5 Preservation Tips to Maximize Your Garden Harvest

When those huge harvests start coming in in late August, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of produce your garden is supplying. The key maximizing your garden harvest is preserving what you grow. I've got five must-know preservation tips that will help you enjoy those garden fresh flavors all year long!

I used to wait until August, when I had huge harvests of tomatoes every night, to start preserving my tomato sauce and salsa. But with so many varieties coming in strong at the same time, I quickly got overwhelmed and fell short of my preservation goals (and I hate to say it, but some of that fresh produce started spoiling on my countertop). Since then I’ve learned, you’ve got to start early stay ahead!

5 Preservation Tips to Maximize Your Kitchen Garden Harvest

Schedule a harvest day.

My weekly routine is to harvest on Sundays. Once I’ve harvested, I immediately separate out what we’re going to enjoy fresh throughout the week, what I’m going to preserve, and what I’m going to share with friends and neighbors. Dedicating this one hour a week helps avoid overwhelm, and I have a lot less fresh produce going to waste.

Start preserving herbs in July

As you prune your rosemary, dill and other herbs in order to get big, bushy plants, go ahead and dry or vacuum seal and freeze the clippings! It’s great to preserve some early herbs individually for winter cooking. Or, dry them for teas and spices! When you have huge herb harvests, you can on making pestos, sauces, and broths (which are easy to freeze). Plus, you have the added bonus of having a back-up in case Mother Nature throws you a curveball; there were several years I lost all my basil to downy mildew and I was happy I had some pesto I made earlier in the season in my freezer!

Preservation tips for zucchini

So if you’re drowning in squash and you can’t possibly think of another way to cook them, try baking zucchini breads! You can bake and freeze them now, and pull them out at a later date to share with guests or enjoy with your morning cup of coffee.

Cauliflower is a great crop to “rice” and freeze for later.

If you choose to rice cauliflower, no need to par-boil and blanch the cauliflower before you freeze it. Talk about easy!

You can pickle more than just cucumbers!

Pickling provides you with a different way to enjoy veggies like radishes, onions, beans, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, jalapenos, asparagus, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, (and even fruits like peaches and cherries!). There are two ways to pickle: canned pickles, or refrigerator pickles. Refrigerator pickles are quick, easy, and keep the crunch of a fresh veggie, but they only last about a month, while traditionally canned pickles can last much longer. Think how fun it would be to pull some garden pickles out of your pantry to add to a holiday charcuterie board!