The pictures on seed packages reflect vegetables picked at their prime. But how can you tell when to pick or pull? Here are some things you can do to avoid hollow cucumbers, stringy beans and woody beets.

• Beets: Thin beets as you harvest them. Pick the biggest, starting at 1 inch in diameter. If you have too many beets, pick and pickle some of them. One way is to cook them, then slice and marinate in dill pickle juice for a week or so. Some new varieties stay tender even when harvested late in the season.

• Beans: Green or yellow beans are usually best picked when the pod reaches about 3 inches. Break a few to see that they are not stringy, although many of the new varieties are stringless.

• Carrots: Here's another crop that needs to be thinned out several times. Use a trowel or another garden tool to loosen the soil if the carrots are hard to pull out. This will keep them from breaking off. Push dirt back into the hole to reduce moisture loss. Carrots are edible when they are as small as a half-inch in diameter.

Pull early and enjoy, but don't worry about late growers; a light frost just makes them sweeter. A late fall mulch over the tops will keep them available into the winter.

• Corn: There's all the difference in the world between regular sweet corn and corn that is picked fresh and rushed to a bath of boiling water or soaked with the leaves on and put on the barbecue. One guide to check for readiness is to look several days after the ends of the silks have dried up. At this point, slit or pull a few leaves back far enough to expose a few full kernels. When broken, the kernel juice should be milky. This sweet, sugary stage will last only a few days, so pay close attention to the corn growth.

Once starch starts to form, the juice will be clumpy and thick. If you are a few days too early, the juice will be clear and watery. If you don't cook the corn right away, try to cool it down in an ice bath or refrigerator. Recently introduced extra-sweet types keep their tenderness for several days after picking.

• Cabbage: Don't let this veggie get to the size of a basketball. If the heads are firm, begin picking when they are the size of cantaloupes or a little bigger. Long, hot days make them grow fast, and too much water can cause cracking.

• Cucumber: Sweet pickles are usually picked at 2 to 3 inches and dills at 4 to 5 inches. If you wait until the cucumbers have a yellow cast, the seeds will have begun to harden. Flowering also begins to taper off when too many fruit are left on the vine.

• Lettuce: If your lettuce has bolted (gone to flowering seed heads) during our hot spell, pull the plants and toss them into your compost pile. New seedlings of leaf lettuce still will mature if planted now. If you cut your lettuce, leave a little of the base intact; the plant often will reproduce.

While this is far from a complete list, it should cover some of the steps in smart harvesting.

Dale Langford is an area lawn and garden specialist.