Sow and harvest multiple crops throughout the season to maximize garden space.
If you’ve ever wondered what to do with spaces in the garden that open up after you harvest a crop, let this be the year to learn. Replanting an area with a second (or successive) crop helps you double your garden’s productivity without adding new beds. That’s why succession planting is popular among urban gardeners and commercial growers alike: everyone can use a little more space.
This is something Southern gardeners know well, given the longer growing seasons in those regions. But you don’t have to live in an area with warmer termperatures to benefit from succession planting. Read on to learn more about maximizing your space through multiple sowings throughout the season.
What is succession planting in the garden?
Succession planting is a gardening technique that involves planting one crop immediately after harvesting another, ensuring a continuous use of your garden space. This method helps maximize yields and maintain a steady supply of fresh produce.
By planning for staggered plantings and quickly replacing harvested crops with new ones, you can extend your harvest periods, use soil more efficiently, and adapt to seasonal changes. Succession planting is especially useful for small gardens, since it minimizes downtime between crops.
Getting started with succession planting plans
The most important rule we’ve learned through our years of succession planting is to grow what you want to eat in the season when it will thrive. That means avoiding plantings of specific vegetables just because they grow quickly. Stick to what you and your family likes and nothing will go to waste.
To begin, make a list of your favorite vegetables. Next, locate them in our planting charts below, noting when they will grow best within a succession planting context. Many vegetables are versatile and will grow during a variety of months and conditions. You can maximize overall growth by harvesting early and confining varieties to the time when they grow fastest.
| Early Season | Mid Season | Late Season |
|---|---|---|
| Arugula Baby potatoes Chives Green onion Kale Leaf lettuce Mache Radish Snap peas Spinach Turnip | Basil Beans Beets Cabbage Carrots Corn Cucumbers Peppers Potatoes Shelling peas Summer squash Tomatoes Winter squash | Broccoli Carrots Garlic Kale Lettuce Salsify Snap peas Spinach Swiss chard |
Favorite succession planting combinations
The following succession planting examples provide some general ideas for crops that work well together in the different transition periods, or you can use the chart above to mix and match.
Cool to warm-season transition crops
As the weather shifts from the cool days of early spring to the warmer days of late spring and summer, your garden can seamlessly transition from one harvest to the next. Cool-season crops like lettuce, radishes, and spinach thrive in the early part of the year but finish their cycle just as warm-season favorites like beans, cucumbers and peppers are ready to take over. By planning these transitions carefully, you can increase yields overall. Consider the following combinations.
Lettuce → beans
Mid spring: Plant fast-growing, cold tolerant lettuce (55-70 days).
Late spring: Harvest lettuce and plant bush beans in the same space (50-60 days).
Kale → beans
Mid spring: Plant kale (60-70 days to baby stage).
Late spring: Harvest baby kale and plant beans in the same space (50-60 days).
Radishes → cucumbers
Early spring: Plant radishes (30 days).
Late spring: After harvesting radishes, plant cucumber seedlings or seeds (45-60 days).
Lettuce → Sweet peppers
Mid spring: Sow lettuce seeds (55-70 days).
Early summer: Replace harvested lettuce with sweet pepper transplants (60-70 days).
Snap peas → carrots
Early spring: Plant quick-growing snap peas (55-70 days).
Early summer: Harvest peas and plant carrots in the same space (50-80 days).
Some cool season greens planted densely for baby leaves. These beds will support a second planting of warm-season vegetables after harvest.
Warm to cool-season transitions
Bush Beans → kale
Summer: Plant bush beans (harvest lasts 4-8 weeks if staggered).
Late summer/early fall: Replace beans with kale seedlings for a fall harvest (25-50 days).
Zucchini → garlic
Summer: Grow zucchini until late summer (50-60 days, but will produce until frost).
Fall: Remove zucchini plants and plant garlic cloves for overwintering (10 months).
Tomatoes → cover crops
Summer: Plant starter tomato plants and grow until harvest (60+ days).
Fall: After removing tomato plants, sow a blend of fall rye and winter field peas to enrich the soil.
Potatoes → bush beans
Early spring: Grow and harvest early potatoes (60-80 days).
Mid-summer: After harvesting potato plants, sow bush beans for a concentrated harvest (50-60 days).
Mid-summer vegetable harvest.
Full season succession: three plantings in one spot
Spinach → bush beans → carrots
Early spring: Sow spinach for an early harvest (45-50 days).
Late spring: Plant green beans after spinach is done (50-60 days).
Late summer: Replace beans with carrots for a late-season harvest (50–80 days).
Peas → lettuce → broccoli
Early spring: Grow peas (55-70 days).
Early summer: Replace with lettuce (55-70 days).
Late summer: Follow with broccoli for a fall crop (55-85 days).
Snap peas are a good starter crop in the succession garden.
Quick crop succession plans for colder climates
If you live in a cooler climate with a short growing season, you may wish to use fast-growing crops to maximize the number of crops your space can produce.
Radishes → cilantro → beets
Early spring: Plant radishes (25–30 days).
Late spring: Follow with a quick crop of cilantro (40-50 days).
Mid-summer: Plant beets for a late harvest (50-70 days).
Baby kale → lettuce → spinach
Early spring: Grow baby kale (harvest young leaves at about 25 days).
Late spring: Plant lettuce for quick summer harvest (30-60 days).
Fall: End with spinach for cooler weather (45-50 days).
To speed your transitions, you can also sow starter plants indoors, in a greenhouse or in a cold frame, allowing you a head start when planting out.
A blend of vegetable plant starters ready for the garden.
Great crops for interplanting
Sometimes a bed isn’t ready for a full planting due to a delayed crop, but small spaces exist between rows. Here’s your chance to plant green onions, scallions, dill, chives, leeks, or other slender plants to fill in those spaces and capture a little more from the season.
Other options for intercropping include:
Carrots with radishes
- Sow radishes and carrots together in spring.
- Harvest radishes first, allowing carrots more room to grow.
Corn with squash
- Plant corn first in late spring.
- Once corn is established, plant fast-growing summer squash between rows.
Tomatoes with basil
- Plant tomato seedlings and basil seeds together in spring.
- Harvest basil as desired throughout the season as tomatoes to grow and mature.
For more ideas on planting combinations, see our raised bed planning guide and our companion planting guide.
Interplanting fast-growing vegetables besides slower growing varieties means one harvest is over before the second fills in the space.
A word about staggering
In addition to planting different crops successively, you can also stagger the same crop in different locations in your garden to help ensure a continuous harvest. For example, planting two sowings of bush beans spaced two weeks apart will mean you aren’t overwhelmed by fresh green beans. Staggered plantings usually occur in different locations, since they tend to be separated by only a few weeks–not enough time for a full sowing and harvest in the same spot.
Tips for succession planting
No matter where you plant your successive crops, there are a few things to keep in mind to help them thrive.
- Make sure you have at least six to eight hours of sunlight: Eight hours is better. This may shift as the days and seasons progresses, so be sure to check at different times throughout the year.
- Practice crop rotation: Avoid planting the same crop or family of crops in the same location consecutively. Rotating crops reduces the risk of soil nutrient depletion, pest buildup, and disease, keeping your garden healthy and productive.
- Choose quick-maturing crops: If you like to eat them, incorporate fast-growing vegetables like radishes, chives, mustard greens, spinach and lettuce into your plan. These can be harvested early, making room for longer-season crops such as beans, tomatoes, or squash.
- Plan, but also be opportunistic: Yes, creating a schedule that outlines planting and harvest dates for each crop will help ensure continuous use of your garden space. But things happen in gardening (as in life), and opportunities will arise for you to slip in a sowing or two. If you regularly patrol your garden, you’ll see where these opportunities abound.
Succession planting is one of our favorite ways to keep our garden productive all season long. With a little planning and creativity, you can enjoy a steady harvest, experiment with new crops, and make the most of every square inch of space. Here’s to a new year of fresh produce, flourishing plants, and the simple joy of gardening!
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