What Is Succession Sowing and How Do I Plan It?

Every gardener has experienced the glut: three weeks where the fridge is overflowing with lettuce or courgettes, followed by nothing. Succession sowing is the technique that eliminates gluts and gaps by spreading sowings over weeks or months so that plants mature at intervals rather than all at once. It is one of the most impactful planning skills in the vegetable garden.

Which Crops Benefit Most from Succession Sowing

Not all crops need succession sowing — tomatoes and squash mature over a long season naturally. But fast-maturing crops that bolt, go to seed, or deteriorate quickly after harvest are ideal candidates:

• Lettuce and salad leaves — the classic succession crop; sow a small amount every 2–3 weeks
• Radishes — ready in 3–4 weeks; sow weekly from April to August
• Spinach — bolts quickly in summer heat; succession sow for spring and autumn harvest
• Peas — sow every 3–4 weeks from March to June for extended harvest
• Beetroot — a small sowing every 3 weeks prevents a root glut
• Basil — sow indoors in batches 3–4 weeks apart from April to June
• French beans — sow every 3 weeks from May to July for continuous picking

How to Plan Succession Intervals

The interval between sowings depends on how quickly the crop matures and how long it remains harvestable before declining. For lettuce (40–60 days to maturity, harvestable for 2–3 weeks before bolting) a 2–3 week interval between sowings works well. For peas (60–70 days to maturity) a 3–4 week gap is right. The goal is for one batch to come into harvest just as the previous batch is ending.

Combining Indoor and Outdoor Sowings

For crops that can be started either way, combining indoor and outdoor sowings adds further flexibility. Sow lettuce indoors in March for early transplants, then direct sow outdoors from April onward. The indoor batch will be harvesting while the direct-sown batch is still establishing — a natural gap-filler.

Small Sowings, Often

The key mindset shift in succession sowing is resisting the urge to sow a whole packet at once. A quarter of a packet of lettuce seed sown every three weeks provides far more useful harvest than the whole packet sown on one day. Keep a simple sowing diary — note what you sowed and when — and set a reminder for three weeks later to sow the next batch.

End-of-Season Adjustment

As late summer arrives, stop succession sowing crops that will not have time to mature before autumn cold arrives. A lettuce sown in early September in the UK will not have time to heart up before November; a radish sown in late August will be fine. Know your last harvest date and count backwards from it to set your final sowing date.