Growing Vegetables by Succession Planting and Square-Foot Gardening
Succession planting and square-foot gardening are two gardening methods that help you produce more vegetables no matter how long your growing season is. Succession planting extends the harvest season because you either stagger planting times for a single crop or plant a different crop after one is harvested. Square-foot gardening is an intensive gardening technique that makes efficient use of small garden spaces.
Succession planting
Farmers use succession planting to ensure a constant supply of vegetables to take to market; you can use it to produce a consistent supply of vegetables to take to your table.
Stagger planting times
Staggering planting times is a great way to spread out harvest time. For example, instead of gathering all of your corn at once, you can harvest it over a period of several weeks. To plant in succession, you simply make smaller plantings separated by 2 to 3 weeks instead of planting everything at one time. If you want to experiment with succession planting, use these steps:
Figure out how much of a certain vegetable your family needs for a 2- to 3-week period and how much room it will take to grow it.
A sample plan of succession plantings.
Break your planting beds into three or four sections to grow your 2- to 3-week supply of the vegetable.
At the start of the planting season, plant the first bed; wait about 2 weeks and plant the second bed, and then plant the third bed about 2 weeks later.
When you finish harvesting the first bed, the second bed will be ready to harvest.
The length of your planting season determines how many successive plantings you can make. Depending on the weather, some of your later plantings may not yield well.
Share the space
Another way to use succession planting is to replace a crop that's finished producing with a new one in the same place. For example, after your harvest spinach in the spring, plant cucumbers for the summer. After the cukes are harvested, plant kale for the fall. With this method, you can grow a wider variety of vegetables in a small space. Just make sure you're planting a cool-season veggie for spring or fall and a warm-season veggie for summer.
The following table lists some good succession planting combinations to try. You can choose one veggie from each column to plant in succession.
Succession Planting for Different Seasons
| Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
| Spinach |
Bush beans |
Kale |
| Mesclun greens |
Cucumber |
Lettuce |
| Peas |
Sweet corn |
Collards |
| Radish |
Eggplant |
Chinese cabbage |
Square-foot gardening
Yet another way to ensure a constant harvest of vegetables is to plant using the square foot method. Select a 4-foot-by-4-foot section of your garden and divide it into 16 squares (each section is 1 square foot). Each square will have a different number of plants, depending on what you're growing:
1 plant per square: Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, corn, melon, squash
4 plants per square: Lettuce, garlic, Swiss chard
8 plants per square: Pole beans, peas, spinach
16 plants per square: Beets, carrots, radishes, onions
By planting so few plants, you'll have many small harvests, and you can easily make more succession plantings and rotate plantings each year.
Gardening Glossary
annuals
Plants that complete their entire life cycle within one growing season. The plant germinates from seed, grows and blooms, and then produces seed and dies.
Gardening Glossary
biennials
A plant that take two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. It germinates and grows leaves and stems in the first year; produces flowers and fruit (seed) in the second, and then dies.
Gardening Glossary
bolt
When a plant flowers or produces seed prematurely.
Gardening Glossary
cold frame
A wooden or concrete block box in which you can grow plants or hold dormant during the cold winter months.
Gardening Glossary
cole crops
A family of vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts. They thrive in cooler weather.
Gardening Glossary
complete fertilizer
Any fertilizer that contains all three of the primary nutrients, N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Phrase is based on regulations governing the fertilizer industry. Does not mean that the fertilizer literally contains everything a plant needs to thrive.
Gardening Glossary
deadheading
The practice of pinching or cutting off spent flowers
Gardening Glossary
evaporative-pad humidifier
A humidifier in which fans blow across a moisture-laden pad that sits in a reservoir of water.
Gardening Glossary
harden off
The process of acclimating plants grown indoors gradually to the brighter light and cooler temperatures of the outside world.
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hardiness
The ability of a plant to survive is called its hardiness.
Gardening Glossary
humus
A stable end product of organic-matter decomposition that's believed to increase microbial activity in soil, improve soil structure, and enhance the root development of plants.
Gardening Glossary
Bacillus thuringiensis Bt
An effective bacteria that attacks only the larvae of caterpillar family insects. It is safe to other insects, animals, and humans.
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macronutrients
Mineral nutrients that plants need in the largest quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
Gardening Glossary
mulch
Organic or inorganic material placed over the surface of soil, usually directly over the root zone of growing plants. Used to conserve moisture, kill weed seedlings, modify soil temperature, provide attractive covering to garden beds.
Gardening Glossary
organic matter
Once-living stuff like compost, sawdust, animal manure, ground bark, grass clippings, and leaf mold (composted tree leaves). Used to enrich soil and improve soil texture.
Gardening Glossary
perennials
Any plant with a life cycle of three or more years. Herbaceous (non-woody) perennials include flowering plants and herbs, mainly. Woody perennials include trees and shrubs. Longevity depends on the plant and growing conditions.
Gardening Glossary
pH
The measure of soil's acidity. Soil with low pH means it's too acidic; soil with high pH means it's alkaline. Most plants grow best in soil with a pH value between 6.5 and 7.2. Neutral soils measure 7.
Gardening Glossary
photosynthesis
The process through which plants take nutrients from the air and from the water in the soil to produce sugars that fuels the plant's growth.
Gardening Glossary
primary nutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are the three nutrients plants need in the largest quantities.
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root crops
Plants with edible underground roots such as onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips. Most root crops are cold-weather crops.
Gardening Glossary
self-blanching
A type of cauliflower with leaves that naturally curl over the head and exclude light. Requires cool temperatures for leaves to curl effectively.
Gardening Glossary
sets
Small onion bulbs, about 1/2-inch wide, that were started from seed the previous year. Grow onion sets with the pointy end up.
Gardening Glossary
side-dressing
The act of adding a small amount of fertilizer around or "on the side" of plants after they're growing.
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succession planting
Planting small, 2-to-4-foot patches of plants every two weeks throughout the growing season so that you can harvest a crop over an extended period of time.
Gardening Glossary
thinning
The act of cutting the least robust seedlings in your garden to give the healthier plants more room to grow.
Gardening Glossary
vining crops
Crops that grow on vines, such as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and winter squash. They usually require support (staking, trellising, etc.) to keep them off the ground.
