Summer is the harvest season, and it arrives faster than most gardeners expect: a garden that was all promise in spring becomes, almost overnight, a garden that needs picking every day. The skill of summer harvesting is not just knowing when a crop is ready, but keeping up with it — picking little and often, picking in the cool of the morning, and dealing with the glut before it becomes waste. A tomato picked at its peak tastes better than one picked a week early or a week late, beans picked young are tender while beans left too long are tough, and a courgette left for a weekend can become a marrow. This guide covers when and how to pick the main summer crops, and what to do with the harvest once it is in. For local advice, check your local extension service.
Picking in the morning
Pick in the morning, after the dew has dried but before the heat of the day builds. Fruit and leaves picked in the cool of the morning are crisp, full of water, and at their best flavour, while the same crop picked in the heat of the afternoon will be wilted and will lose moisture quickly. Morning picking also suits the gardener: it is cooler, the light is good, and the harvest can be brought indoors and dealt with before the day gets hot. Keep a basket or trug by the door, and make morning picking a daily habit in summer, even if it is only a handful of beans or a few tomatoes.
Handle the harvest gently. Fruit bruises easily in summer heat, and a bruised tomato or peach will spoil quickly, so pick into a shallow container rather than a deep bucket, and do not pile heavy fruit on top of soft fruit. Use scissors or secateurs for crops that need cutting — herbs, lettuce, beans and cucumbers — rather than pulling, which can damage the plant. And pick regularly: a plant picked often produces more, because it keeps trying to set seed, while a plant left with mature fruit on it slows down, thinking its job is done. The harvest date calculator can estimate when a sowing should be ready.
Vegetables: knowing when they are ready
Each vegetable has its own sign of readiness, and learning them is the heart of summer harvesting. Beans are ready when the pods are young, tender and snap cleanly, and the seeds inside are still small — pick them every two or three days, because they grow fast in heat. Courgettes and zucchini are best picked small, when they are fifteen to twenty centimetres long, and a plant picked regularly will keep producing all summer, while one left unpicked will put all its energy into a few huge fruits. Cucumbers are ready when they are evenly green and firm, and they turn bitter if they are left too long or allowed to dry out.
Tomatoes are ready when they are fully coloured, slightly soft to the touch, and come away from the plant with a gentle twist — and they taste best when they are allowed to ripen on the plant rather than picked green and ripened indoors, though in a cool summer the last fruits may need bringing in to ripen. Sweet corn is ready when the silks have turned brown and the kernels, when pierced with a fingernail, release a milky juice. Lettuce and leafy crops are ready to pick leaf by leaf from the outside, so the plant keeps producing, and they should be picked before they bolt in the heat. For crop detail, see growing tomatoes, growing cucumbers and growing green beans, and our summer vegetable care guide.
Fruit and berries in summer
Summer fruit ripens fast, and it needs picking every day or two at the peak of the season. Strawberries are ready when they are fully red all over, with no white shoulder, and they should be picked with the stalk attached so they keep longer. Raspberries are ready when they come away from the core with a gentle tug, leaving the hollow centre behind, and they are at their best eaten the same day. Blueberries ripen over several weeks, and the berries at the top of the cluster ripen first — pick only the fully blue berries, and leave the reddish ones for another day.
Tree fruit in summer — early apples, plums, peaches and cherries — should be picked when the background colour changes, the fruit comes away easily with a gentle lift and twist, and a taste test confirms it is sweet. Do not pull fruit off the tree, because that damages the spur that carries next year's fruit. Pick into a shallow container, keep the harvest in the shade, and bring it indoors promptly, because fruit left in the sun will spoil quickly. Our summer fruit care guide covers fruit care through the season, and growing strawberries covers the berry detail.
Herbs and flowers
Herbs are best picked in the morning, after the dew has dried but before the sun is strong, when their oils are at their most concentrated. Basil should be picked regularly, cutting above a pair of leaves so the plant branches, and it should never be allowed to flower if you want leafy growth. Parsley, cilantro, mint and chives can be cut back hard and will regrow, and a regular harvest keeps them productive all summer. Lavender should be cut as the flowers open, before they fade, and tied in bunches to dry in a cool, dark place.
Cut flowers in the morning too, choosing stems where the buds are just opening, and put them straight into water. Remove the lower leaves so they do not sit in the water, and change the water every couple of days. Deadheading the flowers you do not cut keeps the plant flowering, and a garden picked regularly will produce more flowers than one left alone. Our summer herb care and summer flower care guides cover the seasonal care in detail.
Dealing with the glut
Every summer garden produces a glut — too many courgettes, too many beans, too many tomatoes all at once — and the gardener who plans for it wastes far less than the one who does not. Freeze what you can: beans blanched and frozen, tomatoes cooked into sauce and frozen, herbs frozen in ice cubes with a little water or oil. Dry herbs by hanging them in bunches in a cool, dark place, and dry chillies and beans for winter use. Make jam, chutney and pickles from surplus fruit, and share the rest with neighbours, friends and food banks — a glut shared is a glut enjoyed, and it builds the habit of giving that makes a garden part of a community.
Succession sowing is the long-term answer to the glut: sowing little and often, rather than all at once, so the harvest comes steadily instead of in one overwhelming wave. Note which crops produced a glut and which ran out too soon, and adjust next year's sowing plan accordingly — sow fewer courgettes and more of the crop you ran out of. A garden journal, even a few lines a week, is the tool that turns this year's glut into next year's better plan. For sowing, see our summer planting guide and summer seed starting guides.
Storing the summer harvest
Store the harvest in the shade, and get it indoors and into the fridge or the freezer as soon as you can — heat is the enemy of a picked crop, and a basket left in the sun for an hour will spoil faster than one brought indoors straight away. Most vegetables keep best in the fridge, in a bag or a container that holds a little humidity, while tomatoes, basil and onions keep better at room temperature. Do not wash fruit and vegetables until you are ready to use them, because washing removes the natural coating that protects them and speeds up spoiling.
Check stored produce regularly and use the softest fruit first, because one spoiling fruit can spoil the rest. If you are storing a large harvest, keep it cool, dark and ventilated, and check it weekly. And remember that the best storage of all is the plant itself: beans, tomatoes and courgettes left on the plant for an extra day are fresher than any stored crop, so pick only what you need and leave the rest growing until you are ready for it. For the wider summer routine, browse the guides hub and the planting calendar.
Frequently asked questions
When should I pick vegetables in summer?
In the morning, after the dew has dried but before the heat builds, when crops are crisp and at their best flavour. Pick little and often — a plant picked regularly produces more than one left with mature fruit on it.
How do I know when tomatoes are ready?
When they are fully coloured, slightly soft to the touch, and come away with a gentle twist. They taste best ripened on the plant, though the last fruits in a cool summer may need bringing in to ripen indoors.
Why are my beans tough?
Beans left too long on the plant become tough and stringy. Pick them when the pods are young, tender and snap cleanly, and the seeds inside are still small — every two or three days in hot weather.
What do I do with too many courgettes?
Pick them small and often, so the plant keeps producing tender fruit instead of a few huge ones. Freeze, cook or share the surplus, and sow fewer plants next year — one or two courgette plants are usually enough for a household.
How should I store the summer harvest?
Bring it indoors promptly and out of the sun, keep most vegetables in the fridge, and keep tomatoes, basil and onions at room temperature. Do not wash produce until you are ready to use it, and use the softest fruit first.