Start harvesting your garden veggies now, and keep it going

One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is not starting to harvest their vegetable gardens early enough.

You don’t have to wait until the announcement of an impending frost before reaping what you have sown. Vegetable gardens should be harvested over a long period of time starting as early as late spring.

By now, you should be in full harvest mode, gathering the fruits (if you will) of having a vegetable garden. If you do the chore properly, you will have a long season of fresh produce.

Start with thinnings. All plants need room to fully develop, so eating the thinned plants is the first of the garden’s harvest. Thinning starts in spring, but it should continue as plants grow.

Carrots, beets, radishes and leafy lettuces such as romaine and arugula, for example, must be thinned or they will be stunted. Collards, turnips and even Brussels sprouts need to be