Guest Contributor: Cassey Anderson, Horticulture Agent, Colorado State University Extension
June sees some vegetable gardeners just getting rolling while others have been growing for several months depending on target crops. Regardless of which type of gardener you are you can maximize your harvest for both you and for donation by practicing succession sowing and planning your planting. I’ll go through the easiest option and then discuss some that require a little more planning including some crops you may not have considered.
Leafy greens
The easiest of succession crops because they take a relatively short period of time to mature so you need relatively little planning to gain success. Leafy greens include lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula etc. There are two ways you can succession sow with leafy greens. Firstly, you can grow the whole space, harvest, and then re-sow. This can be good if you want a large simultaneous crop. The more effective option can be to stagger planting. To visualize this, if you have room for 9 short rows of lettuce, perhaps this week you plant three rows, in two weeks you plant the next three rows, then the final three rows in another two weeks. By the time you have harvestable lettuce in the first three rows you can harvest them and re-seed and continue through the season.
Succession sowing like this helps reduce the chance that your crops will bolt (although lettuce and spinach may still bolt earlier in the peak-heat of the summer). Be aware that watering needs of new seedlings and growing crops may be a little different.
Root crops
Carrots, beets, turnips etc. can be another good contender for a succession planting plan. They can take longer than leafy greens to grow to a harvestable size so you may extend out the period in between planting – perhaps plant every 2-4 weeks depending on harvest time for the original planting.
Summer Squash and Zucchini
A less commonly considered candidate for succession planting can be summer squash and zucchini. If you have struggled with powdery mildew issues with your summer squash plants and find the fruit develops with less flavor, planting a new crop 3-4 weeks after the first one can lead to better tasting fruit over the whole season!
Bush Beans
Another succession crop can be bush beans – if you have the space. For continued harvest you can plant a few feet every 1-2 weeks for early summer and late summer harvests. If you don’t have space for bush beans you can also get continual harvest with a well-trellised pole bean section in your garden.
Planting for a fall harvest
If succession planting requires more planning than you have the time or inclination for you can plan a simpler approach. In mid – summer (mid to late July in zone 6) you can start the same crops that you had in your spring garden: leafy greens, root crops such as carrots and beets, peas etc. To figure out when you should plant you can count backward from a few weeks after your first frost date in the fall.
If you plan to plant for a fall harvest you can layout your vegetable garden with that intent – plants that require a full season to grow can go in one space, spring and fall crops can go in another space.
Succession sowing and fall harvest planning can also be accomplished with containers – with this approach it may be easier to use separate containers rather than trying to work within the same container space.
As always, reach out to your local Extension office for more specific details and guidance!
Gardening in Colorado? Check out Grow & Give www.growandgivecolorado.org and in particular our Colorado Vegetable Guide https://growgive.extension.colostate.edu/colorado-vegetable-guide/ for more crop information on all of the above plants.
What if every gardener planted just one extra plant to share?
One small donation can have a tremendous impact. Just imagine, if every gardener planted one extra plant to share, collectively, we would have an abundant source of fresh, healthy produce available to be distributed to families experiencing food insecurity in our own communities! The free Fresh Food Connect mobile app connects you to a local hunger relief program, then manages and tracks your donations of homegrown produce throughout the season. Download the app today!