Fort Myers followers of Farmer Mike’s U Pick won’t have to trek to Bonita Springs much longer to harvest their fresh fruits and vegetables.  

The U-pick farm is tentatively scheduled to open next week on Gladiolus Drive, just west of Summerlin Road. 

“We’ve got quite a bit of work in front of us to pull that off,” said Mike Clevenger, a third-generation farmer whose family has worked the land in Bonita for more than 30 years. 

The farm will open no later than Sept. 29 for the fall festival, he said. 

The biggest challenge is fixing the open-air store that was on the site. Clevenger is getting the store in shape until the business can construct a metal building that will be used year-round. 

“We don’t want to open until the entire farm is in tip-top shape and ready for people to walk around,” he said. 

Clevenger is leasing the 60 acres. He said the owner came to him about six months ago with an offer to partner with him.  

The Gladiolus site will offer the same fruits and vegetables as at the Bonita farm. Customers will be able to pick pumpkins, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, eggplant and sunflowers. 

It will have a family friendly corn maze and hayrides from October through the third week of November.  

The Gladiolus storefront will carry more than 300 varieties of vegetables grown at the Bonita farm at various times of the year, such as purple cauliflower, purple broccolini and eight-ball squash.  

“When you walk into our store you will see fresh-picked veggies, from the first of October through the middle of June,” he said. 

The Gladiolus store will be open all year, unlike Bonita, he said. U Pick will sell fruits and vegetables from farms they partner with up north during Southwest Florida’s nongrowing season. 

Food service has become the farm’s largest chunk of revenue.  

Farmer Mike’s does more than sell veggies at its roadside locations. It’s biggest chunk of revenue comes from selling its fresh vegetables to restaurants, sub shops and high-end hotels from Tampa to Marco Island. It’s begun expanding distribution to Miami and Florida’s east coast, Clevenger said.