Watering plants before harvest usually not best

In these late summer days, with vegetables bulging from the gardener’s harvest basket and farmer’s roadside stand, there is no shortage of lusciously tempting produce to cook with or preserve. Along with the harvest comes a host of myths that may amuse or lead astray.

Myth No. 1: Watering plants the day before harvesting the crop will enhance the flavor of the vegetables.

Not true! In fact, some veggies, such as tomato, cucumber and some squashes, actually rebel if they are irrigated or subjected to heavy rains when they have reached maturity. If mature and on the vine during irrigation or rain, excessive moisture taken into mature tomatoes and other vegetables tends to cause the skin to split open, inviting fungal rot and other pathogens that ruin the potential harvest.

Most vegetables are approximately 85 percent water at maturity. They actually have a better flavor if they have withstood a dry spell for a few days before the harvest. Many people observe an enhanced flavor of fruits and vegetables if foods have not been recently “watered down” with irrigation or rain. Furthermore, relatively dry weather several weeks before the harvest appears to increase the storage life and post-harvest disease incidence for many tree fruits we harvest in autumn.

Myth No. 2: Green tomatoes need to be ripened on a sunny windowsill.

False! In fact, green tomatoes allowed to ripen slowly out of direct light in a place with an ambient temperature of about 58 degrees Fahrenheit tend to display the longest storage life. To increase the ripening time of tomatoes, one or two fruits may be wrapped together in newspaper. Newspaper effectively harnesses the ethylene gas given off by the ripening tomatoes, decreasing the length of time to complete ripening.

Myth No. 3: Old-fashioned corn varieties taste better than modern corn.

Not so! Most people would agree that the flavor and taste of modern high-sugar hybrids are superior. There are many excellent reasons to grow old-fashioned open-pollinated corn (and many other old-fashioned vegetables, for that matter.) Some may say that taste is among those reasons, but since the advent of diligent breeding of sweet corn in the 1930s, the taste and range of maturity dates have made hybrid corn superior in the minds of many home gardeners.

Hybrid corn yields uniform ears and – if a carefully planned succession of sowing is undertaken or if early, mid- and late season varieties are sown together – sweet corn may be enjoyed from August well into autumn.

Since old-fashioned or heirloom corn is open-pollinated (unlike hybrid corn which is the result of a defined cross between two known “parent” plants) the resulting ears of corn may be far from uniform in size and flavor.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.