How to Tell When Your Fruits and Vegetables are Ready to Harvest

There’s nothing quite as rewarding as harvesting your own homegrown fruits and vegetables. But how can you tell when they’re perfectly ripe?

Different crops have their own tell-tale signs that let you know when they’re ready to eat.

In this video we share our top tips on how to judge – exactly – when your crops are ripe and ready, so you can enjoy your hard-won produce at its absolute peak.

If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
and many more...

[uzernamenvalid]

I started to learn about gardening because of GrowVeg. My life will never be the same, and I'm forever thankful for it.

[sarahkay]

I LOVE YOUR I am a relatively new gardener and I have found this video to be a god-send. Thank you again!

[rosewood]

This year I am trying different things.  Okra, Japanese Cucumbers very high yield. Watermelon honeydew loofah sponges and sweet potatoes long with the norm onions tomatoes peppers etc. I planted a few Jujube trees and Paw paws Nice video. Thank you

[deniselile]

This year is our first real vegetable garden. Before was small patch stuff, a couple tomatoes, basil and strawberries. Most pleased with artichokes, which I thought would take at least a year to mature before harvest. We harvested this summer after planting this spring! We are in Idaho, high desert country, but with plenty of canal water for irrigating. Beets did fantastic and they were started from seed. Thanks to your videos I learned that I am picking tomatillos too early.

[kendellblake]

We are kindergarten and we planted, broccoli, carrots, green onions, and green beans!

[healingathome]

Thank you!! This was exactly what I needed

[deborahcormie]

That was great, im growing for the first time, carrots onions and tomatoes, just wasn't sure how you know when to pick the carrots and onions

[Wingedshadowwolf]

I had great plans for this year's garden but I didn't really happen. I have some perennials, fruit bushes and flowers. Some strawberries, herbs and one tomato plant. The tomato I got from a friend I put it outside at the end of May, the next morning it got hit by a late frost. I thought I lost it, but the roots and part of the main stem survived. It has been doing well, it now has tiny green pear shaped tomatoes, I think I'll set up some kind of cover for it as summer ends.

[jenniferengles]

This is our first "real" garden. Love all the tips and videos! Have had tons of luck with everything except my blue lake beans. Have been canning and pickling as fast as my husband eats them!

[sunshinegreens]

I have been harvesting a lot of okra and eggplants, some peppers and tomatoes. Thanks for the tips!

[carolavant]

This year, I focused on bell peppers, rutabagas, cabbage, collards, kale, Red Cored Chantenay carrots and Blue Lake bush beans, and canned as much as possible.

[PrettyAliceNight]

Great video! Thanks for all the great tips!

[mimimills]

Only my third year trying to grow my own food-and I do seem to be improving each year. Question: If you notice that a vegetable on the plant has not increased in size for weeks, do you pick it (in this particular case I'm referring to eggplant which I'm trying for the first time)? I'm trying to break myself of the belief that my veggies (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants) need to be as big and pretty as the ones I see in the store. If some of my tomatoes are an average of what grows, the stores must throw away any piece of produce that has bumps, lines, and large belly buttons 😆

[maggerle]

Thank you, so much, for your reply...How silly of me, not realizing it is the winter time when I see my neighbors lime trees producing...As you say, because the tree is young, the fruit may not ripen this year...I suspect the tree is about two years old...I'm thinking about cutting off the lemons, because they are weighing down the small branches of the tree...I'm having trouble doing this 'though, even 'though I'm sure it will be better for the tree...

[andreatarka]

I missed harvesting our broccoli (my first time planting it, and only second year gardening, ) so now the florets have grown out of a tight formation. Is there a way to harvest seeds from them at this point so I can try again next year? Thanks for all the great videos!!!

[teacherkathyELL]

I've got cantaloupe in my community pantry garden at work. How do I know when to pick that?
Thanks for the videos! They're just the right amount of information for my gardening brain at one sitting, as I also have other programs I have to concentrate on.

[sirwilliamofpennylot]

Great Vid thanks. How do you tell when apple cucumbers are ripe?

[Julzzzsatx]

This is my first year. I'm starting with russet potatoes, carrots, onions & different herbs. Your videos have been very helpful, thank you!!!

[thatsmygirl]

I'm growing a lot of these veggies, so this is all very useful info, thanks! Wondering about yellow crook-neck squash though. This is the first time I've grown it, so wondering how to tell when it's harvestable? Thanks again!

[zia_kat]

I've been harvesting peaches, grapes, tomatoes, kale, basil, oregano, chard, goji berries, carrots and snap peas. Still waiting on peppers and melons...