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Don’t think your creativity ends with the first spring planting!
Gardens change with the seasons. Some crops can be planted in early spring,
then harvested by early summer, leaving room for a second or even third
planting.
You might, for example,
plant an early crop of peas. When the peas have gone by, pull them out
and plant heat-loving beans. In late summer, you may even squeeze in some
fall broccoli. That’s three harvests from one garden bed.
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To
get the most from your garden, plan to grow a succession of crops. |
To plan successive
crops, you need to get to know your cast of characters. First, let’s
choose the crops we want to grow.
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Wish
List
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| pole
beans |
peas |
| cucumbers |
summer
squash |
| lettuce |
tomatoes |
Now, let’s look
at some important characteristics for each crop.
Temperature
Preferences
- Cool season
plants: lettuce, peas. These plants perform best
in the cool weather of spring and fall.
- Heat-lovers:
beans, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes. They thrive in the heat
of midsummer.
Light
Requirements
- Need full
sun: Beans, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes require
full sun to produce a good crop.
- Somewhat
shade tolerant: Lettuce will tolerate light shade
during part of the day.
- Tolerant
of deep shade: None!
Length
of Harvest
- Long season:
Pole beans, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes produce over a long
season, or require a long growing season.
- Short season:
Lettuce and peas mature and "go by" in a relatively
short time.
Keeping these traits
in mind, let's sketch out a plan for our garden.
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Fast-maturing Plants
Some varieties of radish mature in as little as 25 days. Here are
some other fast-maturing crops:
spinach.......... 30 days
turnips........... 35 days
leaf lettuce......45 days
bush beans.....48 days
beets..............49 days
zucchini......... 50 days
snap peas...... 56 days
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Lettuce
is a good candidate for succession planting.
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