by Birgitt Evans, ABG Board member and Master Gardener
Birgitt Evans in the garden. Photo credit: Lori Eames
I have a friend who lives outside of Toronto. Like me, she grows and puts up a great deal of food from a smallish garden. She, however, has a two week window in which to plant her entire summer garden if she wants to harvest before a September frost kills everything. Fortunately, we have a nearly infinite growing season here in Alameda, should we choose to use it. In fact, zucchini planted in April will grow, produce and die in July, leaving the gardener without zucchini for half the summer season. The same is true with beans, cucumbers and basil. So gardeners in Alameda need to plant a succession of crops in order to keep their gardens producing year round.
What is “Succession Planting”?
It is the practice of planting smaller amounts of a crop multiple times to extend the harvest. So, instead of planting a 2 foot by 10 foot bed with lettuce (or other salad greens) all at once, you would plant the first quarter of the bed on March 1st, the second quarter on March 15th, the third quarter on April 1st and the final quarter on April 15th. By that time, you would be eating from the March 1st planting and could sow more lettuce when you finished and you would have a continuous supply of lettuce.
Planning Your Succession Plantings
The first thing you need to know is how long it will take each crop to produce. Seed packets will have a number on them which is “Days to Maturity”. This is generally the days to harvest a) from transplant for seeds started indoors and b) from germination for seeds sown directly in the ground. Realistically, “days to maturity” is a guideline since many things will effect how long it will be before you harvest, including heat, cold and rain. In Alameda, summer fog will cause plants to take longer to mature than the days on the package. Nonetheless, it will give you a guideline. Add to that your general experience with both how long it takes a crop to mature and how long it will produce for and you will get a sense of how to time your successions.
For example, returning to that zucchini; I know that if I transplant it in early April, it will begin to produce fruit in mid-May and will continue producing for about 7 weeks, into early July. Zucchini takes about 8 weeks from seed to harvest, so for no interruption, I would start my second crop just as the first crop starts to produce and then start a third crop to take me into early October. Cucumbers have about the same timing. Basil is an herb we all love. Judiciously harvested, it will produce for several months, but I always find that mine flags in August. And so, in July I will start a second crop that I plant out at the beginning of September.
Other Considerations
While the gardener might want to keep a continuous supply of everything coming through the year, most of us will not have enough land or organization to achieve this. And so we will need to make choices based on what we most want to eat and what tastes significantly better when grown at home. In addition, many crops produce better in Alameda when grown in the fall through spring months, because their pests die out.
For example, brassicas (broccoli, kale, cauliflower) are eaten by cabbage moth larvae and covered in aphids during the warm months. Both pests die in the winter, making it a much better time to grow brassicas. The same goes for spinach and Swiss chard which are eaten by leafminer fly larvae in the summer. And so, plan for warm weather crops to be succeeded by cool season crops by planting seeds of cool season crops in July or August for transplant in September or October as the warm season crops start to die back for the year.
Logistics
To do a good job of succession planting, you are going to need to make a map of your garden and do some research. Make a list of what you like to eat, when it grows, how long it takes to produce and how long it will produce for.
Crops like tomatoes and peppers will go into your garden in spring and produce into November, so they will be succeeded by a cool season crop such as kale. Potatoes take roughly 4 months from planting to harvest and can be planted from February until August. Garlic goes in the ground in October and comes out at the end of May. Corn takes about 4 months from seed and can be planted from mid-April through early August. Onions are best planted in flats in November and transplanted around February 1 for harvest in July.
Mark what you have already have planted on your garden map and when you expect it to come out. Decide whether you have time for another warm or cool season crop, whether you want to move on to the next season or whether you want to go on to something like greens, parsley or root crops that can be grown year round. Don’t forget crop rotation. Mark your next crop on the map and make a list of upcoming crops, noting how you will grow it – transplant, direct seed, garlic clove, tuber etc – and the date by which you will need to plant seeds for transplant or acquire the seed or tuber. A planting calendar will be very helpful for complex garden plans.
Final Thoughts
Keeping a small garden in continuous vegetable plantings will require the addition of compost and a balanced vegetable fertilizer with each new planting. Be sure to compost your un-diseased plants along with tree leaves so there is compost available every time you plant. Succession planting requires some planning, but can produce big yields from a small space. Be flexible and ready to adapt to the inevitable delays and failures that come with gardening and you will reap big rewards and eat well from your garden.