July, 1918 
45 
WHEN TO PICK 
VEGETABLES 
Photographs by William C. McCollom 
T HE greatest asset of the home vegetable 
garden is the opportunity it offers for sup¬ 
plying the table with the best of things in their 
most palatable stage of development. Un¬ 
fortunately, many beginners do not realize that 
a delay of a few days in picking often means 
the difference between beans or peas or corn 
that are tender and juicy, and the same vege¬ 
tables in a toughened and more or less passe 
condition. Distinction should always be made 
between ripeness and maturity. The former 
connotes high table quality; the latter does not. 
See to it, then, that your fresh vegetables 
do not grow too old before you gather them. 
Thus will you benefit your bill-of-fare, and be 
enabled sooner to prepare the ground for a 
new sowing. 
Okra is comparatively 
little known in the North, 
though well adapted to 
growing there. The 
fleshy, glutinous pods are 
the edible part of the 
plant 
4 s for tomatoes to be 
used immediately on the 
table, wait until but the 
merest trace of green re¬ 
mains close about the 
stem. For keeping, pick 
them earlier 
When ready to pick, 
cauliflower shows a good 
full head or “curd.” As 
soon as the head begins 
to divide into segments 
the wise gardener knows 
it is mature 
Gather the onions as 
soon as their tops die 
down. Pull them and 
lay them on their sides 
for a day or two to dry 
before removing roots 
and tops 
Peas should be picked as soon as the 
pods are well filled out. Leaving them 
on the vines longer than that means 
that when they appear on the table they 
will be more or less mealy 
The one positive test of the ripeness of 
corn is to strip the sheath leaves partly 
away from the ear. In the eyes of an 
expert the “feel” of the ear, the condi¬ 
tion of the silk, etc., are significant 
