Want continuous harvests? Succession planting!

Succession seed starting in pots

Sunday, April 12, 2015

A key strategy to getting the most out of your garden space and harvests is to leverage succession planting.  Never have an empty spot.  Be ready as soon as you harvest one plant or crop to fill the space with its replacement.  When you do plant, don't plant all at once so that your plants come to maturity one after another versus all at once.  And plant different varieties with different maturity dates.  All these strategies will significantly boost how much your garden gives you!

Planning is key.  You will need to lay out your garden bed by each season so you can see what you need when.  As soon as the cool season crops like lettuce, beets, spinach, radishes and carrots are spent, it will be time to replace them with warm season crops like beans, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and squash.

To lengthen the harvest of each vegetable, you should also stagger your planting through the season.

Here is a list of succession planning by vegetable for continuous harvests:

Beets-every two weeks

Bush Beans-every two weeks

Pole Beans-give continuous harvests naturally

Broccoli-best accomplished by planting types with different maturity dates

Cabbage-best accomplished by planting types with different maturity dates

Carrots-every 2 weeks

Cauliflower-best accomplished by planting types with different maturity dates

Chard-give continuous harvests naturally

Corn-best accomplished by planting types with different maturity dates

Cucumbers-once after last frost and then 2 months later

Eggplant-give continuous harvests naturally

Lettuce-every two weeks (be sure to switch to heat tolerant varieties a month after your last frost)

Peppers-give continuous harvests naturally

Radishes-every week

Spinach-every two weeks until last frost

Tomatoes-best accomplished by planting types with different maturity dates; indeterminate varieties give continuous harvests naturally

Zucchini-once after last frost and then 2 months later

Another thing to keep in mind is how much a plant produces. Some vegetable plants will give you continuous harvests and some will give you only one or two vegetables (like corn).  Dwarfs are also a great idea for small garden spaces and containers.  Here is more on maximizing harvests:  This year's garden plan and How do you decide what to plant for small spaces??

Happy, productive gardening!