Succession Planting

Filed under: Gardening Tips, Tagged as: gardening tips, succession planting

Succession planting means growing different crops in the same space one right after the other in the same season, or planting the same crop in different parts of the garden in succession at different times.

 

For example:

• A row of carrots is planted in early spring: after the carrots are harvested in early summer, the vacated row is re-planted with snap beans for harvest in early fall. The two crops are grown on the same ground.

 

Or:

 

• A garden space is divided into three sections: a first sowing of radishes is planted in the first section; in 10 days, the second section is planted with radishes; in another 10 days the third section is planted with radishes. Successive sowings of the same crop are made in different locations at 10-day intervals.

 

Succession planting allows for a continuous, uninterrupted harvest. Succession planting is sometimes called relay cropping.

 

Succession planting is different than rotation cropping. Rotation cropping is the practice of not planting the same crop in the same place for at least three successive years. Crop rotation ensures that the same plants or plants from the same family will not deplete the same soil nutrients year after year.

Whenever possible, do not plant successive crops of the same botanical family on the same ground. For example, root vegetables such as carrots or radishes should follow vegetables grown for their leaves or seeds, for example lettuce or beans. In a small garden, this may be difficult. If you do grow the same vegetable in the same spot for two or three successive years, you must make extra efforts to keep the ground fertile (add plenty of aged compost between plantings) and remove immediately plants that become diseased.

 

There are no rules for succession planting. Any vegetable that is removed from the garden early enough in the season can be followed by any other crop which will have time to mature.

 

For example, early beets and beet greens, early cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, green onions, peas, radishes, spinach, and turnips can be planted early--these crops are cool-weather crops. These crops can be followed by warm-weather crops such as beans, eggplant, melons, peppers, tomatoes, or squash. In turn, warm-weather crops can be followed by cool-weather crops that will mature in autumn. Any succession can be made that allows crops to reach maturity within the growing season. Chard, Chinese cabbage, collards, corn salad, endive, kale, leeks, lettuce, and mustard are cool-season crops that can follow warm-season crops for late autumn and winter harvest.

 

Sometimes, later crops can be seeded or transplanted among the first crop before it is harvested in order to gain more time. This form of succession cropping is also called intercropping or interplanting. Interplanting is often used in small gardens with a limited amount of space. Interplanting works best when quick-maturing crops are planted between slower-maturing crops.

 

Quick-maturing crops include: radishes, leaf lettuce, green bunching onions, turnips, and mustard greens. These crops require 60 days or less from sowing to harvest.

 

Slower or long-maturing crops include tomatoes, corn, squash, cabbage, eggplant, and peppers. These crops require more than 60 days from sowing until harvest, often 90 days or more.

 

Catch cropping is a term used for filling a space in the garden where a plant has been harvested. Catch cropping can be a form of succession planting; no part of the garden is left vacant during the growing season.

 

The number of succession crops that can be grown in the garden in a growing season depends upon the days to maturity for each crop and the number of days in the growing season. In short-season areas, it is more realistic to aim for two successions of crops.

 

To plan succession crops you must:

• Make a list of the crops you want to grow.

• Know number of days in the growing season, the approximate number of days between the last expected frost in spring and the first expected frost in fall. This is the growing season. Ask is the summer long enough to grow the crop you have in mind? Is the winter mild enough to over-winter hardy crops?

• Know the number of days to harvest of each crop you plan to grow: the time in the garden for long-staying main crops and for quick-maturing early crops or late crops.

• Decide if the growing season will be extended in spring or autumn by the use of protection: cloches, floating row covers, plastic tunnels, or coldframe.

• Make a map or chart of the growing space or planting beds for the beginning, middle, and end of the growing season: what spaces will be vacant when.

• Be flexible: soil and air temperatures, the weather, pests, diseases, and other unforeseen events may alter your plans.

 

To know the number of days to maturity of many vegetable varieties, look up each vegetable under its name in the Topics Index or check the How to Grow Archive for each plant.

 

Related Articles:

Quick-Maturing Vegetable Varieties

Interplanting Vegetables

How to Grow Archive

 

 

Posted by Stephen Albert on June 28, 2009 under: Gardening Tips , Tagged as: gardening tips, succession planting
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