How to succession sow

How to succession sow

Succession sowing is a great way to optimise space in a small garden. With the right planning, whenever you take out one crop, you can have another ready to go in its place. This means you can maximise your harvest and get the most from your space.

As soon as overwintered crops like broad beans and garlic are past their best, it's time to put in courgettes and tomatoes.

Harvesting and clearing your spring beds

Having a plan and knowing how long crops are likely to stay in the ground is the best way to become successful at succession sowing. For example, knowing that garlic is usually harvested around midsummer means you can have your courgettes ready to plant out at this time.

You can also maximise the space by interplanting with fast-growing plants, like lettuces, herbs and radishes.

Remember, any overwintered crops that you remove should be cut at the base so that the roots are left to rot in the soil. You can lightly hoe the area to remove weeds and add any compost if needed before putting in your summer crops.

Harvesting garlic

The ideal way to harvest garlic is to leave the leaves on, as the energy from the leaves will move down into the garlic bulb when the plant is hung up to cure.

This isn't always possible though, as sometimes garlic plants can suffer from a common fungal disease called garlic rust. This disease is easy to diagnose as you will see rusty spots all over the plant.

If your garlic has rust, remove any and all infected leaves and layers, as the disease could cause the bulb to rot. You can then hang your garlic plant up to cure, but out of direct sunlight and in a place with good airflow. Once it has dried out, store in a dark place.

Planting your summer and autumn crops

Once you've removed your winter crops, you can plant your summer ones.

Generally speaking – unless you love courgettes like me – two courgettes plants per household is more than enough. By planting more plants initially though, you'll be protected if you lose some to pests.

You can then interplant, or leave some of your annual flower plants in the ground to keep the summer crops company, such as nasturtiums, poppies and calendula.