Fall is a bittersweet season for gardeners. On one hand, harvesting is a glorious reward for months of steady work and patience. On the other hand, the end of the growing season means no more fresh produce a few feet from your doorstep. Luckily, some late vegetables can be enjoyed weeks or months after harvest if they are harvested and stored properly.
Harvesting muskmelon, cantaloupe and watermelon is a matter of picking the ripe fruit at the right time. Muskmelon and cantaloupe are ready to harvest when the fruit skin looks slightly orange in color and the stem end of the fruit slips free from the vine with a gentle twist or pull. The taste of a fully ripened cantaloupe or muskmelon on the vine is magnificent, however, if your fruit does not slip off the vine easily, there is still a chance that the flavour and texture of the melon will still be better than some melons purchased in the grocery store.
If frost is predicted, it is time to harvest melons – even those that do not slip from the vine. If the fruit does not slip from the vine, cut the vine about one centimetre from the fruit, leaving the vine attached to the fruit. Any fruit that feels solid with no soft spots may be mature enough for good eating. The harvested fruit should be set in a warm (room temperature), dry area for several days to cure. Mature or cured cantaloupe can be stored for several weeks at cool temperatures (10 C).
Determining when to harvest watermelon is more difficult than cantaloupe. Unlike cantaloupe, watermelon do not slip from the vine when they are mature. It helps to choose watermelon cultivars that will mature in 90 days or less. Four signs that your watermelon fruit may be mature and ready to harvest include: fruit produces a hollow thump when tapped and the tendril opposite the fruit (where the vine is attached to the fruit) is dry. The fruit surface loses its shine and becomes dull as it matures and the rind is difficult to puncture with a thumbnail. Once harvested, watermelon can be stored for several weeks at cooler temperatures (10C). After a cantaloupe or watermelon has been cut open, it must be stored in the fridge.
Winter squash, gourds and pumpkins are among the latest crops to harvest. Begin by planting cultivars that are recommended to mature in 100 days or less and harvest them as late as possible in the season. Winter squash and pumpkin vines freeze at 0 C. Mature fruit can survive -4 C. Immature fruit will be damaged at temperatures below 0 C. These fruit will exhibit a water soaked area on the fruit that eventually turns soft and rots. Immature fruit does not ripen off the vine. Always leave a piece of the stem attached to the fruit; removing the stem from the fruit produces a fresh wound, which encourages storage diseases and rot.
Harvesting winter squash before there are frost events is possible, simply choose fruit whose surface appears dull (not shiny) and where the rind resists puncture by a thumbnail. Pumpkins are ready to eat when they have turned orange (as long as they are not a cultivar whose skin is orange throughout the growing season). When moving squash and pumpkins indoors, a warm (20 C) dry location is best for curing. Long-term storage in a slightly cooler, dry basement area is recommended for pumpkins and winter squash. The best place to ripen green pumpkins to orange is in a warm, sunny, dry location. Check your storage area regularly for rotting produce; remove decaying produce immediately to prevent infection of healthy fruit.
Even if the season wasn’t long enough to mature your winter squash or pumpkins, bring them indoors. With curing and proper storage, you may be able to enjoy your own garden produce well into the New Year.
— This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; saskperennial@hotmail.com ). Check our website (www.saskperennial.ca) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/saskperennial) for a list of upcoming gardening events.
