Harvesting is everyone’s favorite part of gardening. It is so satisfying to see the plants that you have cared for and nurtured from seed or seedling, grow and produce a harvest. Here are some quick tips to help you with your harvest.
- Harvest your crops as soon as they are ripe to keep the plant from putting its energy into already ripe fruit.
- With some plants, such as cucumbers, if you let the produce mature too much, the plant may start to die.
- Harvest your tomatoes before they are fully ripe when they are still more orange in color than red. Tomatoes are a really cool fruit where they will continue to ripen even after they are removed from their plant. If you harvest your tomatoes early, place them in a window or a paper bag to help speed up the ripening process.
- Remove rotten or diseased fruit or leaves from plants to keep the plant from putting its energy into it. By doing this, you free up your plant’s energy to put towards making more produce.
