So, it’s late summer, and your veggie garden is going bonkers. You have more carrots and beets than you know what to do with…in fact, maybe you aren’t sure what to do now, period! While it is still warm, be sure to keep picking cucumbers, zucchini, and beans. Most will keep producing if you ask them to (by picking them).

For tomatoes, any new growth – even if it has flowers or baby tomatoes on it – won’t have time to mature before the season is out. Cutting back the heads of the plants will allow all the energy to go to ripening, instead of to the new growth. If you find your tomatoes are rotting or being eaten by bugs before they are ripe, bring them inside.

Try the avocado trick; put green tomatoes in a paper bag with a couple of apples. The ethylene-rich apple will speed ripening. It works.

Looking for a little project? Get a head start on the change of season by pulling up peas, bolted lettuce, and anything else that is finished, and use the space for new lettuce or kale plants for a fall bonus crop.

Use a hoe and get rid of any weeds, to make things more fun in the spring. The work vs satisfaction equation on these tasks is excellent!

Vegetables worth waiting for are parsnips, rutabagas (turnips), and Brussels sprouts. They will be sweeter once the weather gets cold. Carrots and beets can rest in the ground until you are ready for them, even into November, depending on the seasonal weather. Squash or pumpkins will be happy outside until the first hard frost.

By the same author: Deer time! (Click the image below)