6 vegetables to harvest more frequently so they stay productive

With these vegetables, the more you pick, the more they produce.

Key Points

• Harvest leafy greens by removing outer leaves while leaving the center intact, which promotes continuous growth.
• Frequent harvesting of basil, zucchini, and cucumbers boosts productivity and prevents overripening or toughness.
• For nightshade veggies like tomatoes, harvest when ripe to prevent seed maturity, which slows production.

Harvesting homegrown vegetables is infinitely fulfilling; that’s when all your hard labor planting and caring for the plants pays off. How much a plant yields depends on several factors that you cannot influence, such as weather conditions. However, for some vegetables, the right harvesting techniques and timing greatly influence how much you’d be able to harvest.

Meet the Expert

Corbin Scholz is the farm director at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa.

Veggies That Should Be Harvested Often

For some types of vegetables, the more often you harvest them, the more the plants will produce.

“Plants have an instinct to reproduce. So, when we harvest fruit or remove flowers before the plant has put all its energy into creating seeds, it panics and produces more—as a survival method,” explains Corbin Scholz, the farm director at Seed Savers Exchange. “These are usually called “cut and come again” crops, meaning the more you harvest, the more they produce.”

Make sure to pick the following types of vegetables regularly to keep them as productive as possible.

1. Leafy Greens

You may be hesitant to decimate kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach, and other leafy greens that give the garden a lush, tropical feel. But Scholz explains that if you harvest just the larger outer leaves and leave the center, smaller leaves will keep growing. This works for just about any non-heading type of greens. However, you can’t pick too much at once. “Don’t take more than a third of the plant at a time so it stays strong and healthy,” Scholz advises.

2. Tomatoes, Eggplant, Peppers

Harvest these nightshade family veggies as soon as they have ripened to the color and size you prefer. Don’t let the fruit get too old on the plant; you don’t want it to get to the point of having mature seeds within the fruit. Otherwise, the plants will slow down on developing more fruit or stop altogether. In the case of tomatoes, this is true with indeterminate varieties, and less so with determinate varieties that won’t continue growing and producing after harvesting.

3. Basil

Staying on top of harvesting is especially crucial for this herb. Starting at the top of the basil plant and working your way down, pinch off the growing tip. This should be done directly above a junction where two “shoulder” leaves are growing. Doing this will create a more bushy and robust plant, says Scholz.

If the plant gets too far along in the flower/seed production, the stems can become woody, and the leaves get tough, says Scholz. The upside is that when this starts to happen, you can take all the leaves from the plant at once and make a pesto.

4. Beans and Peas

These plants are somewhat delicate, so take care to avoid damaging them when you’re harvesting them. Hold the vine/plant with one hand and pull the pod in an upward motion with the other hand. For both, you’ll want to harvest before the seeds are full and causing the sides of the pod to bulge.

5. Zucchini

You really have to keep your eye on this veggie; it’s advised to harvest every other day because the fruit gets very big very fast. While you can still eat super-sized zucchinis, they’re more tender when smaller, and the plant is likely to be more productive if you harvest frequently.

To harvest a zucchini, use a clean knife to cut the stem where it’s attached to the plant. You can also cut off one big stem to make sure the plant is getting enough airflow and allowing pollinators to reach the flowers.

6. Cucumbers

Cucumbers grow fast, and you want to stay on top of harvesting and check every other day. As soon as the cucumbers are big enough, cut them off the vine. That size can vary, depending on the cucumber variety, so check on the seed package or the plant label for how big your cukes should be when ready to harvest. You can get from ten to 20 cucumbers from one plant.

Read the original article on Better Homes & Gardens