Is it time to harvest your fruits and vegetables? Here’s how you can tell

SALT LAKE CITY — As fruits and vegetables ripen, the time to harvest is near. But for some, like winter squash and watermelons, it’s not easy to tell when exactly they’re ready for picking.

Here are some tips that can help you harvest everything at just the right time.

 

Cantaloupes

With cantaloupes—and many other melons—the color of their skin shows their ripeness.

“On a cantaloupe, they’ll come out kind of a grayish, greenish, creamy color. And as they start to mature, the green disappears, the gray color disappears … and then eventually they’ll kind of take on a yellowy orangey cast, and the stem will detach itself almost,” said KSL Greenhouse Host Taun Beddes.

Once it looks nearly ready, gently tap on the stem with your finger. If it moves immediately without any force, then it’s ready.

“When I see cantaloupes in the store and the stem’s still attached, or I can tell someone’s taken a screwdriver or something and dug the stem out, it was picked on right,” Beddes said.

Cantaloupes do soften but don’t sweeten after they’ve been picked. That’s why it’s important that the stem just about removes itself.

The stem end will smell a bit musky for the first few days after picking the cantaloupe.

Pears

While Asian pears can be left to ripen on the tree, Beddes said that method doesn’t work well on European pears because it tends to downgrade the quality of their taste and texture.

“On a European pear, you want to wait until the fruit starts to drop from the tree. And so when you see three or four fall out, you cut those open and make sure that the seeds are dark brown or almost black. And then you can go to the south side of the tree because that’s where the fruit is going to be ripe first … you’re going to grab the fruit and pull and gently twist. And if the fruit comes off, it’s ready. If you’re pulling leaves off with a fruit, it’s not.”

If they’re Bartlett pears, Beddes recommends refrigerating them for 24 to 48 hours after the fruit is picked. Then, you can bring them back out and let them sit at room temperature for about five days to a week. If the neck of the fruit feels soft when you pinch it, that means it’s ready to eat or can.

If they’re winter pears, you can let them sit in refrigeration for about a month to six weeks.

“Pull them out as you need to eat them, and they will ripen after about five to seven days at room temperature … You could possibly can them, but they just need to be refrigerated for a longer period of time,” Beddes said.

Winter squash

The key to figuring out the ripeness of winter squash is to look at the fruit. If they look glossy and shiny, they’re not ripe. If they have a more waxy and matte look, they are.

“On immature fruit, you can take your fingernail and poke it into the skin, and it penetrates the skin easily, and a clear sap will come out,” Beddes said.

Once they’re ready, don’t let them freeze. Instead, cut them with three or four inches of stem attached to the end of the fruit, Beddes explained.

“If you do that, they won’t rot at the stem end, and they’ll store at around 55 degrees (Fahrenheit) for months. You can sometimes get them almost into the next spring.”

Watermelons

Like cantaloupes, the ripeness of watermelons can be determined by the color of their skin. If the stripes are extra green, that means they’re not ripe.

“On the stem end, you follow the stem away from the fruit, and along that stem, within a couple of inches, there’ll be a tendril. We used to call it a curly cue. And that tendril will be dry on the stem, and when that tendril’s dry, the watermelon is ready,” Beddes said.

You can also roll the watermelon over and check the color at the bottom.

“When it’s not ripe, (it) will kind of be a greeny, gray, greeny color, and the bottom end turns to kind of a creamy white.”

Potatoes

According to Beddes, while potatoes are likely ready now, they don’t need to be picked.

“The potato tops will (often) start to die back in late summer to early fall. And when you see that happening, you can go ahead and clip those back or mow them … to get rid of them, and then you can dig the potatoes (with) a digging fork. And you go out … a foot to 18 inches away from the potato and just go down deep and lift the soil up with that digging fork and lift the potatoes up.”

To store them, lay them out in a dark area at room temperature and let them cure for about a week to 10 days. Don’t wash the extra dirt off.

“After about 10 days, that skin will be toughened up, and you store those potatoes around 50 to 55 degrees (Fahrenheit) and store them away from apples so that the ethylene from the apple doesn’t ruin the potatoes.”

Read more from the KSL Greenhouse show:

• Understanding summer leaf scorch: Causes and effects explained
• Here’s why the ends of your tomatoes look different from the rest
• Is spurge invading your lawn or park strip? Here’s what you can do

KSL Greenhouse is live on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.