Who doesn’t want to have a bountiful fruit harvest? All of us want to experience seeing our hard work pay off, right?
Did you know you can achieve these using simple tips? Here are 10 easy ways to ensure you will have a bountiful fruit harvest this year.
Start Early, End Late
By adjusting when you start and end, you can harvest fruits and vegetables more than you expect. How does this work?
You can start up to a month earlier, even if the temperature is a little colder by using cloches, cold frames, tunnels, and other devices to keep your plants a little warmer.
Then, you can use row covers in the fall to protect your crops from frost and deer to get a little more growth/harvest time.
Blueberries
It’s true, that blueberries have the potential to self-pollinate, but it usually leads to smaller berries that don’t taste as good. We don’t want that.
To get a bountiful blueberry harvest, try to plant more than one variety of blueberries to foster cross-pollination. Doing this will allow pollinators to move pollen from one flower to another. You’ll also want to plant flowers nearby that attract bees, which are the best pollinators.
Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants
Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are also self-pollinators. That’s great, but you don’t want to settle for that.
Learn to fatten your harvests by bringing pollinators into the equation, especially bees. The buzz from a bee’s wings when they pick up pollen leads to more effective pollination.
Asparagus
Asparagus plants are either male or female. Since the male plants produce larger asparagus you’ll want to make sure you plant more, or exclusively, male plants. In no time, they are ready for harvesting.
Squash, Zucchini, Pumpkins, and Cucumbers
When is squash harvested? You’ll typically want to harvest them throughout the summer.
You might notice that they are not as plentiful as you’ve expected them to be. That is because not all squash, zucchini, pumpkins, and cucumbers are self-pollinators so you definitely want to bring pollinators into the game if you want your plants to be fruitful.
To be even more effective, you’ll want to pollinate your plants by hand and learn when to harvest vegetables. Learn how below.
Fertilize to Get a Bountiful Fruit Harvest
Once your “true leaves” appear, or the second set of leaves on your plant, you can start feeding your plants organic all-purpose plant fertilizer. It should be mixed at half-strength once a week, for the first few weeks.
Then, gradually increase the mixture to full strength. This will give your plants the nutrients they need and they’ll grow healthier.
Tie Up
Did you know that it’s best to tie up plants, like tomatoes and cucumbers, before they flop over to ensure that they get the most sunshine and proper air circulation in the plant’s lower branches?
This will help them grow and get the nutrients that they need, giving you a fruitful harvest.
Thin the Herd
After the “true leaves” appear you’ll want to gently pull out weak-looking seedlings so that the stronger plants can grow healthier. It may look like a lot of work, but you will enjoy it once you get used to it.
Compost
Sprinkle some compost made from tea, veggie scraps, egg shells, and coffee grounds to keep your plants healthy for the long run. You’ll see how your garden harvest will benefit from compost.
Plant in Blocks
Quadruple your per-square-foot harvest of things like lettuce, carrots, and beets by growing them in blocks of wide beds rather than in rows.
Doing so will allow you to fit in more crops within a smaller space.
Takeaway
Following easy tips to ensure a bountiful fruit harvest can make a big difference. Once you get used to doing these, you’ll see just how many fruits and vegetables your plants can produce.
In no time, you would want to learn how to preserve vegetables because you’ll have plenty of them. Happy harvesting!