7 Gardening Tips to Produce Larger Harvests

I am always looking for great gardening tips that lead to saving money and growing healthier foods for my family. Growing larger harvests of vegetables isn’t as tough as you would think. There are a few things to remember, and I am happy to share these 7 Gardening Tips to Produce Larger Harvests that have worked best for me in my own backyard garden.

7 Gardening Tips to Produce Larger Harvests

Don’t scrimp on fertilizer. One of the most important gardening tips comes right in the soil. Focus your time and energy on making sure your soil is rich in nutrients. This begins with adding quality fertilizer and continues throughout the season as you continue to add fertilizers to the soil around our plants.

I prefer to begin with a natural compost that includes organic vegetable and fruit peels, crushed eggs, coffee grounds, and even fish enzymes. (Here are some tips for how to get started composting.) I mix that in with my garden soil to create a healthy blend from the beginning. As the plants grow, I will add more compost around each plant and blend it in with the soil. On occasion if yields are not as I would like, I add in a commercial organic fertilizer to increase nutrients and encourage growth. Here is a list of the top 10 organic fertilizers.

Prune plants regularly. Leaving dead buds, leaves, and even produce that has ripened and not been picked can prevent your plants from producing more. Make sure to prune back your plants as needed to make sure they are producing the most possible. Things like dried buds, dead leaves, or even ripened harvests that can be removed will make room for more fresh new buds and resulting produce to grow faster.

Weed around plants regularly. Do you actively weed the plants in your vegetable garden? If not, you are missing one of the key gardening tips for larger produce harvests. When weeds creep in on your plants, they not only can overcome the plant, they can suck up nutrition and moisture from around the plant. Removing the weeds from near your vegetable plants is a great way to allow your plants to get all of the nutrition and water they need. A small weed may not look like much, but it can drastically change the health of your plants, the soil around them, and ultimately the amount of produce you are able to harvest at during the growing season. Here are some recipes for natural weed sprays.

Have a consistent watering routine. When you starve your plants of much-needed water, they tend to go into starvation mode which results in plants that aren’t as healthy and will not produce as much. Be consistent by watering regularly, as well as being careful about their physical needs when you notice a dry spell or extra heat or sunlight that could be drying up the moisture available to them within the soil. Setting sprinklers, or having a regular routine of daily watering is vital to the health of your plants and their ability to produce the larger crops you desire.

Don’t crowd plants. This is one area that you will find differing opinions on. If you want your individual plants to produce well and produce more, then you shouldn’t overcrowd the plants. Allow each plant to have plenty of room to spread out, grow upwards, and produce as much as possible. The spacing between plants and rows is vital. You’ll also want to provide plenty of space for things like beans and tomatoes to grow upwards onto cages, poles, or other structures.

If you are looking to get as many vegetables in a short amount of time as possible, you may do the opposite and plant multiple plants in a smaller space. While each invididual plant may not produce as much, you’ll still have a larger crop by having multiple plants producing at the same time. Whatever choice you make will likely depend on the space you have available for your backyard garden.

Start your crops early. One of the best gardening tips I have found for producing a larger harvest during growing season is to create a longer growing season. This includes planting your crops earlier in the season. For those who live in climates where this could be dangerous, you can create an indoor greenhouse or even cover your raised beds with plastic to create a greenhouse effect that will protect the plants while helping them grow despite the temperatures.

Use transition plants. Another great way to produce larger crops overall is to use transition plants. This means that when one crop ends the growing cycle, you have something else on hand to plant in its place. Things like spring vegetables, lettuce, and even onions may grow for a short period of time or produce a limited number of vegetables. Once those plants have produced as much as they can, you remove them from your garden, add the plants to your compost for future fertilizer, and plant something else in that area.

Popular choices to transition from spring greens is summer corn and beans. Continue to transition further to fall greens, gourds, or pumpkins. This means that while you may not have a larger crop of one particular item, you will have a larger overall harvest of produce from your garden. This method works great in areas with a temperature climate that can support plants during Spring, Summer, and Fall months.

Utilize these top gardening tips to help your garden produce larger quantities of fresh, healthy vegetables for your family this year. Don’t forget to prepare the extra harvest ahead of time by prepping for the freezer or canning for use throughout the season.