This is something I aspire to every year and then never quite manage to follow through on! Here's a link for a guide that I hope will inspire me to do better in 2010 --
http://growingideas.johnnyseeds.com/2008/06/succession-planting-guide.html
Succession planting
Thanks, this is a very useful chart. Maybe I'll be more "successful" this year!! LOL
Very handy chart, Weedwhaker. One of these years I'll actually try succession planting. There's always something growing where I want to plant something else, so I never manage to rotate crops.
I do try very, very hard not to plant the same thing in the same spot for more than two years in a row.
I was wondering today about rotating crops. We grow year round, beds are never fallow, one crop follows another. I will plant for example melons in summer followed by broccoli for fall thru winter then by carrots and radishes or onions for spring. Now, can I then plant cucumbers or melons in the same spot come summer? It will have had three plantings, but not three years time. So confusing when the garden never rests.
Calalily - that is confusing! Not something I've ever really had to think about here in the frozen north, I hope someone else will have some information about it.
If you haven't had any disease, you can probably get away with it, but it would be better to rotate. I have been planting stuff in the same spot for 8 years - I did have to replenish the organic matter, it got used up. Two years ago I had one tomato get sick - I didn't plant a tomato or tomato relative in that spot this past year. This year I am going to get serious about succession planting and crop rotation - including a rotation of "green manure" plants to till in to compost in the ground. That solves both my disease concerns and my need to keep adding organic matter. Maybe you could come up with a simple two-year rotation for the more disease-prone plants (cucumber family & tomato family?) and continue doing what you're doing with the rest.
The only problem I've had was powdery mildew on the zucchini and that was after the freak freeze we had in Dec. We have been practicing full two year crop rotation but yesterday I started thinking about how different our growing season is compared to most of the country. (now we're supposed to get another freak freeze this week. Coldest winter we've had in 20 years!)
We can grow tomatoes from September thru the first part of July.
Brassicas, radishes, potatoes, peas and beans we plant seeds beginning in August and need the last crop to finish in April. I am harvesting beautiful broccoli and cauliflowers right now along with ripe tomatoes.
Carrots, green onions, cucumbers, squash and peppers grow year round.
Melons, egg plant and okra we start planting in Feb, they're finished by September and then the year starts all over again!
Corn is planted only in February and September, too cool in winter for it to do well and too hot in mid summer.
We are latitude 26, days are 11-12 hours long winter and summer so if crops are day length sensitive, we have to definitely go with short day varieties.
Traditionally, we plant cool-season crops in Spring and warm-season crops in summer. In reality, it gets too hot here in the summer and I think I'd benefit from looking for short-season varieties and splitting my garden into a two-season spring and fall garden. Hearing what you grow through the summer (peppers and melons) and what you don't (tomatoes and corn) is helpful. Tomatos is one of the things we have problems with - it gets too hot for the blossoms to set fruit. If they don't bloom and set early, we end up with huge plants with no tomatos on them, then a bunch of green tomatos hit by fall frost. I assumed all the brassica/crucifer family would have to be planted for fall to keep them from getting bitter and bolting - are you able to grow them in the spring?
I went to San Padre island as a kid - I was only about 3, but I vaguely remember the beach and the older kids jumping off some sort of pier. I had a relative that grew grapefruit and carrots on the mainland, the soil must have been clay because I remember the older kids having a mud-ball fight in the carrot field. I assume on the island the soil is pretty sandy.
Island soil is sandy, mainland varies, but there is a lot of clay.
I plant the first brassica seeds in August and continue sowing seeds until some time in January. I had broccoli last year until the first part of June. I harvested the last cabbages then too.
We had a freeze Friday night, we lost tomatoes, squash, cukes......all tender stuff.
pollengarden - When I lived in South Florida, I grew a tomatoe called "Tropic". I believe there is now a variety called "Hawiian Tropic" It's been a long time since I gardened in Fla, but I seem to remember "Tropic" was a short, sturdy plant that did well in the hot weather.
I've moved so much over the years, that I could be wrong :( Anyways, I know the name was "Tropic" - just not sure which State I lived in when I grew it!!!!
Calla have you tried Tropic or any of the University of Hawaii hybrids? I think your climate is more like the Islands than Florida. For some unknown reason, I've neglected to get seeds for them. I haven't had a fresh homegrown since about July 10. Had a total crop failure last fall. I've just got to do better this year.
Twiggy I haven't tried Tropic. I will see if I can find seeds.
I had to replace all my heirlooms and new varieties that were just ripening when the freeze hit. I could only find Celebrity tomatoe plants right now(and I was lucky to find those).
Calalily - I've decided that if your are doing rotation of 6 successions in 2 years without disease, than you must be doing it right. Sorry to hear about your freeze - how low did your temps get? Maybe you could ask your local nursery to order in replacement stock? Everybody in your area should be in the same boat you are, looking for replacements.
Pollengarden, it got down to 27.6. The problem was the wind and the amount of time below freezing. The wind was terrible and it was below freezing for over 12 hours.
I had to search all over the county but I found a nursery that had replacements for some plants. The nice couple had just taken over the greenhouse, they're much nicer than the previous owners. He ordered veggies for me and they came yesterday.
Yup, 12 hours below 28 would certainly do the job - even in Colorado where we keep frost covers on hand.