shiny to a more waxy matte look, then it’s ready to go,” Taun said.

After checking the ripeness, the next step is storing them.

The most common ones we store are onions, potatoes, carrots and a few other root crops.

“The root crops (carrots and parsnips) can actually be left in the garden. You can cover them with grass mulch or straw along the sides and over the top,” Taun said.

On the other hand, you have to take the potatoes out of the ground. You can remove the tops and let them sit for a few days before carefully digging them out.

“Let the skin sit at 70 degrees in your garage or indoors so that the skin hardens off a bit… The potatoes need to be stored at about 50 to 55 degrees,” Taun said.

The KSL Greenhouse is on every Saturday from 8 a.m.-11 a.m. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and on our website.