Successional Sowing.

[MagicLady]

Probably a silly question, but do you successionally sow everything?

Most of the seed packets give 2 or 3 sowing months, so logic tells me that I should be sowing every couple of weeks to give me a longer crop, but as I'm new to all this I wanted to make sure I'm not wasting my time

TIA

[Gwyndy]

You use succession sowing for things that you don't want to eat all at once or for veg that you cannot store long term - e.g lettuce. You wouldn't want to eat a couple of dozen lettuce within a couple of weeks - unless you were a rabbit, of course!

I use succession sowing mainly for salad crops - lettuce, spring onions, radishes, etc. For the first time I have sown two lots of beetroot but as I always pickle these the two crops will just spread out the cooking and preserving chore.

You can plant other crops like, for example, potatoes at different intervals. So first earlies, second earlies, and maincrop would be planted a few weeks apart to give you a continuing harvest during the season. And of course there are crops that you would not plant in succession. Best example I can think of is sweetcorn which you need to plant in a block to ensure good pollination. You will also find different varieties of the same fruit or veg with different cropping times so you can use these to give continuity of supply - e.g. strawberries.

Sorry if this sounds a bit confusing but hope the above helps.

[Two_Sheds]

Gwyndy gave such a good answer I have nothing to add.... except to say that I succession sow salad and peas, but not much else.

I do a bit of succession picking - sow a whole line of spring onions/beetroot/carrot, say, and then pick every other one for eating, leaving the rest to grow bigger.

[Snadger]

I usually successional sow the vegetables I like to eat for most of the year! Mainly leeks and all types of brassicas.

[Gwyndy]

Gwyndy gave such a good answer

Thank you kind sir!! Hope the bruises are healing.

[Snadger]

Thank you kind sir!! Hope the bruises are healing.

Or in TS's case Sir-ess!

[Two_Sheds]

Thank you kind sir!! Hope the bruises are healing.

Easy mistake to make. One child at school looked me up and down and said "are you a boy or a girl?"

I started growing my hair after that

[zazen999]

Thank you kind sir!! Hope the bruises are healing.

If you look at her profile photos, T_S is quite a dish and very much a lady [I hope you don't mind T_S]...

[Gwyndy]

Ooooooops - mia culpa!! In my defence m'lud - ooops, m'lady, I plead insanity / old age / ingrowing toenails / onion white rot. And anyway, who but a male of the species would have two sheds???? I rest my case and throw myself on the mercy of the court. If the above does not impress - sorry, I must just be a miserable pleader!! (I am now going to the allotment to beat myself with nettles.)

[basketcase]

Ooooooops - mia culpa!! In my defence m'lud - ooops, m'lady, I plead insanity / old age / ingrowing toenails / onion white rot. And anyway, who but a male of the species would have two sheds???? I rest my case and throw myself on the mercy of the court. If the above does not impress - sorry, I must just be a miserable pleader!! (I am now going to the allotment to beat myself with nettles.)

Well, if you've got rheumatism in your old age, the nettles will help with that!

[bobleponge]

If you look at her profile photos, T_S is quite a dish and very much a lady [I hope you don't mind T_S]...

Hurrummppphhhheeeddd.