Grow Your Own: How to Successfully Harvest Fruit & Veg
There’s a time for everything – especially when it comes to sowing, growing and harvesting. With our growing tips, you can turn your garden into a foodie paradise.
Planting Fruit and Veg: Why Timing is Key
Sow in spring, ripen in summer, harvest in autumn – so far, so simple. But when it comes to the perfect harvest, you need to be a little more precise. Every plant has its own specific rhythm. Four phases are crucial:
1. Sowing: The seedlings of most plant varieties must not be exposed to frost under any circumstances. However, some species don't mind the cold during sowing. Sowing is day 0 of a plant's life.
2. Getting Started: If you want to give your outdoor plants the best possible start, you can grow them in a pot before planting them out – for example, in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. The first shoots usually appear one to two weeks after sowing. If you want to grow cucumbers or tomatoes, starting them indoors is essential. They should only be moved outside when the weather is ideal and the plant is strong enough.
3. Growth: Whether started indoors or sown directly: the flowerbed is where you'll see if you really have green fingers. From watering to fertilising, from pruning to other care measures, every plant needs the right attention at the right time.
4. Harvest: This is what you've been working towards – it's time to harvest! But hold on: one red fruit doesn't mean the whole plant is ripe. The optimal harvest time not only determines the taste, but also often whether your pantry will be well-stocked again next year.
Our tip: It's important to keep a close eye on your garden and plants throughout the season. Not every plant will ripen exactly as expected.
Plant growing tips
If you want to grow your own plants from scratch, you'll need to create the ideal conditions for them to thrive. Four factors are particularly important:
1. The right soil: Special seed compost is low in nutrients, providing just enough of a boost for germination and root development. This makes it easier for the plant to strengthen its most important parts – the roots.
2. The right watering: After sowing, the soil must be kept consistently moist, but not wet. It's best to use a spray bottle and cover the seedlings with a plastic film. Regular ventilation will prevent mould.
3. The right light: The more light your plants get, the better. In the darker days of early spring, you can help them along with daylight or UV lamps, but a sunny, south-facing spot is also a great idea.
4. The right temperature: During the germination phase, you should ensure a warm, constant temperature of over 20°C. After that, it should be a little (!) cooler. Use a thermometer to find the perfect spot in your home or greenhouse.
Top tip: Keep a note of the sowing dates etc. This will make it easier to work out when it’s time to repot them, see if your plants are progressing well, or if you need to take any extra steps to help them grow.
Growing in a raised bed: What should you consider?
The soil in raised beds is slightly warmer than in traditional garden beds. This means you can often sow seeds and transplant seedlings a few weeks earlier than a planting calendar might suggest. However, the golden rule still applies: always wait until after the last frost!
Lunar planting: Helpful or hype?
Planting by the moon isn't necessarily about the direct influence of the moon on roots or leaves. Those who follow the lunar phases are gardening according to a natural cycle of time – and therefore, the oldest planting calendar in the universe. If you want to give it a try, the general rule is: work on above-ground parts of the plant during a waxing moon, and on the roots during a waning moon.
