Succession Planting.

If you plant 60 radish seeds this week, you’ll have 60 ripe radishes on the kitchen table sometime the following month. Now that sounds like a successful horticultural production plan, especially if you have all your jars rinsed and ready for pickled radishes. If not, you may want to stagger your planting times to prevent a glut of vegies all ripening at once. This applies to many other quick-turnover crops, too.

While it’s great to grow a wealth of produce all at once (five stars for enthusiasm!), it’s important to use your time and space wisely. Plan ahead so you’ve got the right amount of each fruit and vegie popping up and filling your plate each month.

IT’S ALL ABOUT PLANNING

When I taught a kitchen garden program at a local school, creative kitchen chef Mel and I would plan what the kids would grow and the meals they would create over the following school term. We also had to make sure that nothing ripened during the school holidays!

The idea is that you plant your slower-growing crops early in their season, so you know you’re giving the plant the required number of days to grow, flower and ripen. Pumpkin (winter squash), cabbage, eggplant (aubergine) and tomato are some slower growers that will come through with the goods later in the season. Think of these slower growers as the main course at a restaurant, but you still want some nibbles and starters while you wait. Plant a succession of quick-turnover crops as well, so you’ve always got something on your plate. Some good choices include fennel, lettuce, peas, beans, cucumber, dill, shiso, rocket (arugula), beetroot (beet), bok choy and microgreens, to name just a few. Make sure you don’t plant too many not-so-popular herbs or vegetables. If you don’t usually eat it, it’s probably not worth growing, especially if space is limited.

TO PLANT OR NOT TO PLANT?

If it’s towards the end of summer or winter, you might have missed the opportunity to grow long-term crops, as the temperature and daylight hours are less desirable than earlier in the season. Read each seed packet to see if the ‘time to harvest’ will give your crop time to ripen before the end of the growing season. Don’t get disheartened if you’ve come to the garden party a tad too late – there’s always an improvement to make in the garden or some quick crops to grow. For example, if the label on the tomato seedlings says ‘120 days to harvest’ and it’s already cooling down, maybe choose some quick-turnover or fast-cropping varieties instead. Remember, the nurseries will still be selling seedlings that are ‘out of time’, so you need to know what to buy. Just have something growing in the garden at all times to keep the soil moist and the microbiology active and well fed.

I think it’s worth being aware of succession planting to avoid wasting surplus food, but it also allows you to get the most out of your garden and feel rewarded for your work. It’s okay to experiment with plants in your own garden’s microclimate – you never know what you’ll be able to grow until you have a dig.