Succession planting will allow you to plant several times throughout the growing season for a continuous supply of fresh vegetables.
To plan succession crops you must know two things:
• The number of weeks of growing season in your garden. The length of the growing season is the number weeks between the last frost in spring and the first frost in autumn. The local cooperative extension office can tell you the length of the growing season in your location or you can ask an experienced gardener at a nearby garden center.
• The number of weeks each crop you wish to grow requires to germinate, grow, and reach harvestable size. The chart below will help you make these calculations. Note the number of weeks a particular crop require in the garden can vary by variety–for example, some varieties of corn require more days to reach harvest than others.
So here is your succession cropping planning formula:
Number of days to harvest for Crop 1 + Number of days to harvest for Crop 2 = Total number of days in the garden. You can add Crop 3 as long as the total continues to be less than the number of days in the growing season.
One more note, growing seasons can be extended on either end by a few weeks with the use of season extenders: cloches, plastic tunnels, and cold frames. Season extenders keep the growing temperatures right for crops.
Here are some successions that would fill the same garden space for 7 to 8 months:
• Cabbage→ Green Onions→ Spinach
• Carrot→ Beets→ Peppers
• Lettuce → Peas → Turnips
• Radish → Corn → Winter Squash
• Snap Beans → Broccoli
• Kale → Cucumbers
• Melons → Pumpkins → Beets
• Broad Beans → Cauliflower
• Potatoes → Broccoli
• Spinach → Sweet Potatoes
• Asparagus → Summer Squash
• Green Onions → Garlic
• Corn → Rutabagas
• Chard → Melons → Endive
Use the following chart to help plan you garden successions. Note the harvest period can extend over several weeks, for example baby carrots are harvested well before mature carrots, and the number of weeks to maturity can vary by crop variety.
| Vegetable | Weeks to maturity | Weeks in extended harvest period | Possible number of successions in 8 months | Plants per person each planting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asparagus | seed: 4 yrs root: 1 yr | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| Artichoke | perennial | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Arugula | 6 | 2-4 | 4 | 5 |
| Beans, snap | 8 | 6-10 | 2 | 15 |
| Beans, shell | 8-9 | 6-10 | 1-2 | 20 |
| Beans, dried | 9+ | 2 | 1 | 20 |
| Beets | 8-9 | 3-6 | 4 | 15 |
| Broccoli | 8-9 | 6 | 2 | 5 |
| Brussels sprouts | 11-13 | 6-10 | 1 | 2 |
| Cabbage | 9-16 | 4 | 2 | 2-3 |
| Carrots | 9-11 | 9-11 | 3 | 50 |
| Cauliflower | 8-12 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Celery | 12-16 | 11 | 2 | 5 |
| Chard, Swiss | 7-8 | 6-20 | 2 | 3 |
| Chinese cabbage | 7-12 | 4 | 3-4 | 5 |
| Collards | 12 | 8-16 | 2 | 5 |
| Corn salad (mâche) | 8-11 | 1-2 | 8 | 10 |
| Corn, sweet | 9-13 | 1 | 3 | 10-15 |
| Cucumber | 7-10 | 8 | 2 | 3 |
| Eggplant | 10-11 | 10 | 1 | 3 |
| Escarole-endive | 6-7 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
| Florence fennel | 9-13 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| Garlic | 17-44 | 4 | 2 | 1-3 |
| Horseradish | 26 | 12-15 | 1 | 1 |
| Kale | 8-9 | 6-15 | 2 | 5 |
| Kohlrabi | 7-8 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Leeks | 19 | 6-15 | 1 | 10-25 |
| Lettuce, leaf | 6-12 | 3-6 | 4 | 8 |
| Melons | 12-17 | 6-10 | 1 | 3 |
| Mustard greens | 5-6 | 6-12 | 3 | 5 |
| New Zealandspinach | 10 | 6-12 | 1 | 3 |
| Okra | 7-8 | 6-12 | 1 | 5 |
| Onions, bulb | 14-17 | 6 | 1 | 20 |
| Onions, bunching | 8-17 | 6-12 | 1 | 20 |
| Parsnips | 15 | 6-15 | 1 | 12 |
| Peas (snap and shell) | 8-11 | 4-8 | 2 | 30-50 |
| Peanuts | 14-21 | 2-3 | 1 | 5-10 |
| Peppers (sweet) | 9-12 | 8-12 | 1 | 3 |
| Potatoes (Irish) | 9-17 | 2-3 | 2 | 5 |
| Pumpkins | 14-16 | 4-6 | 1 | 1 |
| Radicchio | 12 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| Radish | 3-9 | 1-2 | 8 | 12 |
| Rutabaga | 13 | 3-6 | 1 | 5 |
| Salsify | 17 | 6-15 | 1 | 12 |
| Scallions | 17-26 | 10-12 | 2 | 20-25 |
| Shallots | 9-17 | 4-6 | 2 | 3 |
| Spinach | 6-7 | 3-6 | 4 | 10 |
| Squash, summer | 7-10 | 6-12 | 2 | 1-2 |
| Squash, winter | 11-17 | 2-4 | 1 | 2 |
| Sunchoke | 17 | 8-16 | 1 | 4 |
| Sunflower | 10-11 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Sweet potatoes | 13-34 | 4-8 | 1 | 5 |
| Tomatillos | 17 | 6-15 | 1 | 1-2 |
| Tomatoes | 8-13 | 6-15 | 1 | 3 |
| Turnips | 5-10 | 2-4 | 2 | 3-5 |
| Turnip greens | 5 | 2-6 | 4 | 2-3 |
| Watermelon | 10-13 | 6-10 | 1 | 1 |
| Zucchini | 7-9 | 6-12 | 2 | 1 |
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