How to Use Succession Planting in Your Garden

How to use succession planting in your garden and how it can lead to a bigger and more consistent harvest of homegrown vegetables.

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Garden with bags of soil and two lawn chairs

Last summer we planted a big garden! It was beautiful and it yielded amazing vegetables, but by the end of the summer, we had boxes of tomatoes and peppers. We were finding any reason to give vegetables away; donate, neighbors, co-workers, I even thought about putting some in our mailbox for the mail carrier!

Although there are plenty of ways to preserve foods from the garden, like canning, dehydrating, or freezing having a consistent harvest rather than all at once, is much easier to manage.

Succession planting does just that! It spreads out the planting and leads to a consistent harvest and is great for any garden, especially if you are trying to maximize spaces because can yield more harvest and extend the gardening season.

What is succession planting?

Succession planting is actually several planting methods that increase crop yield and create a consistent harvest. There are several methods of “succession planting” but the most common is staggered planting and the method I will be talking about today.

Staggered succession planting is my favorite method because it is pretty simple. It is something that I’m still new at and I’ll be honest, during my research I became a little overwhelmed.

There are so many methods, so many options it was hard to know exactly what would work for me, but the staggered planted method shown through as the easiest and possibly most rewarding method.

So here it goes! Staggered planting is instead of planting all of your crops at once, stagger your planting and sow seeds a few weeks apart. This will extend your harvest and create one that is consistent and doesn’t come all at once. Pretty simple, right?

Although the method seems as easy as that, there are some things to take into consideration before sowing those seeds. Keep reading for everything you need to know to use staggered succession planting in your garden.

But before we jump ahead, remember above when I said there were several types of succession planting? There are a total of four and they are all great ways to increase your harvest. It is important to choose the method that will work for you or even using a couple of different methods.

HARVEST AND SOW METHOD

Also known as the “relay” method, this method involves growing two different crops in the same space over the planting season. Starting with an early-season crop and replacing it with another crop and when that is finished, replace it with another crop.

COMPANION PLANTING

This method is planting two or more different types of crops that complement each other and help each other grow. It also involves planting crops that have different maturity dates.

The faster-maturing crop will be harvested first making more room for the slower maturing crop. I also use companion planting in my garden to help production.

SAME CROP, DIFFERENT VARIETIES & MATURITY DATES

Planting several varieties of the same crop that have different maturity dates (early, main season, and late). By planting several different types of, let’s say tomatoes that all have different maturity dates you will get a steady supply of tomatoes through the planting season.

STAGGERED PLANTING

The most popular method and simply planting the same crop every few weeks throughout the season. The vegetable will produce a continuous and consistent crop instead of maturing all at once. Continue readings to learn how to use this method in your garden.

How to use staggered succession planting in your garden

Step 1: Find Your Frost Dates

The first thing you have to do before you can practice succession planting is to figure out your frost dates. Depending on your climate, the last and first frost date will be different and the time in between the two is your planting season. Use this frost calculator to find out what your frost dates are.

These dates are important for succession planting because they will tell you when you can sow or transplant your first and last interval of crops in your garden to avoid frost damage.

Step 2: Days to Maturity

The next step is to decide on the crops you would like to stagger and figure out their growing times or “days to maturity”. Every vegetable takes a different amount of time to grow from seed to harvest. Even different varieties of the same type of crop can have different growing times.

You can find the maturity dates on the back of the seed packet, but if you saved seeds from last year’s garden you can look up maturity dates here.

This is important for succession planting because it will help you plan how many intervals of planting you can do for each crop type and stay within your planting season.

Step 3: Crops Per Interval and Interval Length

Decide how much of a crop you want to plant per interval. You can do this by how much space you have in your garden for that specific crop or by how much of a harvest you want per interval (how much of that crop will you use per 1-2 weeks).

When it comes to the interval length, my strategy – don’t overthink it too much. Most staggered planting intervals are either 7, 14, or 21 days. Going with roughly 2-3 week intervals can make it easy and you will be almost guaranteed a consistent harvest.

With that being said, there are a few things you can take into account when deciding interval length. Days to maturity and your last and first frost dates.

Let’s take lettuce, for example, days to maturity is roughly 45-60 days. My last frost date is April 26th and my first frost date is October 18th. This tells me that I can plant my first interval on April 26th (or a few weeks before this if starting seeds indoors) and my last interval 45 days before October 18th.

With my first and last intervals set, I can decide on the number of intervals in between based on how much harvest I want. Since lettuce matures quickly I will set the intervals to 2 weeks and this will give me a steady crop from April to October.

An easy rule of thumb, plants with shorter days to maturity can have shorter intervals. The longer the maturity days the longer the intervals to give time for the plant to grow.

Once the first interval harvests you can pull it and plant another interval in the same spot which is why a shorter maturity day leads to shorter intervals. Longer maturity means that several intervals will be maturing together for longer needing longer intervals.

Another thing to think about is if the crop is a cold-weather or warm-weather crop. Since lettuce is a cold-weather crop, I will pause my intervals in the middle of summer and plant a warm-weather crop in its place and start lettuce again in late summer.

Step 4: Use a Succession Planting Chart

Organize the crops you would like to plant, the maturity dates, and the interval plant dates with a succession planting.

You can do this with a quick excel spreadsheet or feel free to download my free succession planting chart printable. This will help you keep track of when to plant so you have a steady flow of delicious veggies.

succession planting chart with filled in crops

FREE SUCCESSION PLANTING CHART

What are the best crops for succession planting?

Succession planting is great for plants that grow fast and ripen once like radishes, lettuce, and beets. Long-lasting plants like tomatoes and peppers continue to produce fruit so they don’t always need to be staggered.

Although some cold weather crops cans be grown through mid-summer, some do not do well in high heat so pausing intervals in mid-summer and starting back up for end of summer is an option.

COLD WEATHER CROPS
Cold crops can handle the chilly weather or early spring and late fall

Beets
Cabbage
Carrots
Kale
Lettuce
Onions
Peas
Radishes
Spinach

WARM WEATHER CROPS
Crops that thrive in warm weather and cannot survive the cold weather

Beans
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Peppers
Summer squash
Sweet potato
Watermelon

Succession planting tips

GROW TRANSPLANTS

Sowing seeds in seed trays or pots can give your plants a head start. You can start several succession intervals indoors and transplant them outdoors when they are ready. The next interval will still be growing indoors. This is especially helpful if you are doing the harvest and sow method.

SOIL

Add compost to your garden beds or rows between plantings to keep the soil rich.

SPACE

Pull out any plants that are past their prime and compost. This will free up space for your next interval or a new plant.

PLANNING

It takes a bit of planning in order to coordinate crops, planting times, and maturity dates, but I’ve got you covered. Download my free succession planting chart.

FREE SUCCESSION PLANTING CHART