Garden skills
Succession Planting: Never Run Out of Salad
If your lettuce always comes in a rush and then runs out, there is a simple fix. It is called succession planting, and it is the difference between a glut and a steady supply.
The short answer: instead of sowing a whole row at once, sow a short row every couple of weeks through the season. Each sowing matures a few weeks after the last, so you're always picking something young instead of drowning in it for ten days. It works for lettuce, radishes, bush beans, carrots and cilantro.
Why one big sowing lets you down
When you sow a whole row of lettuce at once, it all matures at once. You get ten days of more salad than you can eat, and then nothing. It is the most common reason a salad garden feels feast or famine.
How succession planting works
Instead of one big sowing, sow a short row every couple of weeks through the season. Each little sowing matures a few weeks after the last, so you are always picking something young and tender. That is succession planting, and it works for more than salad: radishes, bush beans, carrots, and cilantro all take to it. Picking young cuts both ways: harvesting on time is its own skill, and picking regularly keeps plants producing.
Succession planting tips
- Keep the rows short. A few feet at a time is plenty for most households.
- Consider mixing varieties. A slow-bolting lettuce in summer and a faster one in cooler weather keeps the quality up.
- In high summer, give greens a little afternoon shade so they do not bolt before you get to them. Getting a midsummer sowing to even come up has its own tricks.
Where Verna fits
Verna highlights which plants are recommended for succession, so you can continue to add each batch, and helps keep you in step with your garden through the season. The habit is yours; Verna just helps you track the timing and care for everything you are growing.
Quick questions
How often should I sow lettuce for a continuous supply?
A short row every two weeks or so through the season. Keep each sowing small (a few feet is plenty for most households), and consider switching varieties with the weather: a slow-bolting lettuce for summer, a faster one for the cool ends of the season.
What vegetables work for succession planting?
The ones you eat steadily and that mature all at once: lettuce and salad greens are the classic case, and radishes, bush beans, carrots and cilantro all take to it. It's less useful for one-harvest space holders like winter squash or anything you pick continuously off one plant anyway.
See what still has time in your garden
Verna maps sowing, transplanting, and harvest timing to your exact spot.
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