Succession Planting Advice

[mattie g]

Here's one for the braintrust that is hopefully fairly straightforward...

I've got a few places in my garden that should become free in the next few weeks: Two planters (12x12x27 - currently housing onions and shallots in full sun) and an ~15 sq. ft. in-ground piece of real estate (currently with garlic - 4-5 hours of sun).

I've never done succession planting before - I've only planted things like tomatoes and peppers and harvested them until first frost then pulled them, so this is all new to me. My wife is interested in sugar snap peas and I'd like to do soybeans for edamame - would either of these work in the space coming available? Otherwise, I'm open to any ideas of what I could/should plant once the alliums come out.

Thanks!

[jal_ut]

Peas are really an early crop, or a fall crop. I don't know how well they would do during summer there. Cucumbers, bush beans, or corn would do well in the sunny place. I don't know how much time soy beans will need.

[rainbowgardener]

Beans are a nice quick growing summer crop. I planted beans where I pulled spinach, lettuce, broccoli.

[mattie g]

Thanks, jal and rainbow.

I was thinking that beans might be the best bet since they're fairly easy to grow. Would they do OK in a container the size I mentioned? How about in partial sun?

As for the peas, I could always just hold off on planting something in those places until it was time to plant them.

[jal_ut]

I don't know what length of season you have there, but here for a late crop of peas I have to plant by July 4. Frost just comes too early. We will have some weather in the high 80s and maybe mid 90s, but it doesn't get as warm as many other areas. I can grow peas through July and August and hopefully get them ready before frost. I don't know how they do in partial shade. I always have had my gardens in full sun. Just this week I planted some more corn and some beans.

[RogueRose]

I just pulled up my lettuce, well some of it. I'm trying to figure out what to plant there now. I have space now and I'm twitchy to fill it.

I looked on this site: https://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/What-To-Plant-Now/Mid-Atlantic-Gardening-Region.aspx for what I can grow/plant now.

[mattie g]

Jal...we generally get our first frost sometime in the last couple weeks of October, so we have pretty lenghty growing season. We easily get into the 90s during the summer, especially in July - and in the last two summers we were regularly well into the 90s from June through August. We're also generally humid in the summer, but we've lucked out so far with that (though we're slated for heat and humidity this coming week).

RR...thanks for the link. That's exactly what I need!

[2cents]

I have some similar areas,
The five hour sun area, I planted Kale & Collards,
Six hours of sun, I planted Kolrabi
8 hour sun, started zucchini.
Full sun, I will be planting (direct sow) a few hot pepper seeds, not sure how well these will grow(likely not enough time) before the end of season.
Full sun, I'm putting in corn next weekend.

[gumbo2176]

Here's one for the braintrust that is hopefully fairly straightforward...

I've got a few places in my garden that should become free in the next few weeks: Two planters (12x12x27 - currently housing onions and shallots in full sun) and an ~15 sq. ft. in-ground piece of real estate (currently with garlic - 4-5 hours of sun).

I've never done succession planting before - I've only planted things like tomatoes and peppers and harvested them until first frost then pulled them, so this is all new to me. My wife is interested in sugar snap peas and I'd like to do soybeans for edamame - would either of these work in the space coming available? Otherwise, I'm open to any ideas of what I could/should plant once the alliums come out.

Thanks!

I grow soybeans for Edamame every year. It is likely too hot to plant them now in your area. They prefer temperatures in the mid 70's during the day. I plant mine in early spring around late February/early March for us, then again in early September for a fall crop. They will mature for use as Edamame in about 2 months, give or take a week or so. You pick them all at once for the most part. I'll take a few mature pods if the urge strikes me for some Edamame, but generally leave the bulk for a one time picking. They are a one and done plant----one harvest, pull the plant.


I grew a double planted row approximately 20 ft. long this spring and got a 5 gallon bucked of pods with 2-4 beans per pod and the majority had 3 for a real nice harvest.

After harvesting I placed the beans in several buckets, rinsed them very well and kind of rubbed them between my hands as I washed them. This cleans them and takes off some of the fuzz of the pod at the same time.

To cook them for Edamame, I put a very large pot of water on my seafood burner, salted it pretty heavy and once boiling, put the soybeans in the pot, let it come back to a boil and turn it off so they soak only for a couple minutes. Drain and spread the beans out to cool, then pack in quart freezer bags and put in the freezer if not being eaten within a couple days.

Forgot to mention, soybeans love full sun and production will be limited in a partial sun situation.

[mattie g]

Great advice, gumbo. I might hold off for another couple months and plant some soybeans as an experiemnt to see if I can pull off a fall crop. By the time we get into mid September, the temps will start to fall off quite a bit (though we can still get into the 90s). October is beautiful in these parts - conditions it sounds like soybeans enjoy.

[btrowe1]

I have 2 spots that will open mid summer, An onion row and a garlic row. I'd like to do broccoli, It did real well last fall, Just wondering about the veggies growing in the same areas do they match up okay.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't know any problem with planting broccoli after alliums (garlic, onions). But mid summer could be a little early to plant the broccoli. I think in a long summer climate like yours, they don't suggest planting broccoli seed until August (transplants even later), because it doesn't like hot weather. Might not even germinate if temps are still too hot.

[jal_ut]

For succession crops there are a few things you need to research.

First, what are the dates of last frost in spring and the first frost in fall? Of course these are average dates.

Now, research the crops you plant and see how many days it takes from planting to harvest.

You may have time for green beans after the alliums, but not 120 day pumpkins. See why this is important?

One problem I have had planting late succession crops is getting the seed to germinate. It seems the ground dries too quickly on top when it is hot weather. The fix is to cover the row with a board or newspaper to hold the moisture. Check daily to see if anything is coming up and remove the cover when you see sprouts.

The other problem I have with successive crops is the shortness of my total season. Not really enough time for two crops on many items. If I work it out with the early spring crops followed by a 60 to 80 day crop, I can usually make it work. Peas after spinach or radish, etc.

[btrowe1]

I would be doing transplants,I started the broccoli indoors,where it was cooler then moved outdoors in early august, I only did 4, but they came out so nice I want to do more this year and freeze some for winter use. Thus I'm going to use the onion and garlic areas and do about 10 to 20 this year. I never had any luck with broccoli till last year, maybe it was the weather but my heads were 8" to 12" across. and really good,

Thank you for your help, can't wait to get outside, few more months though..