Picking Eggplants, Squash, Cucumbers and More

July 30, 2020

Picking Eggplants, Squash, Cucumbers and More

Every summer, I try to spend as much time as possible at Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine. I always enjoy my visits there with my family.

Fortunately, we were able to harvest another sizable amount of delicious vegetables just in time for my trip. This harvest included some of the season's eggplants, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and lots of beans.

Enjoy these photos. And, be sure to tune in to HGTV tomorrow, Friday, July 31st at 10/9c, for the premiere of my new series "Martha Knows Best" - I'll be sharing lots of gardening tips and offering my best pointers for planting and maintaining home gardens.

: We’ve had such a bounty of beans this year – in green, yellow, and purple. Beans grow best in full sun and moist soil. Here in the Northeast, we’ve had both. Bush beans grow on shrubby plants and are very prolific producers. They can continually produce throughout the season with the proper care. In general, bush beans should be ready in 50 to 55 days.

: Enma harvested this Savoy cabbage. Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family and is related to kale, broccoli, collards, and Brussels sprouts. The leaves of the Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and a bit more yellowish in color.

: And here is a nice red cabbage ready for picking.

: This year, we planted the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers on this side of the garden – opposite from where we planted them last year. It is important to rotate crops every season. By rotating crops from one spot to another, one can preserve and even boost nutrients in the soil.

: Our tomato vines are growing nicely and some fruits are already developing, but they’re not ready just yet. We should be picking our first red tomatoes in another week or so.

: Most tomato plant varieties need between 50 and 90 days to mature. Planting can also be staggered to produce early, mid, and late-season tomato harvests.

: We also harvested several eggplants. I like to pick them when they’re smaller. This one is a perfect size.

: These eggplants will be ready in a couple more days. Pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Picking a little early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.

: Some of the sweet peppers are also ready for picking. Enma harvests this perfect green pepper.

: And sweet peppers don’t come in just green and red. Yellow, orange, and even purple bell peppers are popular and flavorful.

: Allowing the bell pepper to remain on the plant and continue to ripen before picking pepper fruit, will result in sweeter peppers.

: These peppers are ready too. Be careful when picking peppers – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen. Sweet peppers, such as these sweet banana peppers, have a long shape that tapers down to one to three lobes at the bottom.

: The summer squash is planted next door, where there is a lot more room for the vines.

: Ripe squash will be firm, fairly heavy for its size, and vibrantly colored. Some are already too big, but still delicious. The larger squash will go to my chickens.

: The cucumbers look great this year. Cucumbers require a long growing season, and most are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days from planting. The fruits ripen at different times on the vine, but it is essential to pick them when they are ready. If they are left on the vine too long, they will taste bitter.

: Remove the fruit with a sharp knife or pruners to prevent injury to the vine from twisting or pulling. These trellises work great because they keep the cucumbers off the ground.

: Look at our bounty of squash and cucumbers. Everything is growing so fast – it is so important to check the garden every single day.

: All the produce is loaded in trug buckets and bins and then brought up to my flower room and stored in the refrigerator. I am looking forward to many meals with all this wonderful produce – the fruits of our labor.

: There has been so much growth in this vegetable garden in the last couple of weeks – there’s always something delicious to pick. Many of you often ask what I do with all these vegetables. I share them with my family and friends, and my staff at the farm. They are also used for photo and video shoots for television shows and my magazine.