To pick or not to pick...

I found this in my garden last week:

My first banana pepper!

But does anyone know how to tell when they are ripe for picking? Oh, funny story...
So, my little tomatoes finally turned yellowish, so I asked mom when to pick them. She said, when they turn red (in her DUH voice). So, I waited. And waited. They finally turned orange, then split open, then turned purple...and that's when mom told me I had planted yellow tomatoes, so I could pick them when they are yellow! For a short time, though, I had some gorgeous tomatoes:

The middle green one is still hanging. I'm determined to get one, good ripe tomato from that plant.
Here's what the cucumber vine is up to now. It begins on the far left and has snaked down and then up, all the way the yellow bloom on the right of the picture. Isn't that amazing?!

The green tomato hanging all alone...


And one more of the pepper, cause it's just so cool to look at!

Thankfully, my family is not dependent upon my ability to grown food for our survival, or we'd be walking zombies right about now. Or, as L.A. refers to them, supermodels. :)