Harvesting cool season vegetables
BY THERESA FRIDAY Special to the News

Vegetables grown during our cool season are some of the most delicious and nutritious that our home gardens can produce. Many of the vegetables that we planted in late summer and early fall are now ready to harvest - or will be soon.

It is important to harvest vegetables at the proper stage for best results.

Dan Gill, LSU AgCenter Horticulturist, provides a few guidelines for some common cool season crops.

Root crops are harvested when the root is the proper size. Usually, the top of the root is readily visible at ground level, but it is easy enough to brush aside the soil at the base of the leaves to check on the size of the root.

Harvest radishes and carrots when the root is about 1 inch across. Carrots can be left in the ground once they are mature and harvested as needed.

Turnip roots and beets should be harvested when they are 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

Incidentally, to get good production these plants must be spaced properly in the garden. When the seeds that you plant come up, it is very important to thin the seedlings at least as far apart as the width of the mature root in order to get good production. Leaving the seedlings too crowded is a common reason for root crops to produce small or misshapen roots.

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Broccoli heads are not harvested based on the size of the head but when the largest individual flower buds are about the size of a kitchen match head.

Do not allow the heads to remain on the plant so long that some of the buds begin to open to produce a yellow flower. Remember that smaller side heads will develop after the main head has been harvested, so leave the plant in place for additional harvest.

Harvesting cauliflower also depends more on the appearance of the head rather than its size. The curds of the head should be relatively smooth, very much like the cauliflower that you buy in the supermarket. If allowed to stay on the plant too long, the head will begin to separate and lose quality.

Leafy crops such as mustard, spinach, Swiss chard, leaf lettuce, collards and turnips should be harvested frequently by breaking off the lowest, largest leaves. This procedure is called cropping. Harvest the entire head of semi-heading varieties of lettuce such as bibb, buttercrunch and romaine when the head is fully developed.

Cabbage is ready to harvest when the head is solid and hard. Cabbage is one of the few crops that may be left in the garden after they are ready to harvest, although the heads may split. If you are going to leave fully formed heads in the garden, rotate the entire plant one-half turn to prevent splitting. This step slows water uptake by breaking some of the roots.

Bunching onions and green shallots can be harvested anytime during the winter when the tops are large enough. Dig up the entire clump and separate off one-half to three-quarters of the bunch, and then replant the rest to continue to grow and divide for future harvesting.

For more information on cool season vegetables, contact your local Extension Office and ask for the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide or review the publication online at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VH021.

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