Succession Planting: How to Get Continuous Harvests All Season

The classic spring garden has a problem: everything goes in on the same weekend, so all the lettuce is ready at once, bolts at once, and leaves bare soil by midsummer. Succession planting fixes that with a little planning. It is not a special technique so much as a habit of sowing less at a time, more often, and never leaving a cleared bed empty for long. This guide covers the three main methods from University of Maryland Extension, sowing intervals from extension sources for the crops where it matters most, how to fit them to your frost dates, and how to plan a fall crop.

Three ways to plant in succession

1. Repeat sowings of the same crop

Sow a short row or a few square feet of a quick crop, then sow again every week or two. University of Maryland Extension describes this as planting a portion of a crop at intervals, so harvests are spread out rather than arriving all at once. It works best for crops you harvest once and that pass their peak quickly: radishes, lettuce, bush beans, beets, carrots, spinach, cilantro and dill.

2. One crop after another

Plant a new crop as soon as an early one comes out. UMD Extension's example is sowing Swiss chard after spring peas are finished, and it suggests mapping spring, summer and fall rounds: cool-season crops, then warm-season crops, then more cool-season crops or a cover crop. Typical sequences: spring peas, spinach or radishes followed by bush beans, chard or summer squash; garlic or early potatoes followed by fall lettuce, kale or spinach. (Garlic itself goes in during fall; see when to plant garlic.) See our Swiss chard guide for the peas-then-chard example. See cover crops for vegetable gardens.

3. Interplanting fast and slow crops

Sow a quick crop between rows or plants of a slow one and harvest it before the slow crop needs the space. UMD Extension mentions radishes with carrots: the radishes come up in days, mark the row and are pulled weeks before the carrots size up. UMD also shows leaf lettuce sown between young spring cabbage transplants, harvested before the cabbage fills the space. Our radish guide covers radishes as row markers.

How often to sow common crops

The windows come from our planting calendar and are counted from your average last spring frost date. "Sowings" is roughly how many spring plantings fit in that window at the listed interval. Two crops that reward repeat sowings get their own date tables: when to plant beans and when to plant zucchini. Beets, radishes and turnips are covered in when to plant beets.

• Spinach: Illinois Extension suggests successive sowings for several weeks after the first one, until hot weather, then sowing again in late summer for fall and early winter.
• Dill: sow again every 10 to 14 days while the weather is cool for a steady supply of leaves (see our dill guide).
• Florence fennel: Utah State Extension suggests sowing every three to four weeks; see our fennel guide for the midsummer timing.
• Bush beans in summer: UMN Extension says bush beans can keep going in every two weeks until early August in Minnesota; farther south the window runs later.

Crops that do not need it

Some crops keep producing for months from one planting, so repeat sowings add little. UMN Extension notes that pole beans keep bearing all season, unlike bush beans. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and zucchini also keep fruiting as long as you pick regularly. Swiss chard and kale are cut-and-come-again greens that produce from spring until hard frost; chard rarely bolts, so one or two sowings a year is plenty. Long-season crops such as winter squash, pumpkins, onions from seed and garlic get one planting a year.

Build a schedule from your frost dates

1. Find your dates

   Enter your last spring frost date (or zone) in the planting calendar. Note the first fall frost date for your area too; NOAA climate normals and your local extension office list both.

2. Pick two or three crops

   Start small: lettuce, radishes and bush beans are the easiest to stagger. Trying to succession-sow everything at once is how schedules fall apart.

3. Size each sowing to what you eat

   A sowing should be about what you can eat in the next couple of weeks. For lettuce or radishes, that is often a few square feet or a short row per sowing.

4. Put the dates on a calendar

   Mark a sowing day every 10 to 14 days (or every 3 weeks for carrots and beets) inside each crop's window. Many gardeners sow the next batch when the previous one has just come up, which adjusts for slow springs automatically.

5. Plan what follows

   For every bed that clears in early summer, decide now what goes in next, so the space is replanted within days instead of weeks.

Planting for fall

The second big chance for succession is late summer, when cool-season crops can go back into beds cleared of spring crops. To time it, start from your average first fall frost and count back the crop's days to maturity from the seed packet, plus about two weeks, because growth slows as days shorten and cool. Illinois Extension points out that lettuce often does better in fall's cooler weather than in a late-spring planting that runs into heat. Good fall succession crops include lettuce, spinach, radishes, beets, carrots, kale and Florence fennel. Keep seed beds moist in summer heat; Illinois Extension notes irrigation helps late beet sowings germinate and establish. For October and November planting lists by region, see what to plant in fall. Spinach and kale timing for fall is in when to plant spinach and kale in fall. Worked fall count-backs are in when to plant broccoli and when to plant beets.

Tips that make it work

• Keep seed on hand: buy a full season's seed for repeat crops in spring so you are not stuck midsummer.
• Feed the soil between crops: work in an inch or so of compost when you replant a cleared bed; follow a soil test before adding fertilizer.
• Mix maturity dates: planting early, mid and late varieties on the same day is another way to spread a harvest, especially for sweet corn and cabbage-family crops.
• Keep a log: note sowing and harvest dates so next year's intervals match your own garden, not just a guide.

Companion plants still matter in a succession bed. Check each new pairing in the companion checker, and see our vegetable garden planner guide for laying out the whole season.

Frequently asked questions

What is succession planting?

Succession planting means planting so a garden keeps producing all season: sowing small amounts of a crop every week or two, following one crop with another as soon as the first is harvested, or growing quick crops between slower ones.

How often should I plant lettuce for a continuous harvest?

Illinois Extension suggests two or more successive plantings of leaf, cos and butterhead lettuce at 10 to 14 day intervals in spring, and lettuce can be sown again in late summer for fall.

How often should you succession plant bush beans?

University of Minnesota Extension suggests planting bush beans every two weeks until early August in Minnesota for a continuous harvest. Pole beans keep producing all season, so they do not need repeat sowings.

Which vegetables do not need succession planting?

Crops that keep producing from one planting, such as pole beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, Swiss chard and kale, gain little from repeat sowings. Long-season crops like winter squash and garlic get one planting a year.

When should I stop succession planting?

Stop when there is no longer time for the crop to mature before your first fall frost. Count back the days to maturity from that date, plus about two weeks for slower fall growth.