Growing your own food is so satisfying, but the terminology associated with it can get confusing. Here's a brief look at some common terms and what they mean:
TOMATOES
Determinate: These tomatoes are more compact and bear fruit that will ripen all at the same time. Good for small spaces and people who like to use tomatoes for canning (salsa, tomato sauce, ketchup, etc…)
Indeterminate: These tomatoes grow and grow and grow. They bear fruit that ripens throughout the growing season. These plants will eventually need to be staked or grown in a tomato cage. Good for people who want a continuous, but smaller harvest.
STRAWBERRIES
Everbearing: These allow you to harvest berries all summer long, producing a spring crop and continuing to bear throughout the growing season. Fort Laramie and Ozark Beauty strawberries are everbearing.
Junebearing or Summerbearing: These berries produce one large crop in the month of June. Good for people who want berries for freezing or making jam.
RASPBERRIES
Summerbearing: Will produce one big crop in the summer. Kilarney and Latham are examples.
Fallbearing or Everbearing: These raspberries produce their biggest crop in the late summer. Some varieties also produce earlier in the summer. Fall Gold and Heritage are examples.
APPLES, PEARS, CHERRIES and PLUMS:
Self- sterile: These trees require another variety to pollinate them to bear fruit. Apples, pears and plums are self-sterile.
Self-fruitful: These trees do not require another variety to bear fruit. Cherries are self-fruitful.
