What is succession planting?
Succession planting staggers sowings so harvests arrive in manageable waves instead of a single overwhelming glut.
8 min · beginner
You will learn
- Define succession planting and its harvest benefits
- Select crops suited to repeated sowings
- Plan sowing intervals using extension succession tables
The basic concept
Succession planting means sowing the same crop multiple times across the season rather than all at once. A single planting of lettuce may mature within two weeks and then bolt in heat. Multiple small sowings spaced apart extend fresh harvest over a longer window. The technique applies to quick crops like radishes, bush beans, cilantro, and carrots.
Crops that respond well
Fast-maturing vegetables with a short harvest window benefit most. Lettuce, arugula, spinach, radishes, turnips, bush beans, and cilantro are classic choices. Slow crops like winter squash usually get one planting because they need the full season. Group crops by how quickly they finish when planning your calendar.
Spacing successions in time
University of Minnesota Extension provides succession interval tables for many vegetables in its climate resilience resources. Bush beans benefit from sowing every two weeks during the growing season. A two-to-three-week interval works for most salad greens and roots. In hot summer areas, skip the hottest weeks for cool-season crops and resume sowing when temperatures moderate for fall harvest.
Using space efficiently
Succession planting pairs naturally with relay cropping. When early peas finish, sow bush beans in the same bed. When garlic is harvested in midsummer, plant fall carrots or kale. Keep a list of quick crops ready to fill gaps the moment space opens. Even a single four-foot row divided into sections can support monthly sowings.