Is your garden overflowing with vegetables, and is your family giving you the death stare when you put down another plate of zucchini or squash? It may be time to freeze some of these veggies for use during the months when they aren’t freely growing in the garden.

Freezing is one of the easiest ways to preserve vegetables. Although not all vegetables are suitable for freezing, most will retain their flavor and nutrients if properly prepared and stored.

The process begins with harvesting the vegetables to be stored, and early morning is the ideal time for picking. Picking vegetables when they are at their peak is key to a good frozen product. This means the vegetables should be plump and firm, but left on the vine long enough for their full flavor to develop. Overripe vegetables that have been left on a little too long will produce an inferior product when frozen.

Just like when making pickles, the less time between harvesting and processing, the better the end product. If you have several different vegetables ready to be harvested, you may want to process one at a time. The longer that vegetables are left to sit before processing, the more they lose the peak freshness you are trying to preserve.

After harvesting, give the vegetables a good bath. Use clean, cool running water, and rinse until all dirt and debris is removed.

The next step is to blanch the vegetables. Blanching is the process of scalding the vegetables for a short time in boiling water or steam, then removing and plunging them into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.

Blanching is necessary to stop enzymes from being active, which will adversely affect the flavor, color and texture in a relatively short period of time. Vegetables will last in the freezer for nine to 12 months under proper conditions, whereas unblanched vegetables could lose their color and flavor in as little as one month.

Under-blanching vegetables can stimulate the enzymes, which is actually worse than not blanching them at all, so it’s important to make sure you keep the vegetables in the boiling water for a specified amount of time.

The following are some of the more common vegetables grown in the home garden and how long they should be blanched.

• Beans — snap, green or wax: 3 minutes;

• Beans — lima, butter or pinto: small, 2 minutes; medium, 3 minutes; large, 4 minutes;

• Broccoli — florets: boiled, 3 minutes; steamed, 5 minutes;

• Brussels sprouts — small heads, 3 minutes; medium heads, 4 minutes; large heads, 5 minutes;

• Carrots — small, whole, 5 minutes; diced, sliced or julienned, 2 minutes;

• Cauliflower — florets, 3 minutes;

• Corn on the cob — small, 7 minutes; medium, 9 minutes; large, 11 minutes;

• Corn — whole kernel, blanch ears before cutting corn from cob, 4 minutes;

• Okra — small pods, 3 minutes; large pods, 4 minutes;

• Peas — blackeye, 2 minutes;

• Peas — green, 1 1/2 minutes;

• Peas — with edible pod, 1 1/2 to 3 minutes, depending on size;

• Peppers — sweet, strips, rings or diced, 2 minutes; and

• Turnips or Parsnips — cubed, 2 minutes.

Steam blanching is recommended for broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and winter squash. When steaming, set a rack or steamer basket at least 3 inches above about 2 inches of boiling water. After adding vegetables to the basket, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and steam for about 5 minutes. When done, put them into an ice water bath to cool.

After vegetables are cool, remove from water bath and drain completely. Moisture is not a friend when freezing vegetables. Moisture-proof freezer containers are ideal; however, freezer bags also work well as long as you remove as much air from the bags as possible before sealing. I fill my bags, then roll them until I get to the seal to remove the air. After I seal them, I flatten them out by pushing the vegetables evenly through the sealed bag. This isn’t necessary, but it does make them a lot easier to store.

Label the bags with the date and contents. This is particularly handy when processing the same vegetables at different harvest times, so you can keep up with the “first in, first out” rule.

Freezing vegetables is an economical and easy way to make the most of the time and effort you put in to growing them. Until next week, happy gardening.

— Irland, a member of the Limestone County Master Gardeners, can be reached at kippirland@hotmail.com. Visit https://mg.aces.edu/limestone for more information on the Limestone County Master Gardeners.