Garden Detective

It's beginning to feel a lot like autumn, and frost might be threatening your fruits and vegetables. When to harvest and how to store? I generally let my feet guide me: When I find I'm sleeping with my socks on, I know it's time to bring in the last of the tomatoes and cut down the basil. Some crops will ripen after picking, but others won't. Here's a guide to harvesting and handling some common crops:

Tomatoes

Ripe when red. Green tomatoes will ripen on countertop. Best to store ripe tomatoes stem side down.

Peppers

Will ripen on countertop. Can be eaten before mature. Green peppers turn red when fully ripe; hot peppers lose heat as they ripen.

Cucumbers

Best when slightly immature. Ideally, pick when color is dark and spines begin to soften.

Figs

Will not ripen off the tree. What you pick is what you get.

Plums

Will ripen on countertop. Best picked when soft and swollen.

Zucchini

Best when young and tender. Harvest when 6 to 8 inches long.

Pears

Ripe when stem releases fruit with a gentle tug. Will ripen when stored in sealed paper bag on countertop.

Grapes

Pick only when fully ripe, about two weeks after full size and color are achieved. Will not sweeten after harvest.

Watermelon

Ripe when bottom of fruit, which sits on soil, lightens in color to yellow

Pumpkins

Ripe when rind is hard and color deep. Cut with at least 1 inch of stem to prevent rotting.

RECIPE

So you've just saved a bunch of green tomatoes from those frigid overnight temperatures. While you can always let them ripen on the countertop, there's another tasty option to consider: fried green tomatoes. A Southern delicacy introduced to most of us Yankees in the 1991 film of the same name, they're a good way to use up the last of the season's bounty. Here's my version:

Fried green tomatoes

Vegetable or olive oil for frying (south of the Mason-Dixon Line, folks prefer using bacon grease, which is yummy, to be sure. Use whatever you like - or whatever you think your arteries will tolerate.)

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

Garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

4 large green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices

1 cup milk

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs, beaten

1. Pour about 1/2 inch oil in the bottom of a frying pan; heat.

2. Combine cornmeal, bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt and pepper

3. Dip each tomato slice in milk and dredge in flour.

4. Dip in beaten eggs and coat with bread crumb mixture.

5. Fry in hot oil about 4 minutes each side, until golden brown.

Storing herbs

You can always rinse, dry, crumble and store herbs such as basil, parsley and cilantro in a glass jar, but I prefer to freeze them:

1. Remove stems from leaves and discard stems

2. Rinse leaves with water

3. Lay in a single layer on paper towels; dry overnight

4. Place in a Ziploc bag and freeze. Leaves will remain separated for easy retrieval later.

Cornell University photo

The internet is abuzz today with reports of 6 children in Colorado whose faces were badly burned after coming into contact with the milky substance inside myrtle spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites).

Apparently the little girls were plucking the plant out of the ground when they noticed the white fluid dripping out. They thought it would be fun to pretend it was milk and squeezed it into a cup. Not sure whether they tried to drink it or not, but simple goop-to-skin exposure would cause the red, oozing blistering they experienced. Eyes swollen shut and everything. It was nasty.

The good news is the girls should recover without any permanent scarring.

The bright-yellow-flowering evergreen plant with blue-green foliage isn't commonly found in nurseries these days, but older gardens might have it residence. It can be invasive, so even if you don't have kids around it would be a good idea to get rid of it. Be sure to wear protective gloves, etc., when handling.

Wednesday, October 15, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Hoffman Center (East Norwich, next to Martin Viette Nursery)

Elizabeth Watson will discuss her book, 'Grounds for Knowledge,' an "engaging and knowledgeable guide to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s buildings both historic and new, and to the 150 species of trees that surround them. The superb color photography and detailed map invite exploration of the newly designated Bungtown Botanical Garden. Buildings and landscapes of nearby Lab campuses in Woodbury, Lloyd Harbor, and Cold Spring Harbor are covered as well."

Reservations are required. Call 516-922-8678 for details.

Lots of inquires about the slaty-grey snake today, after an Australian teenager awoke overnight to find one slithering around her neck. News outlets are reporting the 16-year-old girl was bitten, ran to her parents for help and was told to go back to bed. Apparently, they didn't believer her because she has a creepy-crawler phobia. Ah, teenagers.

Luckily for her, her brother-in-law "tracked down the snake and whacked it on the head with part of a door frame, almost decapitating the creature," according to FOX News. The girl was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Slaty-greys (Stegonotus cucullatus) are not poisonous.

Could this happen to you? Not on Long Island, as the species isn't found in New York (or North America, for that matter.) But lots of snakes are.

So you find a snake. Do you panic? How can you tell whether it's poisonous? Easy. Just look into its eyes: Venomous snakes have eliptical pupils, which explains why evil creatures in horror films are always depicted with those kinds of eyes. Nonvenomous snakes have round pupils, like us.

You'll also notice a pit between the eye and nostril of venomous snakes, and if you can get close enough to turn one over (not recommended) you'll notice the underside of the tail has undivided scales, whereas nonvenomous snakes have divided scales.

Here's a handy diagram from the Cornell Cooperative Extension: