Successional sowings

[rachel24]

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to get my head around successional sowing, this is only my first year with my allotment so I dont really know what Im doing. I know with lettuce and things like that its fairly obvious, you eat the lettuce, then transplant another that you have had growing on somewhere else, something like that anyway.

In particular I am a bit confused about legumes, and was just wondering how everyone else manages their sowings? If you have a nice big row of peas. climbing beans etc, where do you put the successional sowings? Do you have to save a space for another big row or do you plant some more in amongst the rows and also how many weeks apart do you plant yours?

Sorry if its a stupid question

thanks very much,


Rachel

[Jeanied]

Hi Rachel - interesting question. I would guess that successional sowing means you do a short row of something which is going to mature first, leaving space further along the row for the next sowing and so on. This then gives you the continuity. I can see how this works for things like radish and lettuce. For peas and beans, which produce pods at different rates, I'm not so sure you need to successional sow - just keep picking to keep the plants producing.

[Lazgaot]

TopTip! If you grow lettuce for salads don't harvest the whole plant. Grow a selection of different types then just harvest a few leaves off each plant every time you want a salad. This way you get a lovely mixed salad with each meal and the plant will tolerate this for months. Have a look at these photos to see it being done commercially.
We've done this for the past couple of years and 10 or so lettuce plants is more than enough to keep two people well fed all summer with a salad every night. We planted the second crop when the first plants started to show signs of bolting. They don't all bolt at once.

[rachel24]

Thanks Jeanied, that was something that was puzzling me the fact the pods mature at different times so I wasnt sure when to do exta sowings or where to plant them. All the books say to do it so it confused me even more!

Good tip Lazgaot re the lettuce I will try that, thank very much.

[piskieinboots]

Good tip Lazgaot re the lettuce I will try that, thank very much.

I do the same with Spring cabbage, just cut enough leaves for each meal - there is only two of us so we don't need a hearted cabbage

[Ja9]

not sure either but do want to spread my crops out better this year. I am sowing a short row of eg peas each month and have sown only a few of each of the brassicas on the same basis so that hopefully they will mature at different times.

[Two_Sheds]

I can't sow peas after April because they get riddled with pea moth maggots. Of course a freezer helps for storing your surplus & saving it for lean times.This year I'm sowing 100s of plants now, then freezing the peas.

Beans tend to go in all at once. If you keep picking, they produce more beans

[rachel24]

thanks everyone, thats put my mind at rest. I have just got a little chest freezer, hopefully it will be full of surplus in the not to distant future!

I didnt know you could do that with cabbage, is it only the spring one you can do that with?