succession sowing
Succession sowing = three season growing…It took me several years of gardening before I started getting the whole succession sowing thing down. Today, it’s what I rejoice in come September and October and my garden is still putting out basketfuls of harvests.
Succession sowing can take a few different approaches…
One is to sow initial seedings of quick-growing veggies like lettuce, radishes and carrots in smaller sowings spaced every 2-3 weeks throughout the course of the summer (taking a break during the hottest periods of the growing season). By planting like this, you’re guaranteed fresh nibbles of these veg all season long.
Another way to succession sow is to follow one quick-growing crop with another. I follow my spring lettuce with summer squash, which I then follow with fall peas or a short-season bean. This approach helps me grow three different crops in the same space throughout the season. And then there is interplanting the same variety of veggies, like broccoli or kale, that mature at different points in the season.
This year, I’m growing a mix of early, mid and late-season broccolis all in the same plot, with the late season ones nestled in the center of the bed and the early on the outer border, making it easy for swapping out plants as they age out.
There are also a bevy of crops that you can get sowing mid-summer for bountiful harvests come autumn. Plot out the ideal sowing times by working backwards from your first frost date. It’s easy to find out what your frost dates are simply by entering your zip code in frost date calendar’s like the Old Farmer’s Almanac’s.
Two other great planning tools to check out are Johnny’s Selected Seeds Succession Planting Calculator (It calculates your succession sowing dates instantly in this easy-to-use spreadsheet) and their Fall-Harvest Planting Calculator.
Here’s a quick listing of some great crops to succession sow and when:
12-14 weeks before first frost:
• Direct sow — summer squash, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes and beans
• Start indoors — start brassica seeds (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale)
10-12 weeks before first frost:
• Direct sow — beets, carrots, lettuce, peas, radishes
• Transplant out brassica seedlings
8-10 weeks before first frost:
• Direct sow — oriental greens, lettuce, radishes, spinach
6-8 weeks before first frost:
• Direct sow — lettuce and spinach
Check out this article on COMPANION PLANTING for some great crops to interplant.