When should I harvest?

[RevX]

Hello all,

So I'm new to the garden seen, and am in need of some information. I have started my raised bed garden in my backyard out of trying to keep my sanity during this Covid 19 pandemic. I have some direct seed going and some trans plant I purchased from LOWE's. I live in the North east Dallas Texas area, which is supposed to be a sub tropic climate according to the Google. Not that it feels like it currently. Very mild spring. All Trans plants were planted 3 weeks ago and the seeds were planted last week due to the very mild spring we are having I figured I'd give them a shot even though I'm late. Here's hoping for a good turn out.

My question is when do i harvest my crop?

(Direct into the soil seeds.)
1. Okra
2. Blue lake bush beans
3. Lima beans
4. Green arrow pees
5. Carrots
6. Floradade tomatoes

(Trans plants.)
1. Broccoli
2. Cauliflower
3. Cabbage
4. Indeterminate cherry tomatoes
5. Romaine lettuce
6. Kale
7. Brussels sprouts
8. Cucumber
9. summer squash
10. 6 different kinds of peppers
11. White unions
12. Store bought potatoes

 

[RevX]

My Garden,

 

[AndrewB]

Welcome, those are some nice looking garden beds, you could do with a bit more soil in the tall ones though to let the plants get a few more hours of sun each day.

1. Okra, harvest them when they are fairly small, before the ridges get too developed. If you leave them too long, they get very woody. They grow super fast, so you should be able to harvest daily.

2. Bush beans, around 2.5-3" length is good.

4. Peas, the pod pods start off flat, they should be full & plump when you harvest.

5. Carrots, just wait & few months & pull one up to see how it's going, kind of difficult to tell, you can have great growth up top & nothing below ground.

6. Tomatoes, wait till they are red, vine ripened are the best, the ones you get from the supermarket are often picked green & don't have anything like the same flavor.

1. Broccoli, pick when the head is still tight, once they loosen up it means they are about to flower.

5. Romain lettuce, this is a great one that you can harvest continually, just take the outer leaves & let the inner keep growing. You can also harvest Kale continuously. Another great green to plant is Silverbeet or Swiss Chard, fast growing & you can cut it off at ground level & it will regrow.

10. Peppers, you can pick these at any time, the flavors will change as the color of the pepper does, generally, the longer you leave them, the hotter they are.

11. White onions, these take a long time to grow, so I've always grown spring onions/Scallions instead, as you can leave them in the ground & just cut what you need & they will regrow.

The best advice I could give is just observe the garden daily & pick things when you think they look good enough to eat.

 

[RevX]

Yes I did not learn how to fill my raised beds till after i had already started growing Ha. So I'll remedy that in the fall.

Thank you for your input. I will put it to use.