Raised Bed Gardening Part 4: Harvesting, Preserving & Learning From the Season
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. I only share products I genuinely use, enjoy, or personally recommend.
Harvesting, Preserving & Learning from the Season
If you’ve followed along with my Raised Bed Gardening Series from the beginning, we’ve planned our garden, filled our raised beds, planted our vegetables, cared for our plants, tackled pests and kept up with garden maintenance while watching everything grow throughout the summer.
Now we’ve reached the part we’ve been waiting for — harvest time!
But before we start filling baskets with tomatoes and figuring out what on earth we’re going to do with all that zucchini, I have a little confession to make:
My garden didn’t exactly go according to plan this year.
And honestly, that’s been both sad and a little frustrating. I’ve been gardening for years, and after having such beautiful and successful gardens the past couple of seasons, I guess I thought I had this whole gardening thing all figured out.
Apparently, my garden had other ideas.
Some things were planted later than they should have been — and I can’t even blame Mother Nature for that one. That was completely my fault. Some plants didn’t perform the way I’d hoped, and there are definitely a few decisions involving plant placement and spacing that I’ll be changing next year.
But rather than letting a disappointing season discourage me, it’s actually given me even more determination to figure out what went wrong, learn from it and make some changes for next year.
And you know what? That’s gardening.
Not every season is going to be your best, no matter how many years you’ve been doing it. Sometimes the lessons from a disappointing garden can be just as valuable as the harvest from an amazing one.
And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to finish this series with more than just a list of ways to harvest and preserve vegetables.
Because gardening isn’t about getting everything right, it’s about having fun while doing it.
Even experienced gardeners make mistakes and occasionally find themselves standing in the middle of the garden wondering, What happened here?
The important part is figuring out what worked, what didn’t and what you can do differently next time. Every growing season teaches us something — and thankfully, there’s always next spring to put those lessons to good use.
Enjoying the Harvest You Have
It’s easy to look around the garden and focus on what didn’t grow well, especially when you’ve had particularly successful gardens in previous years.
But look again. There are probably still tomatoes ripening on the vines, peppers tucked beneath the leaves, herbs waiting to be clipped or vegetables ready to make their way into tonight’s dinner.
Maybe you didn’t harvest as much as you expected. Maybe one crop completely surprised you while another barely produced anything.
That’s okay.
A successful garden doesn’t have to mean overflowing baskets of perfect vegetables.
Every tomato you pick, every handful of herbs you bring inside and every vegetable that goes from your backyard to your dinner table is something you grew yourself — and that’s still pretty amazing.
One of my favorite parts of having a garden is deciding what to do with everything once it starts coming into the kitchen.
Some gets eaten immediately, some makes its way into recipes, and when the garden decides to give me more than we can possibly eat at once, it’s time to start preserving.
Preserving a Little Bit of Summer
Preserving your garden harvest doesn’t mean you have to spend an entire weekend in the kitchen canning everything you picked. There are plenty of easy ways to save some of that fresh garden goodness for later.
Freezing Your Garden Harvest
Freezing is probably one of the easiest ways to preserve extra garden produce, and it’s one I use often. You don’t need any special canning equipment, and you can preserve everything from a handful of extra peppers to an entire basket of tomatoes.
The trick is to think about how you’ll eventually use what you’re freezing. Instead of simply asking, Can I freeze this? think about what would make it easier to be able to grab these from the freezer and use them in a meal later.
Here are a few ideas:
- Tomatoes: Roast them with garlic and herbs before freezing, turn them into tomato or pizza sauce, or freeze them to use later in soups, sauces and other cooked dishes. (Keep in mind that some fresh herbs, especially basil, may darken when frozen.)
- Zucchini & Summer Squash: Shred and portion for zucchini bread and muffins, or prepare for future soups, casseroles and other cooked dishes.
- Sweet Peppers: Slice or dice for future fajitas, stir-fries, chili, casseroles, omelets and pasta dishes.
- Hot Peppers: Freeze whole or chopped to add a little heat to chili, soups, sauces and other recipes.
- Green Beans: Blanch and freeze for future side dishes, soups and casseroles.
- Corn: Blanch and freeze kernels to use in soups, chowders, casseroles, salsa and side dishes.
- Fresh Herbs: Freeze chopped herbs in small portions or freeze certain herbs in olive oil to add to future cooked dishes.
- Basil: Turn a big basil harvest into pesto and freeze it in small portions for pasta, chicken, vegetables, sandwiches and more.
- Sauces & Soups: Sometimes the easiest way to preserve an overflowing harvest is to turn it into something first. Tomato sauce, roasted tomato sauce and garden vegetable soups can all make wonderful freezer staples.
Think ahead to winter-you! Portioning your produce according to how you’ll actually use it can make dinner much easier several months from now. There’s nothing quite like pulling something from the freezer in the middle of winter that tastes like it came straight from your summer garden.
Freezer-safe containers, reusable freezer bags, and portioned freezer trays can all help keep your harvest organized and make it easier to freeze only the amount you’ll need at one time. Shop Freezer-Safe Food Storage →
A vacuum sealer can also be a handy option for longer-term freezer storage. Shop Vacuum Sealers →
Easy Refrigerator Preserving
Another easy way to preserve your fresh garden picks is to extend their life right in the refrigerator. It’s a great option when you have a smaller harvest or simply have more fresh produce than you can use right away.
Refrigerator pickling is one of my favorites because you can pickle more than just cucumbers. Depending on what you’re growing, try:
- Cucumbers for classic or spicy refrigerator pickles
- Green beans for crunchy pickled beans
- Jalapeños or banana peppers for sandwiches, burgers, tacos and nachos
- Red onions for quick-pickled onions
- Radishes for a tangy addition to salads and tacos
- Cauliflower, carrots, celery and peppers for homemade refrigerator giardiniera
But pickling isn’t your only option.
An abundance of fresh basil can become homemade pesto. Fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs can become salsa or pico de gallo. Parsley and other fresh herbs can be used for chimichurri and other herb sauces, while rosemary, thyme, chives and similar herbs can be mixed into homemade compound butter.
These are great options when you have more fresh produce and herbs than you can use before they spoil, but not quite enough to make a full batch of something that requires special preserving equipment.
Just remember that refrigerator-preserved foods aren’t shelf stable and each one will have a different refrigerator life. Keep them refrigerated and check the particular recipe you’re using for how long they’ll stay fresh and safe to enjoy.
And if you discover a combination your family absolutely loves, make a note of it! You may find yourself planting a few extra cucumbers, peppers or herbs next year specifically so you can make it again.
Drying Herbs & Dehydrating Your Harvest
If your herb garden is still producing faster than you can use it, drying some of those fresh herbs is an easy way to enjoy them long after the growing season ends.
Herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage and dill can all be dried and stored for later. Depending on the herb and your setup, you can air-dry small bundles or use a food dehydrator for a little more control over the drying process.
A food dehydrator can be especially handy if you have a larger harvest to preserve — and it certainly isn’t limited to herbs. Depending on what you’re growing, you can also use it for things like peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic and even homemade fruit or vegetable snacks. Shop Food Dehydrators →
Once your herbs are completely dry, remove the leaves from any tough stems and store them in airtight containers away from heat, moisture and direct sunlight. For the best flavor, I like to leave dried herbs in larger pieces when possible and crumble them as I use them.
And don’t forget to label everything! By the middle of winter, those little jars of dried green leaves can start looking suspiciously alike.
There’s something really satisfying about reaching for a jar of herbs in the middle of winter knowing they came straight from your own home garden.
Canning
Canning is another wonderful way to preserve a garden harvest, but it’s also one area where I don’t recommend improvising.
Unlike refrigerator pickling or freezing, foods that will be stored at room temperature need to be processed using a current, tested canning recipe and the proper method for that particular food.
Tomatoes, salsa, pickles, jams and other high-acid foods may be suitable for water-bath canning when prepared according to a tested recipe, while low-acid vegetables and other foods may require pressure canning.
Canning does require a little more care than freezing or refrigerator pickling. If you’re planning to store those beautiful jars on the pantry shelf, always start with a current, tested canning recipe and follow the recommended processing method for whatever you’re preserving.
If you’d like to try canning some of your garden harvest, the Ball Mason Jars website is one of my favorite places to look for canning recipes and inspiration. You’ll find tested recipes for everything from jams and jellies to pickles, salsa, sauces and other ways to preserve your harvest.
If you’re new to canning, water-bath canning is probably the easiest place to start. You’ll only need a few basic supplies, including a water-bath canner with a canning rack and lid, Mason jars and a basic canning tool kit with essentials like a jar lifter and canning funnel.
Water-bath canning is used for properly tested recipes made with high-acid or acidified foods, such as many jams, jellies, pickles, relishes and some tomato products. It’s a fairly simple process once you get the hang of it and a great way to become comfortable with home canning.
Once you’re comfortable with water-bath canning, you may decide to venture into pressure canning. A pressure cooker canner opens up even more possibilities and is necessary for safely canning low-acid foods such as most fresh vegetables, meats, poultry and certain other foods.
Pressure canning does require a little more attention and care. You’re working with a pressurized canner and higher temperatures, so this isn’t the time to take shortcuts or improvise. Read the instructions for your particular canner, use a current, tested recipe and carefully follow the recommended pressure, processing time and any altitude adjustments.
Whichever method you choose, the job isn’t quite finished when the jars come out of the canner. Allow them to cool undisturbed according to the recommended directions, then check each jar to make sure it has properly sealed before putting it away. A jar that hasn’t sealed properly shouldn’t simply be placed on the pantry shelf.
And one very important reminder: a sealed lid alone doesn’t mean the food was safely canned. A proper seal needs to go hand-in-hand with using a tested recipe and the correct processing method from the beginning.
Once everything has been properly processed, cooled and checked, label and date your jars before storing them in a cool, dry place away from direct light. Then you can enjoy a little taste of your summer garden long after the growing season ends.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. I only share products I genuinely use, enjoy, or personally recommend.
When the garden starts producing faster than we can keep up with it, it’s easy to immediately start thinking about how we’re going to preserve everythinWhat can I freeze? What can I pickle? Do I have enough jars? And just how many zucchini can one family possibly eat.
Don’t Preserve Everything — Enjoy Some of It Fresh!
When the garden starts producing faster than we can keep up with it, it’s easy to start thinking about how we’re going to preserve everything.
What can I freeze? What can I pickle? Do I have enough jars? And just how many zucchini can one family possibly eat?
But don’t get so caught up in saving the harvest for later that you forget to enjoy some of it right now!
Some of my favorite summer meals are also some of the simplest. When the ingredients come straight from the garden, you really don’t need to do much to them.
Here are a few easy ways to put that fresh garden harvest to good use:
- Tomatoes: BLTs, tomato sandwiches, Caprese salads, bruschetta, fresh salsa, pasta salads, homemade pizza, burgers and garden salads.
- Cherry tomatoes: Toss them into pasta, salads and omelets, roast them with garlic and herbs, or serve them with fresh mozzarella and basil.
- Zucchini and summer squash: Grill or roast them, add them to pasta dishes, stir-fries, casseroles and soups, make zucchini boats, or shred them for zucchini bread and muffins.
- Peppers: Add them to fajitas, omelets, pizzas, sandwiches, pasta dishes, stir-fries and salads, or simply grill them alongside dinner.
- Hot peppers: Make fresh salsa, pico de gallo or guacamole, slice them onto tacos and nachos, add them to burgers and sandwiches, or use them to add a little heat to sauces and marinades.
- Green beans: Steam or sauté them with garlic and butter, roast them, add them to soups and casseroles, or serve them chilled in summer salads.
- Cucumbers: Add them to salads and sandwiches, make cucumber salad or tzatziki, toss them into pasta salads, or simply slice them and serve with your favorite dip.
- Fresh herbs: Add basil to pasta, pizza and Caprese salad; rosemary and thyme to roasted meats and vegetables; dill to potatoes, fish and cucumber dishes; cilantro to tacos and salsa; and fresh parsley to just about anything that needs a little color and freshness.
And don’t forget about breakfast! Fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs are perfect for adding to omelets, scrambled eggs and breakfast skillets.
Sometimes the best way to enjoy your garden harvest doesn’t involve following a recipe at all. It’s a vine ripened tomato sliced onto a BLT, a handful of basil torn over pasta or a few freshly picked vegetables tossed onto the grill.
This is what we’ve been waiting for all season — so enjoy it while it’s here!
What Worked — And What Didn’t?
Once the growing season starts winding down, it’s time to think about what actually worked…and what didn’t. And I don’t just mean which plants produced the most.
Think about the garden as a whole. Did you plant enough of the vegetables your family actually eats? Did you discover a new variety you loved? Was there a plant that surprised you or something that grew particularly well in one section of the garden? Were there vegetables you constantly wished you had planted more of?
Then think about the things that didn’t go quite as planned. Instead of simply thinking, Well, that didn’t work, try to figure out why it didn’t work:
- Was it planted too early or too late?
- Did it get enough sun?
- Was it overcrowded or shaded by another plant?
- Did you plant too much of something you barely used and not enough of something you loved?
- Was watering difficult in that location?
- Did pests or disease become a problem?
- Would a different variety be better suited to your garden?
I already know there are things I’ll be doing differently next year. Some of my plants went into the garden too late this season — that one’s on me. I also want to rethink some of my plant placement and spacing. What looks like plenty of room when you’re holding a tiny little transplant in May can look VERY different once that plant decides to take over half the raised bed in July!
That’s the thing about gardening: experience helps tremendously, but it doesn’t make every year perfect. Weather changes, pests show up, plants behave differently than expected and life gets busy. Sometimes seeds don’t germinate, sometimes plants don’t thrive and sometimes we simply make the wrong decision about when or where to plant something.
That doesn’t suddenly make you a bad gardener. It just gives you more information to work with next year.
These little details are surprisingly easy to forget by the time the next gardening season rolls around, but you don’t need a complicated garden journal. Just jot down a few notes on your phone, in a notebook or anywhere else you can save them for next year. Trust me, it’s a lot easier than trying to remember everything months later!
Take Pictures Before You Forget
While you’re making those notes, take pictures too! And not just pretty pictures of your harvest — although definitely take those.
Photograph the actual garden. Take pictures of overcrowded areas, places where one plant shaded another, empty spaces you could have used differently and plants that did exceptionally well. You might even take a few wide shots of your entire garden so you can see how everything was laid out.
Those pictures can be incredibly helpful when you’re planning next year’s garden. Because I don’t know about you, but after a few months have passed, I have a remarkable ability to forget just how enormous some of those plants actually became!
Putting the Garden to Bed
Eventually, even the most productive garden reaches the end of its season. Once your plants have finished producing, it’s time to clean up the raised beds and get everything ready for winter.
A few end-of-season garden chores to consider:
- Remove spent plants and weeds. Healthy plant material can usually be added to your compost pile, but diseased plants are better removed from the garden rather than composted at home where they could potentially cause problems next season.
- Give your soil a little attention. Raised beds naturally settle over time, so fall can be a good time to add compost or other organic matter. Or simply make yourself a note about what needs to be added or refreshed in the spring.
- Clean up your garden tools. Clean and store your tools, containers and anything else that shouldn’t spend the winter outside.
- Take one last look around. Make note of anything you’d like to repair, replace, move or change before planting begins again next year.
The garden may look pretty bare compared with those lush beds of July, but putting everything to bed for winter isn’t really the end. Before you know it, it’ll be time to pull out those garden plans and start thinking about what you’re going to grow next.
Start Planning Next Year’s Garden Now
You certainly don’t need to have next year’s garden completely planned before this year’s plants are gone, but this is a great time to make a few notes while everything is still fresh in your mind. For next year, I’m already thinking about planting dates, spacing and where certain plants should — and definitely should NOT — go. I’ll look at what performed well, what didn’t and what I want to change, and I’ll build next year’s garden from there.
That’s one of my favorite things about gardening: every year is different, and you can garden for years and still learn something new every season. There really isn’t a point where you’ve officially mastered gardening and every seed you plant magically turns into the perfect vegetable.
We’re working with soil, weather, insects, wildlife and living plants. Some things are within our control and many others aren’t. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s taking what you learned this season and using it to make your garden a little better next year.
Until Next Gardening Season…
When I started this Raised Bed Gardening Series, I had plans for both the garden and the series itself. This season didn’t turn out quite the way I imagined. Life changed unexpectedly along the way, and there were times when the garden — and this blog — simply didn’t get the attention I’d planned to give them.
But the garden kept growing anyway. There were still vegetables to pick, tomatoes to bring into the kitchen and little successes mixed in with the things I wish I’d done differently. And maybe that’s a pretty fitting way to end this first gardening series. Gardening isn’t about creating the perfect garden once and then repeating it forever — though that would be nice. It’s about learning what works, figuring out what doesn’t and carrying those lessons into another season.
This year’s garden — even though it wasn’t one of my best — may have taught me more than some of my most successful ones. Next year I’ll plant some things earlier, change some of my spacing and rethink where certain plants go. I’ll try some new things, keep some old favorites and, knowing me, probably come up with a few ideas over the winter that aren’t even on my radar yet. And I’ll share those adventures here, too!
So while this is Part 4 and the final chapter of my Raised Bed Gardening Series, it certainly isn’t the end of gardening here at Hidden Brook Journey. There’s always another season, another packet of seeds, another garden plan and another chance to get our hands dirty and try again.
Catch Up on the Raised Bed Gardening Series
If you’re just joining me — or you’d like to go back and revisit anything before next gardening season — you can find the rest of my Raised Bed Gardening Series here:
- Part 1: Garden Planning & Seed Starting
- Part 2: Garden Location & Setup
- Part 3: Growing & Maintaining You Garden
And now, Part 4: Harvesting, Preserving & Learning From the Season brings our first raised bed gardening season together from start to finish.
Until next gardening season, enjoy what you’ve grown, learn from what didn’t quite work and start dreaming about what you’ll plant next year!
