Harvest All Season Long With Succession Sowing

With a little bit of planning, gardeners can enjoy small amounts of fresh produce throughout the season by succession sowing, says University of Missouri Extension horticulture specialist Eliza Pessereau.

Succession sowing, sometimes called relay planting, means planting seeds of a particular crop at regular intervals so that the plants mature at different times.

This lets the gardener harvest small amounts of fresh produce throughout the growing season rather than harvesting everything all at once.

Pessereau says there are several methods of succession sowing. Choose your ideal method based on the crop, its planting window and how long it takes to reach maturity.

For example, loose leaf lettuce, which has a long planting window in Missouri and can take 1-2 months to reach maturity, can be planted every few weeks for a continuous harvest. If temperatures permit, re-seed when the first lettuce plants are harvested.

Another method is to plant multiple varieties of the same crop. “For example, plant one snap pea variety that takes 50 days to reach maturity and another that takes 70 days,” she says. Finally, you can plant cool-season crops in both fall and the spring to lengthen the growing season.

When re-seeding crops, rotate planting areas to prevent pests and disease. When you harvest carrots, do not re-seed in that same area. Instead, add a new row. Also, fertilize before planting in an area that was just harvested, as the previous crop may have removed most of the nutrients from the soil.

Below are sample plans for succession planting. Use either a single variety planted weekly, or plant both early- and late-maturing varieties at the same time.

Carrots

Plant 1 foot of row per person each week between March and April (spring) or late July and early August (fall).

Some early-maturing varieties include Adelaide (50 days for full size), Mokum (54 days for full size), Aranka (56 days for full size), Yaya (56 days), Caraval (58 days), Orange Fancy (62 days) and Red Core Chantenay (65-70 days).

Lettuce

For loose leaf, plant 1 foot of row of loose-leaf lettuce per person each week between mid-March and mid-May (spring) or throughout August (fall). Some popular early-maturing varieties are Tango (32 days) and Intercut (46 days). On lettuce, consider your gardening region and temperatures when seeding later in the spring to avoid bitter lettuce.

For head lettuce, plant 1 foot of row per person each week between March and April (spring). Early-maturing varieties include Chalupa (45 days), Skyphos (47 days), Adriana (48 days) and Magenta (48 days).

Bush beans

Plant 2 feet per person each week between April and May (spring) or late July through August (fall). Early-maturing varieties include Provider (50 days) and Derby (55 days).

Pessereau recommends following the planting guidelines in the MU Extension Vegetable Planting Calendar at https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6201.