When is the right time to pick my veggies and fruits?

If you are a beginning gardener, it can be so tricky to figure out when to pick your fruits and veggies. Picking them too early will mean you don’t get their full flavor. Picking too late can mean you let them rot right on the vine. There isn’t much worse than an overripe watermelon . . . ew. So, to get started – here is a list of some common veggies and fruits, and the best times to pick them.
Tomatoes: Tomatoes are tricky. For your absolute best flavor, you want to pick them when they are a very deep color (whatever color you’ve chosen to grow), with no trace of green on the skin. However, if you live in a climate like, say, Idaho, where the nights get very cool, you can pick them once you see a blush of color and let them ripen indoors. Obviously, not in the fridge. Fridges are bad for tomatoes.

Ripe tomatoes on the vine

Cucumbers: Cucumbers are actually pretty simple. As soon as they are a decent size, pick them. They will double in size overnight, too, so you have to check them pretty regularly. Also, if you let them get too large or sit too long, they will get slightly bitter and seedy, so don’t wait. A cucumber plant self-regulates how many cucumbers it will have on a plant at one time, so the more you pick them, the more you will get! Mother Earth News has a great article on cucumbers here, I highly recommend it.
Peppers: Peppers are fun. If you are growing bell peppers, let them grow and then start to turn colors. If you want a green pepper, pick them green. If you want yellow or red, wait until they turn that color, then pick them! Lol!

Bowl of ripe peppers – yum!

Corn: Corn is ready when the ears are rounded at the base, and the fluffy stuff at the top is dark brown but not dry. You can also check the kernels if you peel them back and they look rounded and milky. Not much is better than sweet fresh garden corn.
Melons: Although, I think Melons might be a good contender for better than fresh corn. If not better, definitely equal. I found a great article on reneesgarden.com, with a breakdown of a TON of veggies and fruits and when to harvest them, (here is the article link) but here is what they had to say on melons: Cantaloupe: should be heavy and tan-colored (with a slightly yellowish tone). The cantaloupe’s netting will be slightly more raised than it was before, and it will be cracked around the stem. You will also be able to feel a softer skin toward the bottom, and they will be fragrant (I love the smell of cantaloupe). Also, they should come off the vine easily, but you don’t want them if they have already fallen off.
Watermelon: Watermelon become slightly dull, and the light patch at the bottom will change from light green to yellow when they are ready. The leaf on the tendril nearest the fruit will also turn brown and wither. The skin should be hard, as well.
Gardens are wonderful, and eating the fruits of your labor is such a wonderful experience. Learning when and how to harvest your garden is such an important part of growing one. Feel free to ask us any questions we didn’t answer, and make sure to check out the articles above!
Don’t forget to enhance your garden’s chances with Kelp, Extreme Blend, and our Grow and Bloom Packs!

Kelp Extreme Blend Grow Pack Bloom Pack

What is Silica? Why should I use it?

Silica . . . ahhhhh, Silica. Well, technically, Silicon Dioxide, but still. Silica is an organic compound with a ridiculous amount of benefits for your plants. Silica increases the strength of cell walls, actually fortifying the cells from the inside out. Stronger cell walls are good, this means your plant will be able to support the weight of the flowers, fruit, and/or buds you’ll eventually see.

Silica also increases resistance to stress – due to both climate (helps plants withstand extreme temps, both high and low – which is great if you live somewhere with a big temperature variance between day and night) and drought. Silica protects your plants against drought in a really cool way – it actually forms a protective coating on an intracellular level, which decreases the amount of water loss through transpiration – this is great because your plants will be able to withstand a drought much longer than plants not treated with silica.

Silica increases resistance to pathogens, too, including powdery mildew. Now, if you’ve ever dealt with powdery mildew, you KNOW what a big deal that is!!! If you haven’t dealt much with powdery mildew, or just want to know more about it, check out the blog we wrote on it: here. Basically, the plants build up an additional mineral barrier, using the silica, which lines the cells and makes it more difficult for diseases and pathogens to penetrate the plant at all. Silica also helps the plant resist sucking bugs by accumulating in the outer walls of leaves – when used as a foliar spray, you’ll see good results.

Also, Silica increases the metabolic rate in your plants, and, just for fun, silica has been shown to increase chlorophyll concentrations. This is great, because your plants will be greener, and you also see less wilt to your leaves.

So . . . why can’t I just use Potassium Silicate for all those things? Well . . . you can. However, potassium silicate is not listed as an organic product, whereas Silicon Dioxide is. There are many of the same properties among both substances, but if you are looking for an organic way to increase cell strength, metabolism, and resistance to pathogens and environmental factors, then Silicon Dioxide (silica) is most definitely the way to go!
Silica

Silicon Dioxide (Silica)

So when is it good to use Silica? Should I use it in the grow cycle or the bloom cycle? That’s an excellent question – so far, we’ve seen benefits to Silica in every stage. So basically, from seed to fruition. Plants grown in soil tend to uptake trace amounts of silica from the soil, whereas if you are a hydroponic gardener, there is no silica in your growing medium unless you manually add it in!

Also, plants grown with silica tend to show less shock during root growth from transplanting, as well as the flowers having a longer shelf life than those grown without silica.

Silica

Yucca Yucca . . . slim shady . . .

Okay . . . Yucca Extract has nothing to do with Eminem, or any other famous person. But it’s awesome! Yucca extract is used to increase water uptake in your plants.

And why is this beneficial? Well, not only will water uptake increase, but with the water come the nutrients in your soil, making sure your plants are getting all those beneficial nutrients you’ve spent so much time and effort putting in your soil in the first place!
But, you may ask yourself, “how does it work”? Well, basically Yucca is a surfactant. This means Yucca changes the surface tension of the water, making it so the plant can absorb it more easily. You can see the surface tension effect by pouring milk into a plate, dropping a drop of food coloring in, and dipping a dish-soap-soaked-Q Tip into it.

It’s actually pretty fun . . . lol! Yucca extract also contains something called “saponin”. Saponins are a component which increase water absorption, but which can also inhibit microbes and fungi. Now – please keep in mind Yucca Extract most likely will not keep away all the pests in your garden. But it can help your plants build up their own natural resistance, which is great!
Our Yucca Extract can be used as a foliar application, or hydroponically. Yucca Extract starts at $12.95 for a pound.

Yucca Extract

Yucca Extract

Best crops to plant late in the summer!

So, you’ve been slacking. It happens! If you haven’t been able to get a garden planted, you might think you’ve missed your window. This is soooooooooooo not true! There are several crops which do well in the late summer, and have a short time frame before you see fruit.
For example: Radishes, basil, mustard greens, and spinach take as little as one month to mature and can survive a light frost. Lettuce, swiss chard, kale, and collard greens all take about 40 days, and can withstand temperatures in the 20s. Also, you can plant garlic to harvest next summer. It does great over the winter.   Beets and cabbage can take two months to mature, but they can also withstand temperatures in the 20s.

Collard Greens

If you live in a climate which cools significantly over winter, you will want to stay away from crops which need steady temperatures and/or warm days and nights, obviously. Here in Idaho, we have 50-degree temperature variations in the fall, so it’s not a great idea to plant something which is going to struggle with that. One great resource is this website, which will help you determine your hardiness zone and which plants do well within it.