Tomatoes
Continue feeding and watering plants in warm areas, but if they’ve lost their vigour, cut off the tops to channel energy into the remaining fruit. Always leave fruit to ripen on the vine for the best flavour. Pull out any diseased plants to make way for winter crops. In cold areas, pull plants out about a month before the first expected frost and hang them in a shed. Fruit will continue to ripen, but don’t discard green tomatoes – they make excellent chutney!
Pumpkins
Withering vines signal ripeness, but the best indicator is to gently knock fruit with your knuckles. A hollow sound and hard skin indicates full maturity. Cut the fruit off, leaving a 10cm stem to prevent disease and storage rot. Handle gently to prevent bruising. Dry fruit in the sun for two weeks and spray with a 10% bleach solution before storing in single rows in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place. Check regularly for signs of rot.
onions
Leave onions in the ground until their tops die down naturally, or speed up the process by bending remaining stems once most of the tops have dried off. Leave for a couple of weeks before pulling them out on a dry, sunny day. Lay them in the sun for two to three weeks to cure, turning them occasionally. When their skins rattle and the roots are dry and wiry, they’re ready. Twist off the stems, rub off the roots and store in hanging mesh bags in a dry shed.
Apples & pears
As soon as fruit starts to fall, start picking regularly. Pick individual fruits as they reach full colour and separate easily from the spur. Early maturing varieties have a short peak maturity period and lose quality quickly. Pick them slightly earlier, just as they’re starting to soften up, and ripen indoors.
Peppers
Harvest peppers at any stage from green to red, depending on the desired flavour. Sweet bell peppers (capsicums) change from tangy and pungent when green to a sweeter, milder flavour when red, orange or yellow. Chillies get hotter as they ripen from green to red, although some, such as Habanero and Jalapeño, are jolly hot no matter what!
Spuds
Harvest potatoes on a dry, windy day once the foliage dies off. Check the skin is firm and does not rub off easily. Put damaged tubers aside for immediate use and spread healthy tubers out in a shaded, airy spot to dry out for a few days.
Keep them out of the sun, which causes greenness and the production of toxic solanine, making them inedible. once dry, store in paper bags or sacks in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place. Check regularly for smelly, rotten potatoes and remove them immediately.
oelons
Watermelons are ripe when the part of the fruit resting on the ground is yellow. It also makes a “punk” sound when you flick it with your finger (not a “pink” or a “pank”). With rockmelons, you can smell the ripeness as the delicious aroma emanates from the fruit. The blossom end of the melon (where the flower was) will also be slightly soft when pressed.
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