Zucchini is the vegetable garden's bunny.

A single plant is prolific, and the more you pick, the more continuous the production. It's a tasty vegetable and makes great nutty-flavored bread, but confess ... who hasn't turned out the lights and pretended not to be home when a neighbor comes calling with a grocery bag brimming with zucchini? Or listened to a friend feign a food allergy when you offer her a few homegrown, baseball-bat sized zucchinis --- and you know she only took them because you also brought tomatoes.

Harvest season is arriving in earnest. I've already gotten about a half-dozen phone calls about when to harvest zucchini, cucumbers and eggplants, when tomatoes are going to be ready, how long to leave peppers on the vine, etc.

Bigger isn't better and color doesn't always indicate ripeness. If you're not sure, the quickest way to find out is to pick a vegetable, slice it and sample it.

Here are harvest tips for other veggies:

Zucchini ‘--- Pick when the fruit is smaller --- 6 to 8 inches long --- and flavor and texture is at its best. Rinds should be soft enough that pressing with a fingernail leaves a mark. Store zucchini for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Eggplants --- Fruit should be firm and glossy. Cut eggplants from stems, don't yank. Remove new blossoms within four weeks of the first freeze to ripen remaining fruit on the vine. Use fresh or store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Eggplant can be frozen; slice and blanch, then store in freezer backs for up to 8 months.

Cucumbers --- Pick daily at any stage; size depends on variety and use. Pick small cukes for pickles, slightly longer ones for dills and even longer for slicing. Burpless cukes can be up to 10 inches long. Fruit should be green and firm, not yellowing.

Onions --- Harvest and eat any stage. Onions left to mature until the end of the season should be harvested when the tops fall over, then left in the ground for 10 to 14 days to mature. Bulbs should be firm. Harvest on a dry day (moist onions may not dry properly). Let them sit in the sun for a day, then cure them out of the sun in a dry place.

Bell peppers --- Pick green as they size up; left on the vine, they'll turn yellow, red, etc., depending on cultivar. At this stage, they need to be picked before deterioration sets in.

Potatoes --- Foliage turns yellow. Dig carefully to avoid damaging tubers. Cure for a week or so in a cool, dry place.

Corn --- Silks are wispy and dry, ears are full and kernels are milky.

Melons --- Summer melons are fragrant and if you can "smell" the flavor, it's ripe. If the stem slips easily where the vine is attached, it's ripe. Cantaloupe is ripe when the rind shows shades of tan and yellow between the veining.

Try thumping the melon (listen for a dull sound). It should also be heavy. If you're still not sure of ripeness, cut one open and sample it.

Honeydew and other winter melons turn white or yellow and the blossom end is soft to the touch. Cut these melons from the vine; they ripen for several days after picking. Muskmelons won't ripen off the vine.

Tomatoes --- If you like fried green tomatoes, pluck a few before they color up. Otherwise, let fruit ripen on the vine. It should be full colored and firm at harvest. Harvest by gently twisting it so it pops off the vine. Store at room temperature (they'll keep for several days). Don't store tomatoes in the fridge --- it robs the tomato of flavor. If frost is near, harvest green fruit and ripen in a dry place, like a windowsill.

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Harvest guide

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