Succession Planting in the Vegetable Garden
Arugula from Seed
This week, I finally did a little planting in the vegetable garden. It’s been snowing so much this spring… there have been very few opportunities. I planted some Buttercrunch and Red Sails Lettuce seeds. And Spinach and Arugula from seed as well.
These plants could not be easier to grow from seed. Plus starting from seed always saves lots of money. One little seed packet costs about $2 for more seeds than we can eat in a year!
I sow my seeds around the outside edge of my raised cedar garden boxes. That way I can still plant my tomatoes or peppers in the center of the boxes without getting in the way. By the time my tomatoes are big, the spinach has been eaten. Plus they look so pretty planted that way.
My favorite trick is to succession plant. That means I try to plant the amount of lettuce or spinach I think we will eat in a one to two week period, then I plant a small strip of seed, usually about two feet. In a week or two I’ll plant another strip. It’s smart to place plant markers at the beginning and end of the strip you’ve planted. That way you know where to start the next strip if the first hasn’t germinated yet.
Yes, in reality I always plant more than we can really eat, but it’s a technique that greatly reduces waste in my garden and keeps us in good supply of the delicious plants that we love… and won’t keep.
In my area I can succession plant these cold loving crops for about 2 months. Typically I am planting my first crops in late March and ending in late May.
One other smart planting tip: Try to crop rotate. I planted lettuce in the same bed for a few years and noticed a sharp upsurge in pests. If you keep your plantings on the move each year, you can keep the pests confused. This is especially helpful if you are trying to grow an organic vegetable garden like I am.
I hope a few of these tips are helpful. Happy planting!
Your blog always speaks to my way of thinking. I love your simplicity and resourcefullness. I also still love your “new” blog facelift.
When planning my garden, I like to plant more than my family could ever eat. This way, I am always prepared if:
*a portion of my crop fails (which has happened many times in the past due to hail, fluctuating temperatures and other reasons)
*I should like to invite another family over for a summer dinner to share our abundance
*I feel the urge to give, give, give
One of my neighbors is Joy from http://joyinthegarden.com/
She is always telling people that they are welcome to stop by her garden anytime, whether she is there or not to enjoy it, and that it could always do with a little “thinning” or “pruning”. I like her thinking.
Great tips! I never thought of planting in succession to ensure produce for a longer period. So smart! Do you do this with other plants, or just the faster growing ones like lettuce?
The only other plant I succession plant is green beans, which also work fairly well. Another great tip is to plant early and late varieties of different plants like tomatoes. That really helps to lengthen our harvest season.
I love all of your gardening tips! I’ve been wondering for some time, what do you do to ward off pests in the garden? (if you do anything in addition to rotating your crops?)
I plant marigolds and herbs throughout my vegetable garden to help ward off pests. I do really think that helps. I’ve also discovered a few tricks to remove pests. For instance, when my roses get aphids, I head out to the plants and spray them with a somewhat strong spray from the hose. They get wet and fall from the plant and die. It kills them as dead as poison. We also use “beneficial” insects like ladybugs and Praying Mantis. I’ve bought the lady bugs and let them go in my vegetable garden. The Praying Mantis is something I move to the garden if I find them elsewhere in my yard.
My husband has used and loves Beneficial Nematodes for killing the Sod Web Worms that plague our lawn. He used poison for some years, but our lawn just kept getting weaker and weaker. Then he tried the Nematodes. They are a bug that preys on the worms. Our lawn is now in recovery and seems to be getting healthier. Of course I am happy that we aren’t playing and laying on a lawn covered in poison.
Awesome! Thank you for the information!
I went out to plant me peas last week, and my garden was a muddy mess. What do you do in the fall to make it easier to plant in the spring?? I always have my husband till before I plant tomatoes and such, but that doesn’t help with these early plants. Any tips?? Thanks! I really love your website. I am so glad I found it!
Hi Heather, we do clean out our vegetable beds really well in the fall. I rake them so they are neat and tidy. Most years I dress them with a top coat of good quality well rotted manure or mulch for wintering over. Then in the spring I turn it over with a spade (or a small tiller). It’s hard (and, I’ve heard, not good for the soil) to work it when it’s too wet. I would let it dry out over a few warm days and then work it. My vegetable garden is raised cedar beds with bark in between for walking on. It was a bit of an investment when we built them, but it makes it so easy to maintain the garden. Plus it has the advantage of drying out and warming up the soil much faster in the spring.
Thanks for this simple, but informative post. I just got my cedar garden box yesterday (still need to assemble it). It is 12 feet long, but 3 feet across with a raised section in the middle (for my tomatoes, so they have room to hang). We have had the craziest weather in OR, and it was just freezing temps at night a mere 4 days ago. I did not even think to get the arugula and spinach in seed form (and I am doing all organic, as well) – and now I know just where to go. We have a family of 6 and I am certain I will overplant thinking we will go through it all. The succession rows make so much sense! Thanks.
Thanks!! I had a raised garden at my last house, and I am going to change my garden in this house. It was so much easier!
Thanks for sharing your tips on successional planting – it’s something I want to get going this year, but I feel tempted to fill the whole bed and don’t feel organised enough. But your idea of placing the markers and planting around the outside are perfect, I’ll give it a go!
Just started my garden too! I live in Indiana and I can’t plant outside until the end of MAY! So all my plants are in little cups on my kitchen table. 5 more weeks til planting! I’m stoked! this is my first garden since I moved out here, hopefully everything will grow well.