Let me explain.
Plants are programmed to double in size every few days and with growth come the various stages: germination, maturity and reproduction.
The first stage of growth is not normally seen. It is when the seed sends out roots whose job is to collect food for the plant so that it can grow. At every stage of the plant's life thee is an equivalent growth of roots under the ground as there is volume of leaves and stalks above the ground.
Once the plant has established its life support root system, it starts to grow above the ground. A plant may double in size every three or four days. When the plant is tiny, you don't notice a great change. A plant that is one centimetre tall is very little different from a plant that is two centimetres tall. However, the same growth rate occurs for the plant's whole life cycle. In the same time period of 3 - 4 days that it took to grow from one centimetre to two centimetres, a plant that is 15 centimetres tall and 10 centimetres across, will grow to 30 centimetres tall and 20 centimetres across and if that plant is programmed to start producing fruit or seeds when the plant gets to be 15 centimetres tall, that fruit will grow in those same few days. A broccoli head will double in size every couple of days for 6 or 9 days and then will start to produce flowers.
The speed that plants mature and start to produce edible fruit, leaves and seeds catches most new gardeners by surprise. It seems to take so long for the plants to start looking like the vegetables they planned to grow, that they think it is going to take forever for them to produce edible food.
Wrong! Plants mature in a very short space of time and there is only a relatively short period of time for harvesting. Zucchinis, for example, double in size overnight if left unpicked and quickly become more like torpedoes than food.
At our community farm, I see many of our new members totally surprised to find that they have missed their harvest. The vegetables that seemed to take so long to grow rapidly matured when they just weren't watching! Troy and Shona, in the picture below, keep a close eye on what's happening in their own personal vegetable gardens at the Castelen Community Farm and harvest a bountiful supply of vegetables ever week from just a tiny plot of land. This is just one of the advantages of being a Community Farm member.
If you want to take full advantage of your garden's produce remember to visit your garden regularly, pick the delicious vegetables that are ready and eat them as soon as possible because the nutrient value of vegetables starts dropping as soon as they are picked. You'll be amazed at the difference in taste between a just picked cauliflower and one that has been sitting on the supermarket shelf for a week.
Written by Bev Buckley Visit learn more
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