Succession Planting Basics
Succession planting is a simple way to harvest more food for longer in your existing garden space! I am constantly blown away by how many times and how much I can plant in my backyard garden beds – YES, even up north in Minnesota!
Succession planting boils down to “out with the old and in with the new.”
It’s the practice of planting one crop right after another is harvested. This practice can keep you eating fresh from your garden all season long, even after frosts.
Spoiler: Successful succession planting has a lot to do with planning and picking the right plants.
There are a few ways to go about this kind of planting.
- Succession Planting: two or more different crops following each other in the same space
- Staggered or Relay Planting: same crop with repeated plantings in the same space
- Interplanting / Companion Planting: when you plant multiple things at the same time in the same space that mature at different times and mutually benefit each other.
For now, let’s focus on the practice of planting different crops one after another in the same space—what most people think of as ‘succession planting’. Many of the same plants that star in our Northern spring gardens also do well when started in summer to mature for fall harvests. Choosing cool weather plants that can take a slight frost will grow your summer efforts into delicious fall meals.
Compare the same garden bed above in mid-May and mid-June. On the left is my earliest crop of cool weather crops. I started seeds indoors and planted out under cover. On the right is the same space after harvesting pounds and pounds (meals and meals) worth of food. The peas are still producing at the back, onions are bulbing up along the front, and bush beans are just popping through, but will have plenty of time to produce lots of harvests before fall frosts.
If I had wanted to replace the early brassicas with another round of the same, I could have started seeds 4-6 weeks earlier and had hearty seedlings ready to plant into the garden.
Shoulder Season: early spring and late fall seasons are referred to as
Gardening Terms
Low Tunnel: a temporary structure created by piece of plastic kept up by a frame to trap warm air and creates a mini-greenhouse.
Digging In – Again!
Planting another crop in the same space is as simple when you practice no-till gardening, you just cut at the soil level and leave the roots intact to keep feeding the soil while you start your next crop.
In general, look for quick maturing varieties. The ‘days to maturity’ should be listed on all seed packets. This is really helpful for figuring out if you’ll be able to harvest before winter comes knocking.
Planting by the Numbers
I grow in the USDA Hardiness Zone 4 Twin Cities area of Minnesota. We generally see our first fall frost (32F) around October 1, and first hard freeze (28F) around October 13.
If you plant on July 1, choose plants that mature in under 90 days if they’re not cold tolerant. You could also plant crops that take 110 days to mature on July 1, that can take a freeze, but that’s pushing it, even for me. I would also recommend planning on covering them, because early erratic frosts can stop plant growth. In general, plants don’t receive enough sunlight after mid-October to keep maturing.
FIND YOUR FIRST + LAST FROST + FREEZE DATES IN MINNESOTA
With roughly 140 days of frost-free growing, it’s good to choose some crops that can take the cold of the bold north! But if you want to extend your growing season you can learn how to pop up a low tunnel.
Direct Seeding vs. Potting
I like starting most succession seedlings in pots or trays (only direct sowing roots crops like carrots and radishes) for fall crops. This gives them a chance to start growing earlier, sometimes weeks before the space is open in the garden. I can give them the perfect growing medium to really start the plant babies off right! I can also move the whole tray of seedlings to the shade on really hot days, or under cover during storms. This makes for less stressed seedlings, which means better harvests in the end.
When direct sowing in the intense sun of mid summer, cover direct with a thin layer of mulch to help keep the tops layer of soil damp enough to aid in germination. Dried leaves, straw or a burlap sack can work wonders. Consider sowing in an area that gets afternoon shade, or pop up a shade cloth to help provide a little escape from the intense afternoon sun!
Pro tip
Succession Planting Timeline + Plant Possibilities
There are so many veggies out there beyond the tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant—those heat-loving crops that need to be started in spring to fully mature. The following is a list of plants that have worked well for me for sowing as succession crops, but is far from complete. This is also what works best for my gardening zone, and frost dates.
Mid-June to Mid-July
Direct Seed
Beets: Being a root crop these can obviously take a little frost, and if you’re not worried about the leaves, can take quite a bit of frost! Beets are great to plant to replace early peas or bush beans. They can also work well after garlic is harvested. Consider planting beets in part shade mid-June through mid-July to keep from bolting. I love a newish all-white variety, Avalanche! More about Beet Love HERE!
Bush Beans: Get these in the ground by the beginning of July and you’ll be eating fresh snap beans from the garden in no time, as the warmer temps get them germinated and growing fast. Early Contended is ready in around 50 days, most (we like Empress) are ready in 60–70 days.
Carrots: One of my favorite succession planting crops! Carrots take around 70 days to mature. But planting carrots roughly 100 days prior to first frost is recommended for fall carrots. You can also add mulch to the tops of carrots to harvest after frosts and freezes. We favors Nantes types for our fall and winter garden.
Kale: These are a great option at this time because even though they can take a little longer to mature, they can hold in the garden for harvesting well after frost sets in, being hardy almost down to 20F. It can be nice to keep harvesting some more tender kale leaves into fall, instead of those giant (and slightly tougher) leaves. Scarlet Kale holds amazingly well in our Minnesota late fall.
Mid June to Mid July
Start Seeds in Pots (etc.)
I usually start the plants listed below in pots, soil blocks or seed snails- whatever your preferred method of seed starting. This makes it easy to ‘baby’ them by covering with a germination dome and shade cloth or insect netting, and moving to shade or even the garage if the summer temps soar.
Broccoli + Cauliflower: Start in pots at this time of year to avoid the heat and insect pressure or direct sowing. I’ve had good luck keeping in pots, under insect cloth until ready to transplant out end of August. I usually end up planting these in place of other brassicas or bush beans recently harvested. Snow Crown Cauliflower and Emerald Crown Broccoli do well in my Fall gardens.
Cabbages: I tend to grow more Nappa varieties (Slow Bolt is a favorite, even in the fall garden) than anything which tend to mature in about 65+ days.
Pak Choi: These fast-growing white stalked Chinese cabbages are stars of my early Spring and Fall gardens. I tend to plant these where I harvested garlic or my first potatoes. *These can take the least frost of any of the fall cabbages*. Baby Choi varieties can be ready in 6 weeks, while my personal flavor favorite, Joi Choi, is usually ready to harvest between 50 and 60 days.
Early August
Peas: Direct sowing peas in early August is the sweet spot in our area. They take roughly 60 days to mature and love the fall garden. Plant wherever you can sneak in a trellis in summer, after early beans or even cucumbers if they are fading. I’ve seeded peas with cucumbers still growing as the bottom leaves have usually been removed by this time.
Radishes: These are easy to pop in between rows of other veggies, but love growing with carrots. I also grow between other brassicas. The beautiful and tasty Watermelon Radish does best in the fall. And if you’ve never tried Daikon radishes, fall is their time to shine as well.
Greens: Everything from arugula, lettuces, and spinach love the fall garden. Maturing in anywhere from 40 to 60 days, these are good options to direct seed or start in pots after you’ve taken out spent bush beans, brassicas, or even early potatoes. Winter Density is a romaine type that does great into fall.
First Week of September
Just enough time to direst sow one last round of baby greens, arugula, cilantro, radishes.
*Spinach Special*
Direct sow spinach in early September to overwinter in place for early spring harvests!
Pay Attention to Your Garden
Each season is different (this one being a great example of climate flux!). Observing your garden and watching the weather is important, also noticing the changing path of the sun will help with placement of fall veggies. The whole goal is to grow a little later into the fall and keep your garden producing into the ‘shoulder season’ wherever you are!
I’ve also got an article on Season Extension structures to keep you growing longer.
A Note on Seed Saving
As many of us begin to save more of our own seed, I’ll mention that planning out where you want to save seed from beans, lettuces, and peas (crops that take a longer time to set seed) before planting will make transitioning easier. Keeping an out-of-the-way spot for a row of beans to keep growing into fall, or for a head of lettuce to flower and seed is a beautiful and sustainable part of the garden process. For more info on saving seeds, read my “Seed Saving: Vegetables” post.
These are all general guidelines as each season can be vastly different (as any Minnesotan will proudly remind anyone willing to listen), but these dates and plant varieties give you a good idea of when you could plant which vegetables to keep eating from your garden well into fall, and even winter!
Dig In (Again),
Michelle
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