I dealt with the same problem on a more extended period of time away from the garden. I asked friends or neighbors to come and help themselves if they saw vegis that would over ripen before I had a chance to use them. I usually gave them some if I had too many at the times I was there. Hope this helps.

Chard might fit the bill. It stands a long time.

Regarding beans. When I go away on holiday I pick every single bean however tiny. This delays them a bit and when I get back two weeks later they are ready to pick again. I do the same for zucchini. You could try this on a weekly basis.

Maybe sugar snap peas will work. They taste good when the pods are very young and are pretty decent until the peas inside get too big. I think you have 5 days time.

For cucumbers: I grew a strange variety from Baker Creek called Poona Kheara. It starts off white but turns yellowish/russet as it matures. Even at the russet stage they still tasted pretty good but I peeled them at that point whereas when they are still white the skin is tender and they don't need peeling.

We liked bush filet beans last year. They are meant to be picked young and slender and they put out a great second crop and decent third crop as long as the bushes were picked clean. The suggestion to pick even the tinyest before you go back to the city sounds like a great idea.

I also have a garden that normally only gets weekend attention. Good results with beets, carrots, onions, broccoli, bibb or buttercruch type lettuce, butternut squash, lima beans.

I grow these too but there's the occasional overripe runaways: peas, summer squash, sweet corn, green and wax beans.

I also keep trying pumpkins, but they get hit with powdery mildew every August, so its a race between getting some viable fruit vs. the kill off. In 2010 I had a grand total of 2 good pumpkins. My butternut squash vines also die off, but enough fruit matures in time that I get a good harvest.

I've given up on remote tomatoes entirely; late blight always gets them.

I've tried a weekly fungicide program on the PM and blight, but it only seems to slightly delay the inevitable, so I've decided its just not worth the effort. I'll introduce supposedly resistant varieties instead.

Usually for beets, carrots, lettuce, summer squash, corn, beans, peas, I sow 2 or more varieties, sometimes at staggered times so I get a longer harvest. (Corn is always staggered!)

Last year for instance, in the beets department I had a row each of Early Wonder and Detroit Dark Red sowed at the same time, with the plan that EW would be earlier. Their germination, top growth and tasty roots were in lock-step the whole season for size and time of harvest. The only way I could them apart after picking is the EW's were slightly purple-pink whereas the Detroit's were, well, dark red!

In the carrot department, I had a row each of Danvers and Nantes sowed at the same time. The Danvers out-performed the Nantes by being earlier, bigger, and more uniform. Nantes came in later and had a lot of forked and split roots. (This year I'll pit Danvers against Chantenay.)

Good suggestions, everybody. I'll try sugar snap peas this year and bush filet beans. And beets which I didn't grow last year. Thanks for the tips.

N2xjk, I've had no problems growing tomatoes. I get varieties that are VFN. Had a little bit of early blight but kept up with it and by midsummer, the tom. plants looked great. I will try Danvers carrots; thanks.

But no neighbors nearby, so if the vegs. over-mature, I'll just have to let those turn into seeds for next year.

The idea of picking all the stringbeans no matter how small, is a good idea, Flora UK. And chard could work.

When the zucchinis turn into bats, I don't mind, because I can split them, scoop them out, chop up garlic, onions etc., re-fill the boats and bake them.

As for lettuces, they bolt if not caught in time. But if I cut back all the outside leaves, maybe they'll survive and continue to produce.

So thanks, guys. You're great!

Carol

Armenia cucumbers can get 3' long and still taste great. I don't even peel them. Just slice into thin rings and use them like chips with dip. Or peel them and cut them up. If the seeds are too big, they are easy to remove. They don't taste exactly like cucumbers but they have that crunch and wetness.

I second the chard but it won't taste like lettuce. It is good in a fresh salad though.

Emerite pole beans are very similar to filet beans. They stay thin and have a wonderful taste...and pretty lavender flowers. I grow them with purple pole beans (with purple flowers) and they're beautiful together :)

Lemon cucumbers may be good for you. They stay sweet no matter how big they get, that is until they get fully mature after a couple weeks growth and turn into an orange-skinned, foam-cored softball. It takes about a week to go from 1 inch to 4 inch diameter. If, once a week, you picked all the fruits that are over 1 inch, then that would probably work out for you.

Carol,

If you have an old sheet or similar, you can cover the lettuce with it, especially the Simpsons (Black seeded or Elite). That severely delays bolting. It apparently also protects against frost - a couple of years ago I harvested my last head after several hard freezes and even snowfalls.

Mike

I have a garden at home but was thinking of renting an 800sf plot for $25 and planting only low-maintenance crops there for the food bank. The plot is near where I work but I'd only visit weekly or so. I was thinking corn and watermelon, maybe onions and maybe a determinate tomato. All widely spaced to lower the water needs. No beans, indeterminate tomatoes, and certainly no cucumbers or okra which require harvest every 2 days or so.