Once your vegetable garden is planted and flourishing, it is time to think about succession planting in order to keep the beds producing throughout the growing season.

Even though our Maine, Zone 5 gardening period is relatively short, there are plenty of quick maturing crops that will maximize harvests all season long.

What is Succession Planting?

The goal of succession planting is to make the most of your garden space and keep the beds growing and producing fresh harvests. There are several methods to succession planting:

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2. Companion Planting: Companion planting is interplanting two or more crops with different maturity dates together at the same time. One fast maturing crop that grows and is harvested before the second crop needs the space. For example, sow radish seeds around your squash plants. The radishes will mature before the larger vines shade them out.

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3 Succession Planting Tips to Maximize Your Harvest

My Zone 5 succession planting begins in early spring with cool season crops such as lettuce, spinach, Asian greens, and other salad greens started under lights and transplanted to the garden. Other early spring crops that can be directly seeded in the garden are carrots, radish, and beets. Most of these plants will mature in 30-60 days. Once these finish, another crop can take their place.

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Here are some of the succession planting strategies that I use in my Maine, Zone 5 garden:
1. Group Similar Crops Together:
Dedicating whole beds to crops in the same family or type of crop make it easy to rotate the beds from season to season and to plan for succession crops. Usually, the crops in the same family share similar watering and fertilizing needs and mature at the same time.

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3. Grow Transplants:
You don’t have to wait for a crop to be finished in the garden before starting the next succession planting. Sowing seeds and growing seedlings in pots and trays can give them a head start. When space opens up, you can transplant healthy seedlings instead of sowing seeds.

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Extend Your Growing Season with Succession Planting

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Start the fall garden early by sowing seeds in July to be transplanted into the garden as the summer heat fades and gardening space opens up. Take into consideration that daily sunlight hours decrease in fall slowing the plants’ growth. So add a week or two to the expected maturity date on the package……..

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Article source: Grow A Good Life
Image source: Open Permaculture