Part 2 in our Planning How Much to Grow Series
A short series offering guidance on getting the best yield from your garden space.
“How much should I plant?” is just one of the many questions to ask when planning your garden. Another is “How can I best use my garden space?” This is what we’ll cover in this second article.
Many gardeners will plan one thing to grow in a row or an entire garden bed. However, with some careful planning, you can make use of the time before those plants go in and after you take them out.
This is the heart of succession planting: using the same space for multiple crops (the same plant, or different plants) over the course of the growing season. It’s not just for serious growers. Even a small garden can produce a surprising amount when the timing lines up.
Imagine that you want to grow peppers, a delicious warm-season crop. After checking the dates for your area, you realize you can’t plant them outside until quite late in the year due to frost, even though some plants can be started in February.
But that doesn’t mean the space has to sit empty. While you wait for warmer weather, you can use that garden bed for cool-season crops, which don’t mind a little frost. These early growers will be ready to harvest just in time to make room for your pepper transplants later on.
Here I decided to grow radish and spinach before transplanting the peppers later in the year. Using the same principles, the peppers are then replaced by leeks, which don’t mind the cooler fall weather.
Creating a table helped me visualize the dates for this succession planting, so that I knew all the plants would work together.
Make sure your succession crops are compatible and not combative — they should work well together in terms of soil needs and growth habits.
Some crops mature quickly and leave behind empty soil. Lettuce is a great example of this. Lettuce matures quickly and produces a lot from each plant. By staggering your plantings, you can have a steady harvest of lettuce throughout the growing season, instead of all at once.
Lettuce also keeps in the ground quite well, so you don’t have to harvest it all right away. Let’s look at a detailed example.
For my garden, I’ve planned one 3ft row of lettuce and have chosen three varieties, each with a slightly different taste and flavor profile. To plan exactly when to plant and when they’ll be ready to harvest, I created this table.
This will vary based on your location. If you live somewhere particularly wet, your lettuce might not keep for as long in the ground, or it might take longer to mature.
For 16 plants I’ll use about 1/2 teaspoon of seed; it’s better to over estimate.
Some plants don’t offer the flexibility that lettuce does. Tomatoes, for example, have a long growing period before they mature, and need the cooler weather to get big enough before they fruit. If you want tomatoes all throughout the year, you can plant different varieties.
Cherry tomatoes typically ripen soonest, then medium-sized ‘slicer’ style tomatoes, with the larger tomatoes maturing the latest. Growing some of each will give you a plentiful supply and a good variety.
It’s important to remember how plants produce their harvest, too. Some plants are determinate and produce most of their harvest all at once. Indeterminate varieties will produce relatively consistently across the season after they mature. We’ll dive into this more a little later.
In this garden bed, we have three varieties being transplanted in April and one in June. This combination gives a staggered harvest across the summer and into the fall, with some excellent Long-Keepers that will store well into January in the right conditions.
With staggered and successive planting, soil health can decline more quickly, but with some careful management, you can prevent this.
Focusing on companion plants helps balance nutrient depletion. For example, nitrogen-fixing plants like peas or beans can replenish the soil, while herbs like basil or marigolds can improve plant health and deter pests.
Adding small amounts of compost and fertilizer between plantings also keeps the soil healthy. Compost enriches the soil, improving moisture retention and nutrient supply, while a balanced, slow-release fertilizer can support heavy feeders.
Mulching is another simple yet effective strategy. It helps regulate soil temperature, retain moisture, and reduce weeds. As mulch decomposes, it adds organic matter to the soil, further boosting its health.
With these strategies, your soil can remain vibrant and productive throughout the growing season, supporting your plants’ needs.
Hopefully, this has given you some great ideas on how to plan your garden. The final article in the series will discuss yields, considerations for your harvest, and other important considerations.