FRUITS AND

VEGETABLES:
FROM FARM TO
MARKET
Planting of Fruits and Vegetables
Things to consider:
- Conditions and topography of the location
- Plant species to be planted
- Location management practices
Planting System for Vegetables
The traditional vegetable garden
Permaculture.
It focuses on the sustainable use of your land and working in
harmony with nature. Permaculture methods are based on the adage:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
No-dig.
Create narrow beds between boards at least 15cm high, held in
place with pegs hammered into the ground. Several layers of
newspaper are spread over the soil and a mulch of straw, sawdust and
grass clippings added. This needs to be watered well before spreading
a layer of compost, finished off with about 6cm of soil, which is the
layer into which you plant your seeds. The soil level will drop as the
layers of mulch rot down, but your beds can be topped up with
compost, as required.
Raised Beds
It works on the same principle as the no-dig
techniques, but tend to be deeper – they are basically
large boxes of soil and compost.
Square Foot Gardening
This system is particularly effective where space is
at a premium. You divide a specially prepared deep raised
bed into one foot modules, planting each of your crops
into this area. This method is particularly suited to salad
crops and miniature varieties of vegetables.
 Planting System for Fruit trees
Square System
This is a common system of planting adopted
in plains. The distance from plant to plant and row
to row is equal. The planting is done at each corner
of the squares.
The square system of the layout is easy to
draw and provides equal space to each fruit plant.
The space at the center of square remains unutilized
which is the main demerit of the system.
Rectangular System
In this system of planting row to row distance
is kept is more than the plant to plant distance. The
planting is done at each corner of the rectangles.
 The main disadvantage of the system is a greater
loss of income in case of no practice of intercropping.
Diagonal or Quincunx system
The quincunx system has been developed to
utilize the space between four trees that remains
unutilized in the square system. The planting is done
similar to the square system except an additional plant is
planted at the center of the square. The main crop is
called primary fruit crop and filler crop is called
secondary or supplementary fruit crop.
The income is increased and growth of the
weeds is suppressed. The acute competition between
primary and filler fruit crops for water, nutrients,
sunlight and air along with overlapping of branches and
overcrowding of trees are the disadvantages of the
quincunx system of planting.
 Triangular system
It is similar to the square system; the
only difference is that the trees in the
alternate rows are planted in the middle of
the two corners of the squares whereas in
the alternate rows also planting is done at
the corners of the squares in the square
system of planting.
 Equilateral Triangular or Hexagonal
system
In this system of planting fruit trees
are planted at the corners of triangles have
all sides equal in length and are called
equilateral triangles.
The 15% more trees could be
accommodated in the hexagonal system
than square system if the distance between
rows and trees remain equal.
 Contour system
The contour is an imaginary line connecting
the points of equal height on a slope. This system has
been evolved for the planting of fruit trees on hilly
and slopes topography with the objective to
minimize the soil erosion. The trees are planted on
the bench terrace prepared on the contour.
 Freestyle
When planting of fruit plants is done without
following any regular geometrical layout design, the
system is termed freestyle system. The system is
followed to plant the fruit trees on homestead lands,
public building’s compounds, wastelands, ravines,
along railway tracks, rivers, coastal areas, factories
etc.
 Harvesting of Fruits and Vegetables

Harvesting is one of the important operations that

decide the quality as well as storage life of produce of fruits
and vegetables. It helps prevent huge losses of fruits and
vegetables.
During harvesting operation, a high standard of field
hygiene should be maintained. This should be done carefully
at proper time without damaging the fruits.
 Methods of Harvesting:
Manual Harvesting - harvesting by one’s own hand.
It is done in several ways:
a. Ladder or bag picking method
b. Poles or Clippers method
c. Harvesting by means of knives
d. Harvesting by means of digging tools
Mechanical Harvesting – In this method numbers of
mechanical devices are used for harvesting the produce on
commercial scale.
 Fruit and Vegetables Grade
Standards(U.S. Grade Standards)
Grade marks for fruits and vegetables and
certain other food products are single, sequential
letters for processed commodities such as—A,
B, C, D, and Substandard and descriptive
terminology and sequential numbers for fresh
commodities such as—Extra Fancy, Fancy, No.
1, Combination, No. 2, and No. 3 and
commercial grades
 How are U.S. Grade Standards
used?
• Fruits and vegetables are sold on the basis of a quality
level, either "generic," brand name, buyer's specification,
or "U.S. grade.” These quality levels help establish the
price that the buyer is willing to pay the seller. Lower
quality grade products normally sell at lower prices than
higher quality grade products.
• For processed products, the amount of solid food in the
primary container, style, variety, packing liquid (water,
juice, or syrup), and condition of the primary container
also help establish the value of a product.
 Seasonal Availability of Fruits
FRUIT JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Avocado a a a a a a
Kamatsile a a a a
Kamias a a a
Saging a a a a a a a a a
Duhat a a a a a
Balimbing a a a a
Chico a a
Makopa a a a
Kasuy a a
Tiesa a a
Durian a a a
Mabolo a a a
 FRUIT JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC
Guava a a a a a a
Langka a a a
Lanzones a a a a
Mango a a
Melon a a a a
Dalanghita a a a a a
Papaya a a a a a a a a a a a a
Kalamansi a a a a a
Pinya a a a
Suha a a
Santol a a a
Sineguelas a a a
Guyabano a a a a
Atis a a a a
Sampaloc a a a
Kaimito a a a
Pakwan a a a a
Seasonal Availability of Vegetables
Seasonal Availability of Vegetables