Now is the time to plant. By mid-May everything that grows in the garden can be planted. Onions, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage went in about April 1 and by mid-April we had planted lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, turnips, spinach, and peas in the vegetable garden, as well as parsley in the herb bed. By April 20, we will have taken a chance with the weather for early snap beans which will do well if we don’t get a late frost like last year. About the time you read this, cucumbers, pole beans, and tomatoes will be going in. They must have warm weather to do well. This sounds like a lot of garden, but most of these things will be very small quantities and this leads to the main trick for successful gardening in small plots: succession planting.
In my garden, most of the space I use will grow at least two different crops between spring and late fall. Succession planting is nothing more than following a vegetable that reaches eating size quickly with the planting of another which will reach maturity before the weather becomes too cold. Some examples may help to make this clearer. Radishes are usually ready to eat 25 to 30 days after the seed is planted and can be planted from early March to early May. Radishes planted April 1 will be out of the garden by early May. Bush beans take 55-65 days to mature and cannot be planted until mid-April at the earliest. The space needed for two rows of early radishes can then be planted as one row of green beans which will start producing about July 1. By late July or early August, these will be pretty well finished bearing, so pull the plants and add them to the compost pile. The space they occupied will allow for two rows of radishes or lettuce. Leaf lettuce takes 40-55 days to mature, which means that in mid-September, it will be ready to eat and, because of the cooling temperatures, will grow and produce until the first really severe frost. This same approach will work with early lettuce, followed by snap beans and possibly a later crop of radishes.
A slight variation of succession planting is known as interplanting, in which rows of a slower maturing plant, such as cabbage or broccoli, are alternated with a rapidly growing crop like beets, radishes, lettuce, spinach or other greens. In this plan, the faster plants are ready for harvest by the time that the slower ones are getting large enough to require all of the alloted garden space.
The main requirement for succession planting is a little planning. Some crops grow very slowly, but will produce until frost. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and pole beans are examples. These will occupy space in the garden for nearly the whole growing season. Other vegetables are very quick to reach eating size. Radishes lead the field for speed, but spinach, lettuce, greens, turnips, and peas range from 40 to 55 days to reach the eating stage. Beans, beets, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli take still longer, ranging from 55 to 70 days. In order to plan for succession plantings, read the seed pack to see how long the plant will take to reach the table and how early and how late it can be planted. Then plan the garden on paper before planting. After that, it is just a matter of remembering that unplanted space is wasted space, especially when you want the most produce possible from very limited space. A good garden will have something planted and growing everywhere from mid-April to midSeptember and part of the garden may be in use the entire season from early March to at least mid-October in St. Louis. Planning, planting early, and planting in succession means a lot of good eating for nearly six months and the most effective use of small garden spaces.
Originally published in The Paper, May 1975.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1975_05.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
