As you gear up for the harvest season, you are no doubt getting excited to taste the fruits of your labor, especially if you are new to organic gardening. But you need to start thinking about what you are going to do with all that produce. It just isn’t feasible to plan on eating it all the first week, and letting it all go to waste is a waste of your time. You need to start thinking about preservation. Knowing how to make your fruits and vegetables last is a crucial skill for any home gardener.

But where to start? Well, you have quite a few options and many gardeners find ways to make their harvest last throughout the year.

One of the simplest ways to stretch out your harvest is to know how long you can wait to harvest particular crops. Root vegetables are really resistant to a frost and some can be left in the ground all the way to the following spring and dug up as they are needed. Some, such as carrots, brussel sprouts, and cabbage, will even taste better after some exposure to the colder weather.

This is referred to as wintering over, and it is very location specific. In particularly cold climates where freezing occurs in the winter, you can apply thick layers of mulch to keep the crops from being damaged. Usually seed packets give some idea of when it is best to harvest, but by talking to more experienced organic gardeners in your area you can get a better idea about what is realistic for your climate.

Freezing is a great, simple method of preservation that takes very little know-how. Bag up fruits and berries and you can blend them with organic juices later to make delicious smoothies without the ice. Better for you and better tasting. Keep in mind what you will be doing with the items later. You might want to chop up bulkier vegetables and fruits first depending on what you need them for. Bigger fruits, for instance, are a lot easier to blend later if you chop them into smaller pieces.

Also, a lot of vegetables will need to undergo a quick process called blanching before you throw them in the freezer. Blanching is a cooking technique in which you scald the vegetables in a pot of boiling water and then put it in cold water immediately after. This stops the production of enzymes which might otherwise cause the produce to continue growing and develop a strange taste in the freezer. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a list of blanching times for different vegetables of different sizes.

Canning is perhaps the most well known method of preservation, but many amateur gardeners are overwhelmed by what they see as a very complicated process. It really is not too complex, and people have been doing this for years so it is easy to find information.

Canned produce can last for years. This is particularly a great idea for prepared products, such as pasta sauces or jams. It is nice to just grab a jar of sauce out of the pantry when you want to make some dinner rather than running to the store or preparing something from scratch. The HomeCanning.com offers some great advice for getting started. (homecanning.com)

Drying, or dehydration, is another well known form of preservation that works especially well for herbs and fruits. Dried fruits make an excellent snack. The process of dehydration, whether using a fancy dehydrating machine or more traditional methods, removes the moisture from fruits and vegetables so bacteria can?t grow and cause the produce to spoil. It is usually best to use special recipes on the fruits to preserve a more high quality product and add more flavor. Click here for a simple guide to drying and dehydrating foods.

Another effective preservation tool is a root cellar. These have been used for a long time as well, and you don?t necessarily have to have a big elaborate cellar built for the purpose. You just need to create a similar environment with high humidity and very cool temperatures. Earth-House.com has a great list of resources about root cellaring.

We all know fruits and veggies are best when you pluck them straight from the vine and dice them up, but unfortunately we have no say about what is in season and when. So make the most of your harvest. Stretch it out and turn it into the resource it is supposed to be. The information is out there, you just have to put in a little effort and put it all to use.