Melons and Pumpkins Ready for Harvesting

With lower temperatures arriving and less sunlight in the daytime plants are beginning to finish off the season with the last production of fruit. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, and kale will continue through the fall and the rest will be done by the first frost of the season sometime in the near future. Right now I can still harvest some fruits and vegetables such as beans, pumpkins, and some melons that are done growing.

This past week I have only been focusing on harvesting some of my melons and making sure that my kale is producing leaves for the fall harvest. My crimson sweet watermelon had been growing on the vine for a while and it had stopped growing about a month ago. I don’t pick it once it stops growing, but is best to pick it once it falls off the vine. Some of the skin was turning slightly yellow and I needed to pick it right away before it started to rot.

My pumpkins are best harvesting in October or as close to Halloween as possible. This season I could not help, but pick them in the month of September. They were ripe enough to be harvested earlier and I didn’t want to leave them outside any longer especially with the rain we have been receiving. That is why I decided to harvest them this past week.

My beans and tomatoes are still producing flowers at the moment, but I am sure that this will begin to stop very soon. I still have some cherry and steakhouse tomatoes on these plants, but I think the Roma tomato plants are pretty much finished this year. I will continue to pick them as long as they continue growing.

One of my eggplants is starting to produce multiple vegetables on the plant. I wasn’t sure if they were going to do this because I got a large eggplant from all three plants. If these few eggplants get to a decent size that would be a great end to the eggplant season.