Most food crops reach their peak flavor and nutritional value when they're still young and tender.

Assuring Ripeness
Because different vegetables mature at different rates, the trick is to be ready to pick each crop at its prime.

This might mean picking asparagus and tomatoes daily, and eggplant and lettuce every five days or so. You'll want to harvest ripening peas and pole beans every couple of days to ensure continuous production over the season.

Tomato stems are tough, so harvest the tomatoes with garden scissors or pruners rather than just yanking them off the vine. For best flavor, pick ripe tomatoes just before you're going to eat them. If you're picking a few days' worth of tomatoes, store them out of direct light at room temperature. Green (unripe) tomatoes will ripen on the kitchen counter.

Green beans planted in mid- to late spring continue to set beans through most of the summer if you keep picking the ripe beans. For best flavor, pick them when they are thinner than a pencil.

Chili peppers are as easy to grow as any other pepper. Let them ripen totheir full color on the plant. Wear gloves when handling them and avoid touching your face -- the oils are very pungent.

Greens can be grown as cut-and-come-again vegetables. As they get 4 to 6 inches tall, cut the tops, leaving the crown intact so they will regrow.

Zucchini are ready for harvest when they are 5 to 8 inches long. You'll find them at their peak flavor and tenderness at this young age.