Succession Sowing Planner
Pick a crop and a start date to get sowing dates, harvest windows and a calendar file for steady harvests.
Sow a whole packet of lettuce at once and you will have forty heads in the same fortnight, then none. Succession sowing fixes that by sowing a little every couple of weeks, so each batch is ready as the last one finishes. This planner turns a start date and a crop into a list of sowing dates and harvest windows, tells you whether the harvest is continuous, and gives you a calendar file with reminders.
Succession Sowing Planner
Days to harvest are typical figures and move with the season: crops grow faster in warm weather and slower in cool. Check that each sowing date suits the crop in your climate zone in the planting calendar, and change the numbers to match your own experience.
First sowing: —
Last sowing: —
Harvest runs: —
Continuity: —
Full guide, more detail, and a printable version at https://hollyshomestead.com.au/tools/succession-sowing-planner.html
How It’s Worked Out
Each sowing is the previous one plus the gap you choose. A sowing is ready to harvest after the days to harvest, and keeps going for the harvest length. If the harvest length is at least as long as the gap, the harvests overlap and you eat continuously. If it is shorter, there are gaps between harvests, and the planner says so, so you can shorten the gap to close them.
Fast, short-lived crops such as radish, lettuce, rocket and bok choy need frequent sowings, every one to two weeks. Slower crops that hold in the ground, like carrots and beetroot, can be sown every three weeks or so. Crops that crop for a long time on one plant, such as zucchini and cucumber, only need an occasional fresh sowing to replace tired plants.
Tips for Steady Harvests
Sow in a different part of the bed each time, so you are not waiting on a patch that is still full. Stop sowing when the season turns against the crop: lettuce bolts in heat, and sweet corn needs warm soil, so the later dates in a long series may need a different crop or a shade cloth. Keep notes in your notebook on how long each batch actually took, and the numbers will fit your garden better each year.