Friday 18 July 2014

I've just finished writing this book

How to harvest your allotment produce is my latest ebook. I wrote it after seeing people struggle to know when you harvest things or to harvest them in a way that makes sense. Scissors should never be used to pick raspberries. The secret of picking fruit and vegetables is being able to touch it and feel when it's ready. Raspberries come off really easily when you pull at them if they are ripe. If they don't come off easily then they aren't riope. If they are mush when you touch them they are over-ripe!
I didn't think it was rocket science until I spoke to people picking their fruit and vegetables. People asked all sorts of interesting questions at both the allotment site I have a plot at and at the community garden I help look after.
When are courgettes ready? How long should they be? What colour should they be? It's often helpful for people to have kept the seed packets so they can see what instructions they were given and hopefully what the finished product will look like.
Another way to tell when fruit is ready is to do the taste test. This often doesn't work with blackcurrants that can have a sour taste even when they are perfectly ripe. Some people find them too repulsive to eat raw, yet others absolutely love them.