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Harvesting Your Abundance By Pat Raven, Ph.D., with Julie Hess
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arvest season is finally here! We thought the tomatoes were never going to ripen this year, but now the bounty is rolling in, and it’s time to reap the rewards of spring gardening efforts. The following are some tips for easy harvesting: Start with sharp tools. To save your kitchen cutlery, use a dedicated garden knife to cut produce. Specialty blades are made for lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, celery and asparagus harvesting. Garret Wade (garrettwade.com) has a selection of perfect edges for cutting your own harvest quickly and cleanly. English company Burgon & Ball (burgonandball.com) has designed the perfect berry basket – a hip trug that clips onto your waistband, thereby leaving both hands free to pick raspberries, blueberries or cherry tomatoes quickly. The dishwasher-safe rigid liner slips out of the neoprene support band for simple transfer of the harvest into other containers. This tool is great for deadheading roses as well. Another helpful berry-picker’s device is a pair of harvesting sleeves from Harris Seeds (harrisseeds.com). Imagine cutting off the long sleeves of a shirt and putting a ring of elastic at the top. Just slide these protectors onto your arms to armor yourself against snagging berry vines, sunburn or okra rash. This tool is perfect for picking prickly squash, as well. For toting your bounty to the house, try Gardener’s Supply Company’s Mod Hod trolley, a three-tiered roller cart with removable, rinsable, footed harvest baskets. It makes the heavy-lifting of root vegetables, corn and squashes easy. Baskets may also be ordered separately from gardeners.com.
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Also from Gardener’s Supply Company are traditional wood-and-wire New England bowhandled hods. Use them like a colander, and wash your dinner directly in the garden by hosing off veggies when harvested. This tip is also great for freshly cut flowers.
The ultimate gardening luxury is a wash sink right in the garden. When I built my current vegetable garden, I included a large mop sink with standard faucets and bluestone counters on both sides. Built into the rock ledges of the hill, it also has sheltered storage in a cubby underneath. Great for frequent hand-washing, cleaning produce, washing pots and face-splashing on a hot day, it gets a lot of use. To shortcut straight to this indispensable feature, check out Lee Valley’s (leevalley.com) portable, foldable, winter-storable stainless steel garden sink and counter. Just hook it to a standard garden hose for running water wherever you need it. At under $200, this is a fabulous addition to any summer garden. Sadly, these are now backordered for this season, but be sure to put one on your birthday or holiday gift wish list!
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