Sucession Planting

Pea Sprouts

I get asked two questions from home gardeners all the time. First, "How do I get more out of my garden?" Second, "When do I plant my garden?"

Secession planting is the answer to both questions. Getting more out of your garden isn't about getting more from each plant, but by extending the planting season. So, you don't plant your garden all at once, but all the time during the season.

We plant radishes, beets, peas and greens in early spring. Then, we plant potatoes in May. Tomatoes, peppers, squash and melons after last frost in late May. Finally, we plant more greens, radishes and beets in late summer and garlic in late fall. They key is to plant a little every week throughout the planting season. For example, we are planting beets, greens and radishes every week through early June. This allows us to plant different varieties of each veggie, like five different kinds of beets. That way, you get some plants to harvest all season long instead of a huge harvest for one or two weeks in the summer. This also spreads the work over a much longer period of time. The last advantage is you can beat the pests in the garden.

Pests have a normal life cycle like any animal. If the summer squash you plant in June gets decimated by squash beetles in July, the summer squash you plant in August will thrive with no pests to bother them. One final note. If you do follow this plan, you likely will have to plant a lot of your veggies from seed. That's because there are not a lot of squash plants at your local nursery in August.