Harvesting and Pruning

Gardeners harvest plants at different stages, depending on how the harvested plants or plant parts are used. Crops grown for their fruit, such as tomatoes and eggplant, are harvested when the fruit is ripe. Some plants are harvested before they flower—lettuce and spinach, for example, are grown for their tender leaves and develop a bitter flavor if allowed to flower. Plants grown for their roots, such as carrots and radishes, are harvested when the root is large enough, but before it gets tough or woody and loses its sweetness. In flower gardens, the sign of maturity is the formation of seeds. Many plants stop flowering once they set seed, so to make plants produce flowers longer, gardeners can remove the faded flowers before they produce seed, a technique called deadheading.

Gardeners may attempt to control the shape of woody plants, such as trees and shrubs, by removing, or pruning, branches growing in the wrong direction. They also prune to removed damaged, disease, or dead branches. Some shrubs, such as lilacs, bear the most flowers in young wood, so gardeners remove the oldest branches. Gardeners prune plants at different times of the year, depending on how they hope to affect the plant’s growth.