Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The foregoing crops are usually harvested no later than the
middle of July. Crops that can be planted in mid-July for a
late summer or fall harvest include bush beans, lettuce,
spinach, carrots, turnips, beets, parsnips, and anything in the
cabbage family.
Timed Planting
Timed planting means spreading out harvests by staggering
the planting dates for a particular crop across a few weeks
rather than planting it all at once. The result is a steady supply
of a particular crop for market or a continual harvest that can
be frozen, eaten, or canned in small sessions.
The easiest way to do this is to take the total number of plants
intended for a given crop and divide it by three. Sow the first
third on the first sowing date for that crop, the second third a
week later, and the final third two weeks later. This will give
the same total harvest as planting the whole crop at once but
will spread out the harvest over a two-week period.
The next aspect of timed planting is replanting. Take carrots,
for example; if carrots were planted in four sessions, each two
weeks apart, when the first planting is harvested, that area can
be replanted with more carrots so the space never sits idle. By
the time the final crop of carrots is ready for harvest, you are
only two weeks away from yet another first harvest.
Succession planting and timed planting both provide a little
insurance so if serious weather hits early or late, there's still a
harvest. All that you need to know to successfully use
succession and/or timed planting is the days to maturity for
the crop under consideration and its frost hardiness.
