My fall seeds are sprouting! And I may or may not get unreasonably excited when I have new seedling babies! Anyone else feel that way?? I feel like it's the equivalent of puppy or kitten photos, but for gardeners 🤣 Bonus points if you add a photo of your fall seedlings!

Have you ever had all your lettuce bolt (go to seed and turn bitter) in the same week? ...Or harvested a mountain of bush beans all at once, scrambled to use/preserve them… and then had nothing for the rest of the season? That's "feast or famine". And succession planting is how you fix it. 🌿 𝗦𝗼, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴? Succession planting just means spreading out your plantings over time instead of putting everything in the ground at once. Instead of planting all your lettuce seeds on the same day, you plant a small batch, wait a couple of weeks, plant another small batch, wait again, and keep going. The result? Instead of 20 heads of lettuce all ready on the same Tuesday, you get fresh lettuce coming in steadily for weeks, or even months! It’s a fairly simple practice, with a big payoff! 🥗 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: Some plants are natural candidates for succession planting because they tend to produce their harvest all at once, and then they're done. 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗲, 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘀 — Classic examples. Heat makes them bolt fast. Planting every 2–3 weeks keeps the salad bowl full from spring into early summer (and again in fall). 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 — Unlike pole beans (which climb and keep producing), bush beans give you a big flush of pods over just a few weeks, and then they're mostly finished. Successive plantings every 2–3 weeks stretch that harvest 𝘸𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘺 out. 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 — These mature in as little as 4 weeks, which means a single planting is gone before you know it. Succession planting radishes every 1–2 weeks keeps a continuous trickle coming. 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝘀 — Cool-weather lovers that stop producing and die off once summer heat hits. Plant in waves in early spring & again in late summer/early fall to maximize the growing windows. 𝗖𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼/𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 — This herb bolts (goes to seed) incredibly fast in warm weather. Planting a short row every 2–3 weeks is basically the only way to have it reliably all season. (At least, it is for me in Texas 🥵)