Pick me now

Sweet potato Start harvesting tubers ( above) after plants have been growing for four months.

Dig up the entire crop now and store the tubers – advisable if you get heavy winter frosts – or leave tubers in the ground and harvest as needed. Use a garden fork to loosen soil and expose tubers.

Lime You can pick fruit when they change from dark to light green, right through until they are fully ripe and turn yellow. Test early harvests by giving the fruit a gentle squeeze – they should give slightly. Use secateurs to clip fruit from the tree.

Spring onion Harvest whole onions when they look big enough to use. Pull them out, shake off the soil and trim off the roots. If you don’t need the sweet white section at the base, use scissors to trim off the tops at ground level, and the plants will regrow.