Much as I wish there were a certain date when I could reap the benefits of what I’ve sowed there just isn’t any one set day or week when there is anything like a real harvest. Our harvest just comes when things are ready to pick and eat. You could say it’s a rolling harvest.
It would be nice to time the planting so that I could schedule the harvest. Maybe if I worked off a table like this I could do a better job with planting so everything would ripen about the same time.
| Vegetables | Days To Maturity | Date To Pick | Yield |
| Early Girl | 90 | Aug 12 | Aug 12 |
| Supersonic Tomato | 110 | Sept 1 | 15 |
| Breakfast Radish | 35 | June 17 | n.a |
| Zucchini | 50 | Jul 1 | 1 |
Assuming everything is planted on May 12 the above table shows the approximate date when the vegetables are ripe and ready for eatin’.
The Fruits Of Labor
When you pick and eat a fresh tomato you realize why it’s called a fruit. Nothing like eating a sun drenched cherry tomato right from the vine. But here I’m picking an Early Girl. https://www.youtube.com/embed/iDWwzfJeYQk?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
Once all the vegetables have been picked it’s time to close down the garden. That means pulling out the nearly dead (or dead) plants and putting the cages and stakes away in the garage. Their work is done – until next Spring.