If I could teach you one tool and only one tool to maximize your garden’s harvest, it would be succession planting! Technically succession planting is putting in a new bed of the same vegetable at intervals throughout the growing season. Basically it’s continuous planting or staggered plantings so that you get a constant harvest of a particular fruit/veggie, rather than a one and done type planting/harvesting.
When I had a large square foot garden, I utilized succession planting constantly. It allowed me to take full advantage of my garden space the entire growing season. You can easily fill those spots that previously harvested food left behind, like during the transition from early spring crops to summer crops. Maximized garden spots means maximized garden yields.
I typically start my succession planting with lettuce, which is a great place to start if you’ve never tried succession planting before. It’s impossible to eat all the lettuce a garden produces at once, so I began replanting smaller amounts every 2 weeks. I love it because I am able to have different types of lettuce that produced every couple of weeks.
Another benefit of succession planting is that it naturally breaks up your garden chores into smaller pieces. Sure I end up planting from March through the end of September, but because I’m only planting a small amount every week, it takes little time at all. Can you imagine doing all that planting at once? It’s a TON of work all at the same time. This way it spreads out the work and makes it more manageable. { I wrote post about the importance of using grow lights a while back, you can read all about that HERE}.
When it comes to getting a continuous harvest from a particular type of veggie/fruit, certain plants work better than others. Here’s a basic succession planting date guide for a continual harvest:
Green Beans – Plant every 10 days
Beets – Plant every 14 days
Cucumbers – Plants every 3 weeks
Kale/Collards – Plant every 3 weeks
Lettuce – Plant every 10-14 days
Melons – Plant every 3 weeks
Radish – Plant every 7 days
Spinach – Plant every 7 days
Summer Squash – plant every 6 weeks
Sweet Corn – Plant every 10 days
Carrots – Plant every 2-3 weeks {as weather allows, stop when it gets too hot and resume in late summer/early fall}
Cauliflower – Plant every 2 weeks {as weather allows, stop when it gets too hot and resume again in late summer/early fall}
Turnips – Plant every 7 Days
After you’ve decided on the veggies you want to plant, you need to create a planting schedule. Creating a detailed succession plan eliminates the guesswork of what and when to plant later on. You can do this by drawing a spring, summer, and fall map of each garden space or garden bed you have. Then plug veggies into the diagram, with early, quick crops followed by long-season ones. You’ll need to note transplant and harvest dates.
Once you have your plan, you can manage the succession of your crops by sowing small amounts of seeds or transplanting a few seedlings at regular intervals, either in the same spot or at different times in various parts of the garden. I’ve done both with great success.
Planting season, it has finally arrived! 🙂 {Even if some of us are having to start our seeds under lights}
What are YOU most looking forward to growing this year? Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
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Breakfast date with the HH at the 
Goal #1 — Spend More Time Doing What I Love
Goal #6 — Finish Every Single Unfinished Rug Hooking Project in My Pattern Bin + 10 Things from back Issues of Magazines/Books I’ve Been Meaning to Make. 
Goal #10 –Lose the Muffin Top
Goal #12 — Read or Listen to 26 New Books
Goal #13 — Try 52 New Recipes.
Goal #15 — Fill 100 Canning Jars
Goal #17 – 52 Dates with the HH {8 down, 44 to go}
Goal #20 — Create 12 Wowie Zowie Party Platters
Goal #22 — Compete with Carole….. Get on My Front Door Game On
