August 13, 2015
August is good time to survey the garden with a critical eye. Some crops are finishing their run and others languish. Bare spots, empty dirt appear in the garden.
There is opportunity to consider what veggies could fill those empty spaces and yield a harvest before a killing frost; or for those who garden in warm winter regions, what can be grown in the interim before planting the winter crops.
Mother Earth News posted Succession Vegetable Gardening earlier this year. It prompted me to rethink how I can optimize harvests throughout the growing season. Here’s the start of the post.
There are as many reasons as varieties of vegetables and herbs for successive plantings. A short definition of succession planting is the resourceful use of time and space in your garden. An example of efficient use of space is that your garden is 8x10. You plant the basics, tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, and maybe lettuce. Once the plants have finished producing the garden is done. That wonderful space that had lettuce and onions you harvested earlier in the season can be used to plant carrots or beets and beans. An example of time restriction is you cannot plant another type of vegetable because it will not mature before frost. A little bit of research on vegetables and problem solved. Timing can be everything in the garden. These are just basic ideas but let’s take this successive planting idea a few steps further. Read more
Photo credit: Mother Earth News
