The Good Earth: What to do with all of that bounty?

If you are a regular reader of my column, your garden should be benefiting from what you’ve learned about the efficient use of water, weed management, nutrition, flavor and growing great tomatoes. Now that your garden is taking off, what should you do with all of that wonderful produce?

Traditional pickling, freezing and canning are all great preserving techniques. As a farmer, though, my greatest concern is how to maximize the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, taking steps to extend the bounty before it’s time to harvest.

One of the surprising ways to extend the shelf life is through compost. That miracle garden additive helps improves the mineral content of your soil and the nutrients available. If you fertilize heavily, whether with organic or synthetic products, you may grow big, beautiful vegetables, but if they’re heavy in nitrogen content and light on everything else, they won’t last as long as vegetables that have a well-balanced mineral composition.

One of the best ways to do this is to use “green manures,” compost and cover crops like clover and vetch.

When it comes time to harvest, pay attention to the plant’s maturity, which will also help improve storability.

The closer a plant is to full maturity, the better it will look and taste, but it will have a shorter shelf life.

Conversely, if you harvest fruits or vegetables in their earlier stages of growth, you’ll be able to store them longer but their flavor may not reach their full potential. If you’re going away for a weekend, you may want to harvest your zucchini before you go, even if it’s small; it will be too large and less flavorful when you return.

You can harvest tomatoes a little before their peak and let them ripen off the vine, but you’ll get maximum flavor by letting them ripen fully.

After they’re harvested, make sure you handle them correctly. Every gash or bruise diminishes their shelf life.

Keep a basket nearby as you pick and don’t overload it. With zucchini, even the spiny texture of the plant can scratch the surface during harvest time and compromise storability.

Ideal storage temperatures and other tips, including what vegetables not to store together, are available in many reference guides. I use the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s free “Production Guide for Storage of Organic Fruits and Vegetables. (nysipm.cornell.edu/organic_guide/stored_fruit_veg.pdf). This guide gives a lot of information, but if you take a few moments to read through  the relevant sections, it will provide you with some great insights.

If your harvest has been bountiful, check out some of the “quick pickling” recipes to keep your produce for several months without going through the canning process.
Mr. Ericksen is a vegetable grower at Sylvester Manor.