Harvesting tomatoes, apples, squashes and melons

Some tomatoes are finally ready to be harvested – probably almost a month later than usual. Gardeners all over the state have been anxiously waiting for tomato season to begin. We’ll check for the common diseases, too, but so far it has been a healthy season.

Apple season is almost upon us and our apples need to be checked to see if they are ready to harvest. How do you tell when they’re ripe? Has bagging them helped keep them insect-free?

Speaking of harvesting, how do you know when various squashes and melons are ripe? If picked too soon, they won’t be as sweet as they could be. Picked too late and they won’t keep for long.