Succession sowing: a steady harvest, not a glut
Everyone who's grown their own knows the heartbreak of a glut: forty lettuces hearting up in the same week, a wall of radishes turning woody, a mountain of beans you can't give away fast enough. The cure is the gentlest habit in gardening — sow a little, sow it often, and let the harvest arrive in a steady trickle instead of one overwhelming flood.
It's the single thing that turns a small patch into a kitchen that's never short of something to pick.
What succession sowing actually means
Instead of sowing a whole packet of lettuce in one go, you sow a short row — a dozen seeds, say — and then sow another short row a fortnight later, and another a fortnight after that. Each little batch comes ready in turn, so you're picking tender, just-right leaves for months instead of facing a glut followed by a famine.
There's a second kind of succession, too: the moment one crop finishes and clears a bed, something new goes straight in behind it. Pull the early peas, sow autumn salad. Lift the garlic, follow with French beans. Bare soil in the growing season is a wasted opportunity — succession is how you keep every inch working.
The crops worth staggering
Not everything needs it. Courgettes, kale and tomatoes crop over a long season from a single sowing, so leave those be. Succession is for the quick crops with a short picking window — the ones that go from perfect to past-it in a week:
The classic — a short row every 2 weeks keeps the bowl full and stops it all bolting at once.
Up in a month, so sow a pinch every couple of weeks. Easy to slot between slower rows.
Quick and prone to bolting in heat — little and often is the only way to keep a supply.
Two or three sowings across the season give tender young roots from summer into autumn.
Stagger a few sowings for a long pull rather than one big lift that has to be stored.
Sow a short row monthly through spring and summer for a constant supply.
A second sowing a few weeks after the first extends the picking by a month or more.
Two or three sowings spread the (always too short) pea season out beautifully.
How to keep it going
- Sow something every visit— make it a ritual. A pinch of salad and a few radish seeds every time you're out among your beds, and succession looks after itself.
- Use modules for the trickier crops— starting batches in trays means a plant-out-ready set is always waiting to fill the next gap, heat or pests notwithstanding.
- Keep a note of what you sowed and when— it's the only way to spot the gaps before they happen. My plot tracks it for you and works out the harvest dates.
- Follow one crop with another— plan what goes into each bed next, so nothing sits empty. Crop rotation helps you choose well.
Common questions
What is succession sowing?
Sowing the same crop in small batches at intervals — a short row of lettuce every two weeks, say — instead of all at once. The result is a steady, manageable supply over many weeks rather than a glut that comes ready together and then runs out.
How often should I sow for succession?
Every two weeks for fast crops like salad and radish; every three to four weeks for slower ones like beetroot, carrots and beans. A reliable rule: sow the next batch when the last one is up and growing.
Which vegetables are best for succession sowing?
Quick crops with a short picking window benefit most: lettuce and salad leaves, radishes, rocket, beetroot, carrots, spring onions, dwarf French beans and peas. Long-cropping plants like courgettes, kale and tomatoes don't usually need it.