Succession Crops for Your Garden

You’ve just had a bountiful harvest after loving and tending to your garden for several weeks. The fruits of your labor are now on dinner plates, preserved and canned, or however, you’ve chosen to enjoy them. That’s a fantastic feeling and one that every gardener chases year after year.

Regardless, a successful harvest means empty ground. The greens have come and gone, your carrots have grown and found their way into soups and stews. Now what? Your garden is still prepared, after all. Must it sit for months or a whole year? Absolutely not! Succession gardening keeps the fun going. It’s the perfect way to enjoy back-to-back harvests and keep yourself busy and your garden fertile.

If you’ve never planted succession crops, keep reading for all the best tips. By the end, you’ll know what to plant, when to plant it, and how to make the most of your garden as long as possible.

What Does Succession Planting Mean?

Succession planting means you plant one crop right after another. Once one harvest finishes, a new crop goes into the ground in the same place. Your garden works for the full season and remains fertile. Succession planting increases output and productivity, along with these fantastic benefits.

• Fresh produce all season
• Limits weed growth
• Maximizes space (great for small gardens)
• Protects garden from erosion
• Minimizes opportunities for pests and disease

Which Crops Work With Succession Planting?

Certain crops come through earlier in the season or have short growing seasons, making them ideal candidates for succession planting. For your “first round” of planting, try these crops.

• Leafy greens (swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, arugula, kale, mustard, and so forth)
• Pole beans or bush beans
• Carrots
• Herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, etc)
• Radish
• Onions
• Garlic
• Early potatoes
• Turnips

The list above isn’t exhaustive, but it includes many of the most popular succession crops.

Succession Planting Methods

There’s no single way to handle succession planting. Some gardeners choose to plant the same crop at the end of one harvest. Others opt for different varieties of plants altogether. You’ll have opportunities to stagger plants, too, mixing some slow-growing varieties with longer-maturing ones. Check out the methods below and determine which type of succession planting may work for you.

Staggered Planting

Certain vegetables, like peas, produce a high-yield output and slow down significantly afterward. You’ll significantly increase output by planting them as a succession crop. By staggering your planting, rather than depending on the same crop to continue production, you’ll enjoy multiple high-yield harvests.

For the highest chance of succession, start by seeding only a portion of your garden at first. Continue to fill in your garden every few weeks, so crops mature and produce at different times. Once a particular plant slows down or stops producing, replace it. You may do this with the same crop, a different variety, or something else.

This method of staggering identical crops ensures having plenty of it to enjoy! This method works with virtually any type of plant as long as you pay attention to growth and planting times.

Using the Same Space

This method leans on the philosophy of, “Out with the old, in with the new.” You start with your initial crop, collect your harvest, and immediately compost the old plants and free up space. Once you’ve finished, you’ll plant a new crop.

This is a great way to grow different types of vegetables with limited space. You may start the season with peas or beans, follow them with Swiss chard, and even squeeze in a late-season crop at the end if you’re lucky.

With a bit of planning, you’ll have nearly endless possibilities with this method. There are plenty of helpful charts online. Use these to determine the perfect planting times and what combinations work well together.

Companion Planting

Companion planting, sometimes called intercropping, involves planting different plant species in the same space. It is a bit more complex than other types of succession planting. You’ll need to account for different spacing needs, soil impact, and how long each variety takes to mature. Ideally, companion planting involves pairing some plants with short growing seasons with longer-maturing varieties.

Certain combinations work incredibly well with companion planting. The classic “beans, corn, and squash” trio is just one example of successful, proven companion planting. Each of the three crops adds something important to the soil, making it easier for their companions to grow. It maximizes space, too, which is a crucial feature of most great succession planting.

Some other ideas for companion planting include:

• Carrots and radishes
• Potatoes and garlic
• Parsley and tomatoes
• Swiss chard and bush beans

If you’re interested in companion planting, Stoney Creek Farm’s Gardening Without Pesticides book features helpful information about companion planting, maintaining healthy soil, composting, and much more. It’s handy to keep around as you go into the next planting season!

Different Varieties

If you set aside an entire garden specifically for potatoes, succession planting is still a great idea. After all, there are different varieties and cultivars for practically everything. Some grow more quickly than others, while some labor for a bit longer before the harvest is ready.

By combining them into one garden, you’ll enjoy them all season long. It makes for an interesting crop and may even protect your plants from disease and pests. What strikes one particular cultivar may not affect others in different growth stages, so you’ll still put potatoes (or the crop of your choice) on the table.

Final Thoughts

Make the most of your garden and the growing season and try your hand at succession gardening. It comes with so many benefits and allows you to enjoy fresh produce for longer and give your garden added nutrients, weed cover, and more. You went to the trouble of preparing it for one crop. Why not get several instead?

For more tips, tricks, and hard-learned lessons about sustainable farming, join us at one of Stoney Creek Farm’s events or classes, or check us out on Youtube for tons of helpful information!