Have you ever planted your spring veggies and ended up with everything maturing at the same time? And then after you’ve harvested, your garden starts looking a little bare? Most of us have been there before. But succession planting can help you with this!

Succession planting is your new favourite thing. Succession planting can be done in a few different ways, but my favourite way, and the most commonly talked about, is staggering the sowing of seeds to stagger the harvest over the season. Here are some tips for how you can do this practically:

• Plan your garden – what do you want to grow, how much space do the plants need and how much space do you have? You will want to make sure that you are able to rotate plants in and out, or that you have somewhere to keep your seedlings as you wait for garden space.
• Sow new seedlings every 2-4 weeks depending on the plant – if it is a fast maturing plant that you will consume a lot of, go for the shorter timeframe. I use a shorter time frame for veggies like radishes and spinach because these grow fairly quickly and I consume a lot of these.
• Keep your garden well fed – your garden will be in high productivity mode for a lot more of the season, so it’s important to get those essential nutrients into the soil. Organic plant food will be your best friend and your plants will thank you!
• Don’t be afraid to sacrifice plants – if you have some nice, new, healthy seedlings ready and there are some not as productive plants in your garden, don’t be afraid to move them to your compost and get the new ones in. This is especially key if you are short on space.

If you’ve tried succession planting before, share some of your tips in the comments! And if you haven’t tried it before, are you keen to give it a go?