Harvest before frost?

Which of your garden produce do you rush to harvest when there’s a frost predicted and which do you leave out to harvest later? Which things are improved by a frost?

I am careful to pick my green tomatoes before frost.    I put them in a box in a dark place and they will ripen over the next few months.   Every few days I can pick through the box and get a couple ripe tomatoes.   One year, I had so many we were still eating red tomatoes at Christmas!



I will also get all the remaining chili and sweet peppers.  Mellons, squash and cucumber will have to be picked and protected from frost.

We have a lot of basil this year.  It has to be harvested and hung indoors.  


Carrots, turnips, beets, parsnips, kale, arugula can all sit there a while longer.    They will get sweeter with the frost.

The broccoli and cauliflower will keep growing through the autumn.

We will be harvesting kale and spinach even in the snow!

The only thing we have left in the Garden of Eat'n are brussle sprouts and parsnips. All the rest of the beds have been stripped and a cover crop planted.

In the past I have done the tomatoes wrapped in newsprint, then placed in boxes and stored in the basement and we often had semi-fresh ones for the holiday meals.  Any remaining peppers were picked to be dried or frozen.  I have built frames and covered some of the larger pepper plants to try and extend the season a few more weeks, but never really had much luck (zone 7 weather).  The root veggies we often just covered them with straw or leaves and they did just fine.  All the herbs were cut for drying well before frost most years, the basil, I would take cuttings to root indoors and overwinter in a sunny window.  Most years if we had been able to keep up with the garden work the frost warnings weren't too bad to deal with.

Peace

Our first frost was three weeks ago and it killed all my tomatoes but only 10% of my peppers.

Deane Adams wrote: All the herbs were cut for drying well before frost most years, the basil, I would take cuttings to root indoors and overwinter in a sunny window.  

Peace

Hello Deane!

I am trying this this year!

I stripped all the leaves off the basil twigs and they are rooting well in a glass of water in the kitchen.  I am so excited to have little basil house plants!


Thanks!

Samantha, my basil plants often looked sooooo sad and poor come spring, as we had more plants than south facing windows.  But once replanted in the garden beds they really took off.  I do so hope that yours will fare better.  They make nice indoor plants, nice smell when touched, some to cut for the kitchen and just for making one smile while rooting and growing all the winter.  Often the simple things are the best ones !

Peace

If the forecast is calling for continued warm days with an occasional frosty night, then we just leave tarps out in the garden and cover plants for those nights.  Kale/cabbage and chard are not protected, but the tarps help to extend the growing of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and eggplant.  I may try to look into basil and cilantro under grow lights this winter since they are more favored as fresh additions to meals.

My mother always reckoned that root crops were far sweeter after the first frost, especially parsnips.  My soil isn't deep enough to grow 'em, so I can't back this up.  My climate is "Mediterranean" and weeding revealed that the capsicums were still with us - starting on their third year with any luck.  

I like this thread!  Thanks all!  
Frost hasn't arrived yet here, but it is looming.
The tomato plants on the east side of my garden, which were planted first, are ripped out.  The ones planted much later as an experiment (less sunlight) really took off and are still ripening, but I am trimming them out/harvesting each day. Jalapenos and other hot peppers I am still harvesting and will until the freeze.  I have a random kale plant,  and some green onions still in.
Today i'm going to trim down my basil and replant for indoors.
I've had lots of green tomatoes "harvested" early due to my stellar ball throwing skills.  Throw a ball into the middle  of garden and my shepherd would retrieve it and "harvest" many tomatoes in the process.  Past years, I've done dark cardboard boxes and wrapping in paper, but this year I just threw them into huge bowls on the counter under the window. I stir them up and pluck then out as they ripen.

One thing I was wondering about is how dry pods of beans need to be to be left out in a frost or freeze. I lost a *lot* of too-green beans in our first freeze this year.