That Whole Succession Planting Thing

This arugula is three successive plantings at 2 week intervals.

I have a confession.

We’re lazy gardeners. We barely weed, we never handwater, and we never fertilize during the growing season. Oh, and I’ve never done succession planting.

Of course we don’t really need to weed, water or fertilize, which is probably why we don’t do it. Wide rows, automatic drip irrigation, and heavy soil amending prior to planting all help with us with the stuff we don’t do.

But succession planting needs to be done – and I especially need to get good at it if we plan on being farmers – and the only reason I never did was just plain laziness. Well, laziness and just not keeping track of planting were my downfall. This year is different because I made a calendar to follow which forced me to stop using the “I’ll do it tomorrow” excuse. I’ve now been doing succession planting this fall and you know what? It’s easier than what I thought. Actually, it’s easier than planting everything all at once. Instead of slamming all the work into one day I’m able to spread the same amount of work out over the entire season. Why didn’t I do this earlier? Bonus is that if pests come through (i.e. rogue turkeys) they don’t destroy it all because I’m not planting all of it at once.

Some plants have extended harvest and don’t need to succession planting. In addition some plants have varieties with different harvest times that help extend the season and therefore don’t require as much successive planting.

What you should succession plant:

• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Greens
• Bok Choy
• Mustard
• Peas
• Radishes
• Scallions
• Beets
• Swiss Chard
• Cilantro
• Green & Fava Beans
• Turnips & Rutabaga
• Carrots
• Collards
• Celery
• Corn
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Onions
• Parsnips

Plants that can be succession planted but also have varieties with different harvest times:

• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cauliflower

Plants that don’t need to be succession planted because they have a long harvest, are perennial or need a very long season

• Squash
• Melons
• Tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Peppers
• Eggplant
• Asparagus
• Artichoke
• Cucumbers
• Okra