When do I harvest my fruit and vegetables?
On your marks, get set ……… Harvest!
When do I harvest my fruit and vegetables? Now that is the question! As this question is asked in many different forms, it gave us a fun idea, why don’t we do a question-and-answer session as this week’s blog!
Grow your own has been embraced by so many people this year whether it be an allotment, a garden veg patch or just a few vegetable plants and I’m loving how so many people have decided to just give it a go. Watching your plants grow and vegetables start to take shape is so exciting but when do I harvest them?
Welcome to Ask James! I’ve been picking James’s brains to answer a few questions for us all and I have learnt so much, so here goes.
When do I harvest my courgette? How do I harvest my courgette?
Courgettes should be harvested when they are 10-20cm long as they will be young fresh and tender. When a courgette is ready to pick, simply make a clean cut through the soft stalk without twisting or pulling. On a lovely warm evening, the courgettes can grow very fast indeed. One too small today could be too big within a couple of days. Also, harvest regularly as this will encourage more fruits.
When do I harvest raspberries? How do I harvest raspberries?
Raspberries can ripen quickly in the sunshine so look out for even redness all the way round and gently pull the fruit from its green cap when it looks plump. If it doesn’t come away easily, it’s not ready. After cropping has finished, cut the fruiting stem to ground level. This is the simplest method of raspberry care and is appropriate for all types of raspberry whether they are Primocane or Floricane types (Primocane fruit on this years growth and Floricane fruit on last years canes).
When do I harvest rhubarb? How do I harvest Rhubarb?
Choose medium sized stems or sticks, approximately 2.5cm in diameter would be great and follow the stem down to near the base and pull. Rhubarb that is too thick will be stringy and very thin sticks will be too tender. Leave some leaves to allow the plant to keep growing and provide energy. Don’t harvest newly planted batches for a couple of years to allow them to get established.
When do I harvest potatoes? How do I harvest potatoes?
A good sign that your potatoes are ready is when the flowers have been open a few weeks and the leaves at the base of the plant have started to turn yellow. Using a garden fork, just harvest enough for what you need for today’s meal as they will not store until they are fully mature, and their skin has hardened.
I really hope that this has helped a little but if you do have any questions then please do lettuce know!
Anyway, that’s shallot!
Apologies for the bad jokes and thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Keep the photos coming as we love to see them. I really enjoyed this so I’ll be pestering James again next week!
Take care,
Lins x