Crop Succession: planning now for autumn & winter veg

In the past I have sown crops too late to get the benefit of the longer August and September daylight hours. Then I read Charles Dowding’s “How to grow winter vegetables”.

Modules

It dawned on me that the key to succession is to sow winter crops in modules (seed trays divided into rows of individual cells) at an early date.

Advantages

If there is no space to direct sow, modules give your plants a month’s start when you plant them out. I first tried this in 2022. Using modules means there is no need to thin direct sown seeds. It solves the problem of gaps following germination failure. Spares may be used to fill gaps caused by slugs and snails.

CROP	SOW IN MODULES	PLANT OUT	DIRECT SOW
Kale	May – June	late June – July	May – June
Swede	late May – early June	late June	May – July
Broccoli sprouting	May – June	June – August	seed bed May
Calabrese	June	July	seed bed April – May
Cauliflower	June	July	seed bed April – May
Bean French	June	early July	June
Beetroot	June – early July	July	June
Carrot	June – early July	July	June
Lettuce	early June – mid July	late June – August	early June – mid July
Fennel	June – July	July – August	June – early July
Endive/Chicory	mid June – August	August – September	mid June – August
Parsley	July	August – September	July
Chard	July	August	July

Earlier Maturity

If the autumn/winter crops need to be planted out in June or July, perhaps the first crops need a head start as well. Sowing them in modules under cover can give them an earlier maturity date which frees up space. Sow in February, under cover and in the warm. Then you could plant out five to six weeks later, the exact time you would otherwise be direct sowing.

This could apply to lettuce for leaves, spinach, salad onions, onions, early: cabbage and calabrese.

Plant out six to eight weeks later for parsley, dill and coriander.

In addition early potatoes chitted, and planted under protective sheets may fit the bill.

Multi Sow

Don’t forget you may multi sow more than one seed to a module:

• lettuce (two seeds to get one plant),
• spinach (two or three seeds),
• onion (six to get four),
• salad onion (eight to get six),
• beetroot (four),
• leeks (three or four),
• peas (three to get two),
• radish (six to get four)
• turnip (five to get three)

This article by Bob Tydeman was originally published in our Spring 22 Newsletter.