So it's the end of August and harvest time for the home gardener.

If your garden has survived the drought, you're busy enjoying tomatoes, peppers and maybe watermelons. Perhaps you're looking ahead to filling your pantry for fall and winter.

Here are some important points to remember when growing, storing and preserving fruits and vegetables at home.

Harvest vegetables at their proper maturity to obtain maximum food value and vitamin content and to keep plants producing for longer periods of time.

Select for storage and preservation only those fruits and vegetables that are free of disease, insect injury and mechanical damage.

Pick fruits and vegetables in the cool early morning hours rather than late afternoon.

When you harvest, hold the plant with one hand as you remove the fruit with the other. Don't pull, tear or damage the plant. Eggplant in particular needs to be cut from the stem with a pair of heavy shears.

Handle the crop carefully to avoid bruising.

If you plan to freeze or can the produce, make as many preparations as possible ahead of time before harvesting the crop to reduce the time from picking to processing to insure the best quality pack.

Harvest no more than you can process within two hours after picking. This guideline also reduces the problem of having to cool large amounts of produce.

As soon as the row crop is finished bearing fruit or vegetables, pull the plants out, and prepare the row for the next planting.

Here are some more storage and harvesting tips for specific fruits:

• Corn — The ears are ready for harvest when the husks are green, silks dry, brown and the kernels full and yellow and/or white to the tip of the ear. Puncture a kernel. If the liquid is clear the corn is immature, but if it's ready it will be milky. To store the ears, refrigerate immediately to prevent the sugars from turning to starch. Keep the ears cool and moist, up to eight days, but most varieties become starchy. Corn can be frozen on the cob or off and put in freezer bags or containers. Cut corn can be canned.

• Potatoes — Harvest for storage two weeks after the vines die back; or just after the first light frost nips the vines, and before heavy freezing. Store the potatoes in medium to cool, moist conditions.

• Tomatoes — They are ready for harvest when fully vine-ripened, but firm. Most varieties are dark red. Place picked tomatoes in the shade, not sun. If the tomatoes are fully ripe, light is not needed to help them ripen. To preserve them, can or freeze as sauces, or in chunks, whole or quartered, but peel them first.

• Peppers — If they are sweet, harvest at full size, while green or yellow. When allowed to mature on the plant, most varieties turn red, and become sweeter. Once red, the pepper is higher in vitamin A and C. To preserve, freeze or use in pickles, relishes or dried spices.

• Brussels sprouts — These are best harvested after a frost for best flavor. The sprouts should be hard, compact and deep green about 1 to 1½ inches in diameter. Twist or snap them off the stalk. Store them in cold, moist conditions for three to five weeks. They can be frozen.

• Melons — Muskmelons are harvested when the stem separates where it is attached to the vine. For watermelons, the best indicator of ripeness is a yellow spot on the underside where the melon touches the ground. Also, look for a dead tendril or curl where the fruit is attached to the vine. Store these melons in medium-cool to moist conditions. Muskmelons can be frozen.

• Herbs — If using the fresh leaves, for cooking, pick them whenever the plant has enough foliage to continue growing. For drying, pick the herbs just before the flower opens, when the leaves contain the highest amount of aromatic oils. Discontinue harvesting perennial leaves by late summer to allow the plants to store enough carbohydrates for overwintering.

To dry the herbs cut them in small bunches, hang them in a well-ventilated and darkened room. Or cut them, and dry on a tray made of window screen. When dry, remove the leaves from the stems or trays and place in a sealed glass jar for a week. If any moisture has condensed, spread the herbs out for further drying. Store the herbs in an airtight bottle, preferably brown glass in a place as cool as possible.

Jennifer Frohnapfel is a member of the Penn State Master Gardeners of Butler County. She has been certified for two years.