Now ’s the arrant time to plant your vegetable . No , I ’m not talking about tomatoes and peppers — they should have been engraft many weeks ago . The vegetables I ’m relate to are tardy - time of year crops that you constitute right now and crop after they ’ve been sweeten by a undertone of rime .
Although many of us imagine of natural spring as prime planting season , mid to late summer is the perfect time to taking over plant . Wherever there ’s a au naturel spot in the garden , you could found a late - season craw for autumn harvesting . When I prod my Allium sativum out in a few weeks , I plan to fill the infinite with a sowing of lettuce seeds . When my green bean plant end producing , turnips will go in their place . The outer space where the onions were once at home , will shortly house Indian mustard greens and kail . I make exercise of every bit of space for maximize my harvest and keep the ground from sitting fallow .
Here are four gravid tips for using succession planting to keep your garden producing well into the drop .
1 . Use Organic MatterTo successfully succession plant life , incorporate lots of organic matter into your soil . Intensive turn extracts a lot of food from the soil , so it ’s important to replenish those nutrients and keep the dirt amended by using additions of organic matter in between crop sowings . Work 2 to 3 in of compost , leaf mold , or well - senior horse or moo-cow manure into the soil before planting .
2 . Rotate Your CropsTry not to replant a appendage of the same works family in any peculiar area during the same time of year . In other words , look to diversify the garden as much as potential . For example , when your potatoes are dug , replant the area with Eruca vesicaria sativa or a late sowing of a short - time of year putting surface like corn whiskey mache or child tat soi . When cukes stop produce , fill in with Raphanus sativus longipinnatus or another root or leaf crop . Again , doing so helps replenish the grunge and deter pests and diseases .
3 . Mind Germination RatesBecause late - season crops need to mature middling rapidly before wintertime strike , avoid planting vegetable that take a long time to reach a harvestable size . Succession crops postulate to reach maturity in just two to three months . Choose tight - maturing varieties of any given harvest , rather than pick out those varieties that take a few extra weeks to suppurate . My favourite late - season crops in are radish , turnips , shekels , spinach , kale , collards , chard , Brassica oleracea gongylodes , mustard green , sister carrot , baby beets and cilantro .
4 . Companion PlantYou can also succession plant for belated time of year harvests by adding a few of these crops in between your live warm - season veggies . Sow a few simoleons source between tomato plants , sprinkle some radish between rows of sweet basil , and bulge cultivated carrot seeds around your peppers . For weeks after the quick - season crops have been obliterate by icing , these second cold - tolerant crop will continue producing .
Use saucy succession planting to fulfill your fridge with fresh , homegrown vegetables for far longer than you call up potential .
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