Successional sowing - how to extend your growing season and avoid gluts.

Now is the time to think about sowing the next crop of some of our most staple veg and for those that produce cut  flowers, some of the quickly germinating annuals. Succession sowing is suitable for those vegetables that will either overwinter well or have a short growing season.

A few weeks ago I sowed some carrots in a deep recycled box. They are now looking like this and showing their true leaves so now I will sow another box with carrots to give me a successional harvest of young and tasty roots. When succession sowing allow 2-4 weeks between sowing each batch - much will depend on the weather and how well the first sowing has done as to whether you sow a bit earlier or later, or sometimes it is simply a question of when you have the time.

Succession sowing

Succession sowing works in two ways either by extending the growing season using early and late maturing varieties or to supply a more continuous harvest of some growing season vegetables.

Brassicas such as cauliflower and cabbage are sown at different times of the year with different varieties being good at providing summer and overwinter crops, with careful planning, you can harvest right through to spring the following year.

Summer growing season veg such as peas, French and runner beans, lettuce, spring onions, radishes, spinach and other salad greens such as rocket tend to produce a harvest around the same time from one sowing and then depending on the temperatures may go to seed or as seed sets will tail off production significantly. To overcome this, making successional sowings means that I will be able to continue to maximise harvests, picking peas and beans for a longer period. 

Salad crops

Lettuce and other salad crops may either be feast or famine unless you sow small amounts every few weeks over the course of the growing season. Yes, one year all my gem lettuces were ready to pick at once and I ended up giving most of them away. Sowing fewer seeds at a time but doing it little and often helps to ensure that you are not wondering how to use up all those lettuces. Lettuces also need cooler temperatures to germinate so a hot summer can cause issues with germination and with the mature plants being more likely to develop seed heads (known as bolting) this causes the lettuce to taste bitter. Look for a cooler period or a shadier spot for better germination of many of the leafy salad greens.

Peas and beans

Peas are more varied but still benefit from several summer sowings although there are varieties described as early and maincrop. Dwarf and Climbing French beans can also be sown at intervals as long as there is time for them to grow and mature before the first frost in the autumn. These sowings will aim to keep a steady more tender supply coming on the later plants. Keeping picking young fruits also encourages further flowering but once that hidden pea or bean develops and starts to mature this signals to the plant that its job in producing seed is done and flowering and therefore setting of seed will slow down or halt.