Amaranth – cut seed head when majority of flowers feel stiff to the touch, continue drying in a paper bag, pillowcase or on a metal tray to collect seeds that drop.
Beans/Black-Eyed Peas/Peas/Favas/Lentils/Tepary Beans – pods should be dry and can be picked by hand or by cutting the plant at ground level, letting dry on a tarp out of the rain and threshed.
Chiles – allow chiles to dry on the plant, hand harvest.
Corn – harvest sweet corn just after the milk-stage in the kernels (milk-stage is when a finger nail pressed into a kernel produces a white, milky liquid); sweet corn left too long on the plant may begin to ferment in the husk; for other corns, the cobs may dry completely on the plant, unless frost is likely or birds become a problem; remove entire cobs from plant.
Gourds – allow to dry on the vine until just before first frost, then continue drying out of the rain; can take several months; gourds are dry when seeds rattle.
Okra – let dry on plant but harvest before fruit opens allowing seed to drop.
Sunflowers – let dry on plant as long as possible, protect from birds by covering seed heads with netting or pillowcases; cut heads and let dry in a cool, dry place or in paper bags.
Melons, watermelons and squash are typically mature and ready to be harvested when the tendrils are dry on the fruit-bearing stem and the two adjacent stems. Some crops require a period of after-ripening in order for the seeds to fully mature. After harvesting, allow squash to after-ripen for 21 days before removing seeds.