Succession Planting: Keep Harvests Coming All Season
One sowing of lettuce feeds you for two weeks, then the bed sits empty. Succession planting is the fix: instead of sowing everything at once, you sow small batches every few weeks and replace each finished crop with another. The result is a steady supply from spring to autumn from the same square footage.
Succession planting means sowing small batches of fast-growing vegetables every 2–3 weeks — rather than all at once — so harvests continue for months instead of arriving in one glut. Sow lettuce and radishes every 2 weeks, beans every 2–3 weeks, and follow each finished crop with another (peas followed by autumn carrots, for example). With a simple sowing calendar, a single 4×8 ft bed can carry 3–4 crop cycles in one season.
The three kinds of succession planting
1. Same crop, staggered sowings. The classic technique: sow a short row of lettuce every two weeks instead of the whole packet in April. Each sowing matures as the previous one finishes, giving you salad for months rather than a fortnight.
2. Different crops in sequence. When one crop finishes, another takes its place. Peas harvested in June give way to bush beans; beans finish in August and autumn radishes follow. The bed is never idle.
3. Intercropping (relay planting). Sow a fast crop between or beneath a slow one before the first is finished — radishes between rows of slow-germinating carrots, or autumn kale planted under sweetcorn in July to take over when the corn comes down.
Sowing intervals that work
These intervals are the engine of succession planting. Sow a little, wait the interval, sow again:
| Crop | Sow every | Harvest per sowing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radish | 10–14 days | ~3 weeks | Bolts in heat; pause sowing in high summer |
| Lettuce / salad leaves | 2 weeks | 2–3 weeks | Switch to heat-tolerant varieties in summer |
| Spring onions | 2–3 weeks | 3–4 weeks | Sow thinly; thin to 1 in apart |
| Bush (dwarf) beans | 2–3 weeks | 2–3 weeks | Stop sowing 8–10 weeks before the first frost |
| Carrots | 3 weeks | 3–4 weeks | Keep the seedbed evenly moist until germination |
| Beetroot | 3 weeks | 3–4 weeks | Harvest young for the sweetest roots |
| Sweetcorn | 2 weeks, in blocks | ~2 weeks per block | Always sow in blocks, never single rows, for pollination |
| Courgettes | — | 8–10 weeks | Two plants feed a family; succession unnecessary |
A worked succession calendar for one 4×8 bed
Assume a last frost of 15 April and a first frost of 15 October — a 183-day season. Split one 4×8 ft bed into four long rows and run them like this:
| Row | Spring (Mar–May) | Summer (Jun–Aug) | Autumn (Sep–Oct) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peas, sown 15 Mar | Bush beans, sown 1 Jun and 25 Jun | Autumn radish, sown 15 Aug |
| 2 | Lettuce, first sowing 1 Apr | Lettuce, sown every 2 weeks to 1 Sep | Final cuttings to first frost |
| 3 | Carrots, sown 10 Apr, 1 May, 22 May | — | Kale transplants, set out 15 Jul |
| 4 | Tomatoes, transplanted 1 May | Harvest through summer | Garlic planted 20 Oct for next year |
Count the harvests: row 1 alone yields peas, two bean sowings and radishes — four crops from one strip of soil. Row 2 gives roughly ten lettuce sowings across the season. That is the whole point: the bed works from March to October instead of June to August.
Days to maturity: the numbers behind the plan
Days to maturity — seed to first harvest — determines how many successions fit in your season:
| Crop | Days to maturity | Successions in a 180-day season* |
|---|---|---|
| Radish | 25–30 | 5–6 |
| Lettuce | 45–55 | 4 |
| Bush beans | 50–60 | 3 |
| Beetroot | 55–70 | 3 |
| Peas | 60–70 | 2 (spring and autumn) |
| Carrots | 65–80 | 2–3 |
| Sweetcorn | 70–90 | 2 |
*Approximate; overlapping sowings fit more into the same window.
The last-sowing rule
Last sowing = first autumn frost − days to maturity − 14 days
Example: carrots need about 75 days and your first frost is 15 October, so the last sowing goes in around 17 July. The 14-day margin covers slow germination in cooling soil.
Plan every sowing in one sitting
The Seed Starting Calendar Generator (coming soon) builds a full succession schedule from your frost dates — every sowing, every crop, one printable page.
Catch crops and intercropping
Catch crops fill awkward gaps too short for a full sowing: radishes between slow carrots, spring onions along bed edges, or mustard in any gap longer than three weeks. They keep the soil covered and give you something to eat while the main crop matures.
Intercropping rules that keep the peace:
- Pair a fast crop with a slow one, so the fast one is gone before competition bites.
- Do not let the tall crop shade the short one until the short one is established.
- Keep plant families rotating between successions — repeated plantings of the same family invite pests and disease (see our crop rotation guide).
- Give intercropped rows the water the thirstier partner needs; the other will cope.
When succession planting goes wrong
Soil runs down. Every succession withdraws nutrients, so top-dress about 1 inch of compost between crops. Follow heavy feeders (tomatoes, corn, brassicas) with light feeders (beans, carrots, herbs), never with another heavy feeder.
Heat stops cool crops. Lettuce bolts and turns bitter above about 75°F. In hot climates, pause lettuce in midsummer, give afternoon shade, or switch to heat-tolerant varieties.
Pests accumulate. Sowing the same family in the same spot all season builds up soil-borne pests. Rotate families with every new planting, even within one year.
The season ends. Every sowing must mature before the first frost — run the last-sowing rule before you sow, not after.
Frequently asked questions
How many successions fit in my season?
Divide your frost-free season (in days) by the crop’s days to maturity. A 180-day season and 55-day lettuce gives about 3 full cycles — but because you sow the next batch before the last finishes, you harvest continuously rather than in three blocks.
Must I feed between successions?
Yes. Spread about 1 inch of finished compost over the row before each new sowing and water it in. Crops that feed heavily — tomatoes, sweetcorn, brassicas — appreciate an extra handful of balanced fertiliser as well.
Does succession planting work in containers?
Even better than in beds, because you control the soil completely. Refresh the top half of the mix with new compost between crops, and a single large pot can produce salad leaves from April to October.
Can I succession-plant with transplants?
Yes — start brassicas, lettuce and onions indoors in batches 2–3 weeks apart, exactly as you would sow outdoors. It buys you 3–4 weeks per cycle, which matters in short seasons.
Which crops are not worth succession sowing?
Courgettes, winter squash and indeterminate tomatoes produce continuously from one planting, so succession adds nothing. Potatoes are also one-and-done: plant once, harvest once.
Related guides
Frost Dates Explained: Last and First Frost
Every succession calculation starts from your two frost dates — here is how to find and use them.
Easiest Vegetables to Grow for Beginners
The most forgiving crops to practise succession sowing with — fast, reliable and hard to get wrong.
How to Grow Tomatoes in a Raised Bed
The long-season anchor crop for row 4 of the plan — timing, spacing and feeding in one place.
Pingback: Crop Rotation: A Simple 3-Year Plan - GardenMathLab