Succession planting maximized harvests by staggering plantings every 2-3 weeks, ensuring continuous supply rather than one overwhelming glut.
The Strategy
Instead of planting 50 lettuce seeds at once (harvest window: 1 week, then bolting), plant 10 seeds every 2 weeks for 10 weeks. Result: continuous lettuce March-October instead of feast-or-famine.
Works best for: lettuce, radishes, beans, carrots, herbs, and greens. YouTube gardening channels (MIgardener, Epic Gardening) from 2013 onward taught succession planning using calendars and spreadsheets.
Three Succession Types
- Time succession: Plant same crop repeatedly (lettuce every 2 weeks)
- Varietal succession: Plant early/mid/late varieties simultaneously (early peas, mid peas, late peas)
- Follow-on succession: Plant different crops in same space (spring peas → summer beans → fall kale)
Planning Tools
Succession planners emerged: garden journal apps, spreadsheets, physical calendars with planting reminders. The effort: more planning, more frequent work. The payoff: no waste, continuous harvest.
Source
- Epic Gardening: “Succession Planting” (July 2013)
- YouTube tutorial boom: 2014-2017