HARVESTING YOUR CROPS
So, this is the fun part. With chard and kale you can start by tossing the thinings into salads. Chard can be eaten raw, steamed, or it can be frozen. It's good at all sizes. Kale I leave to grow until October. You can take some top leaves when they get big and rangy, but kale is best after the first frost. Freezing brings up the flavor of kale. Before Thanksgiving you can brush the snow off the plant and have a pot with the turkey. Kale also freezes well. (Recipes included on the Eating page).
Beans should be kept picked off to encourage new beans. Once the first crop has been picked you can work some side dressing of manure around the roots to encourage a second production.
From the first tomato sometime in July production will continue right through to frost. If you know when that will be, pull all the tomatoes off the vine for use as green tomatoes. They can also be put on the window where some will ripen. Both tomatoes and vines will be ruined in the first frost. I often side dress tomatoes halfway through the season. I toss fertilizer along the plant between the rows and work in with a fork or a tiller. Do that right before the plant gets really big.
Your Butternut squash should be left to grow until the fruits are all tan and the stems are brown and shriveling. Always get them out of the field before the first frost. Frost of any sort will damage the squash and they will rot. Once the squash have been brought in, let them sit about three weeks before starting to use them. Use the smallest and the ones with bites or bad spots first. Large butternuts with smooth skins may keep up to a year. Store in a cool place with air flow around the fruit.
About saving seeds.
Seeds can be saved from your beans and squash, assuming you haven't planted any other variety of bean or squash. When planting several varieties they can crossbreed, resulting in odd and frequently unusable crops. Squash can crossbreed with gourds. To save seeds from beans simply let some beans mature and dry on the plant. For squash, cut open the raw squash and dry the seeds. Seeds keep best in zip lock bags, inside bigger zip locks, in the fridge. Seeds can be viable up to 5 years if carefully kept.
Beans should be kept picked off to encourage new beans. Once the first crop has been picked you can work some side dressing of manure around the roots to encourage a second production.
From the first tomato sometime in July production will continue right through to frost. If you know when that will be, pull all the tomatoes off the vine for use as green tomatoes. They can also be put on the window where some will ripen. Both tomatoes and vines will be ruined in the first frost. I often side dress tomatoes halfway through the season. I toss fertilizer along the plant between the rows and work in with a fork or a tiller. Do that right before the plant gets really big.
Your Butternut squash should be left to grow until the fruits are all tan and the stems are brown and shriveling. Always get them out of the field before the first frost. Frost of any sort will damage the squash and they will rot. Once the squash have been brought in, let them sit about three weeks before starting to use them. Use the smallest and the ones with bites or bad spots first. Large butternuts with smooth skins may keep up to a year. Store in a cool place with air flow around the fruit.
About saving seeds.
Seeds can be saved from your beans and squash, assuming you haven't planted any other variety of bean or squash. When planting several varieties they can crossbreed, resulting in odd and frequently unusable crops. Squash can crossbreed with gourds. To save seeds from beans simply let some beans mature and dry on the plant. For squash, cut open the raw squash and dry the seeds. Seeds keep best in zip lock bags, inside bigger zip locks, in the fridge. Seeds can be viable up to 5 years if carefully kept.
Continue to: EATING YOUR VEGES