Succession Planting for

Continuous Vegetable HarvestsPlan for continuous supplies of popular summer crops,

such as beans, squash, cucumbers and sweet corn; cold-weather hoophouse greens and year-round lettuce.

©Pam Dawling 2015 author of Sustainable Market Farmingwww.sustainablemarketfarming.com

www.facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming

Avoid gluts and shortages Use your land and time to provide seamless

harvests of summer crops like beans, squash, cucumbers and sweet corn; cold-weather

hoophouse greens and year-round lettuce.

Photo credits Kathryn Simmons. Cucumber Generally. Lettuce Freckles.

Our StoryWe garden 3.5 acres of land, producing vegetables and berries for 100 people all year at Twin Oaks Community. We have a mixed garden system: • 60 permanent raised beds,

each 4' × 90' (1.2 × 27.4 m), • 10 plots of 9,000–10,600 ft2

(836–985 m2), in three areas of “flat” garden.

Find the space: Measure and mapEast Garden227’ x 265’ (Includes asparagus in half of one plot)Plots are 9,275-10,600 ft2

Fit in the major crops and use the leftover spaces for summer succession crops

Fitting in summer succession crops

After locating the major crops (including sweet corn), following our rotation plan, we look for any extra space in the plots, to fit in the minor crops: succession plantings of beans, summer squash and zucchini, cucumbers, edamame and cantaloupes. Green bean flowers, Photo Kathryn Simmons

Summer Succession Crops

Planning Chart

• We list the spare spaces in the plots (in order of availability) on the left

• and the crops we hope to plant (in date order) on the right.

Succession Crops Planning Chart We pencil in arrows,

fitting the succession crops into the spaces available.

At the beginning and end of the season, and in mid-season when space in the main plots is tight, we also look for spaces in our raised beds.

Scheduling continuous harvests Many vegetable crops can be

planted several times during the season, to provide a continuous supply. Don’t stop too soon!

Typically, plants mature faster in warmer weather.

So, to get harvests starting an equal number of days apart, shorten the interval between one sowing date and the next as the season progresses.

Keep records and use information from other growers in your area to fine-tune planting dates.

CREDIT: Kathryn Simmons.

Several approaches to succession crop scheduling – which suits you?

1. Rough plan: “every two weeks”

2. “No paperwork” methods3. Sow several varieties on

the same day4. Plan first and last sowings,

guess the rest5. Plan a sequence of sowings

to provide an even supply, using graphs

6. Use Accumulated Growing Degree Days data

Squash drawing by Jessie Doyle

Rough Plan:Every 2 weeks for beans and

corn,

Every 3 weeks for squash and cucumbers and edamame

Every 4 weeks for carrots

2 or 3 plantings of muskmelons (cantaloupes) at least a month apart.

CREDIT: Kathryn Simmons.

Spring and fall crops: carrots, beets• We start sowing carrots mid–late February • We sow every 4 weeks in March, April, May • If needed, we sow once each in June and July • We make a huge fall planting in early August. • We don’t do succession plantings for fall carrots, just one big one,

because we are growing bulk carrots to store for use all winter and don’t need multiple harvest dates.

With fall crops, even a difference of 2 days in sowing dates can make a difference of 2-3 weeks in harvest date, because plants grow slower as days get shorter and cooler.

“No Paperwork” methods Sow another planting of

sweet corn when the previous one is 1”–2" tall

Sow more lettuce when the previous sowing germinates

Sow more beans when the young plants start to straighten up from their hooked stage

Sow several varieties with differing days-to-maturity on the same day.

Determine your first spring planting dateMost growers are probably adept at planting as soon as possible in the spring. Don’t plant too early! Keeping old cucumber transplants on hold through cold early spring weather is just not worthwhile.

Spacemaster bush cucumber in the hoophouse CREDIT: Kathryn Simmons.

Last worthwhile planting date

Figure out the last date for planting each crop that gives it a reasonable chance of success.

Virginia Co-operative Extension Service Fall Planting Guidehttp://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-334/426-334.html

WRONG CHART!!

Formula for frost-tender crops

Count back from the expected first frost date, adding: • the number of days from seeding to

harvest, • the average length of the harvest period, • 14 days to allow for the slowing rate of

growth in the fall, and • 14 days to allow for an early frost

(unless you have rowcover - there is often a spell of warmer weather after the first frosts, and you can effectively push back your first frost date.)

Zephyr Summer SquashCREDIT: Kathryn Simmons.

Example: Yellow Squash• number of days from seeding to harvest 50• average length of the harvest period 21• 14 days to allow for the slowing rate of growth in the fall 14• 14 days to allow for an early frost (but we have rowcover) 0 days before the first frost = total of these = 85 last date for sowing, with October 14 first frost date = July 21

But using rowcover to throw over the last planting during cold spells, the growing season is effectively 2 weeks longer, and we sow our last planting of squash on Aug 5.

We sow our last beans 8/3, cucumbers 8/5.

We sow our last edamame July 14.We sow our last sweet corn July16 (90 days before our average first frost) and we harvest from around Sept 22.

Credit Brittany Lewis

Making a close-fit plan

Collect three pieces of information for each sowing of each crop:• Sowing date• Date of first harvest• Date of last worthwhile

harvest of that sowing

Veg Finder

Example: Squash#3 WEST Plot JPlant 6/23 120’Planted…..Harvesting…..Finished…..

BEANS CUKES SQUASH CORN CARROTS EDAMAME #1 29W, 29E Plant 4/16 180' dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#1 BED 13W Plant 4/20 90' Planted Harvesting Finished

#1 BED 23W Plant 4/20 90' Planted Harvesting Finished

#1 EAST Plot G 4x265’ Plant 4/26+4/29 1060' Bod Planted Harvesting Finished

#1 BED 9E Plant 2/14 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#1 BED 21W Plant 4/26 90’ Planted Harvesting Finished

#2 EAST Plot G Plant 5/14 176’ dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#2 EAST Plot I Plant 5/24 180’ slice 90' + pickle 90' Planted Harvesting Finished

#2 EAST Plot I Plant 5/24 88’ Planted Harvesting Finished

#2 EAST Plot G 4x265' Plant 5/21 1060' Bod/KK/SQ Planted Harvesting Finished

#2 BED 25E Plant 2/28 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#2 EAST Plot G No-soak Plant 5/18 88’ dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#3 WEST Plot J Plant 6/7 240’ dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#3 WEST Plot J Plant 6/23 120’ Planted Harvesting Finished

#3 WEST Plot J Plant 6/23 120’ Planted Harvesting Finished

#3 WEST Plot A north 4 x 180' 6/6 1080' Sug Pearl /KK/SQ Planted Harvesting Finished

#3 BED 12W Plant 3/13 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#3 EAST Plot I Plant 6/7 60’ dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#4 EAST Plot K Plant 6/29 175' dbl (5x35’) Planted Harvesting Finished

#4 CENT Plot D Plant 7/15 240' slice 120' +pickle 120' Planted Harvesting Finished

#4 EAST Plot K Plant 7/15 105’ (3x35’) Planted Harvesting Finished

#4 WEST Plot A 6 x 180' 6/19 1080' Bod/KK/SQ Planted Harvesting Finished

#4 BED 12E Plant 3/27 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#4 CENTRAL Plot D Plant 6/26 60’ dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#5 25E 22W Plant 7/19 180’ dbl (2x90’) Planted Harvesting Finished

#5 BED 15E Plant 8/5 90' slicers Planted Harvesting Finished

#5 BED 13E Plant 8/5 90’ Planted Harvesting Finished

#5 WEST Plot A 6 x 180' Plant 7/2 1080' Bod/KK/SQ Planted Harvesting Finished

#5 BED 19W Plant 4/10 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#5 EAST Plot K Plant 7/14. 70’ (2x35’)dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#6 BEDS 9W, 9E Plant 8/3 180’ dbl Planted Harvesting Finished

#6 CENTRAL Plot D 7 x 200' Plant 7/16 1400' Bod/KK/SQ Planted Harvesting Finished

#6 BED 17W Plant 5/14 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#8 BED 1 CARROTS#8 BED 30W Only if needed Plant 7/8 Danvers Planted Harvesting

Finished #7 Not this year, perhaps never

again

#7 BED 27E Only if needed Plant 6/11 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

#8 BED CARROTS #9 Overwinter Raised Beds Plant 7/28 Danvers Planted Harvesting Finished

Gather sowing and harvest start dates

Sowing Date

Harvest Start

4/18 6/1 4/21 5/19 4/23 5/25 5/14 6/3 5/15 6/21 5/20 7/5 5/25 7/4 5/29 7/7 6/12 7/20 6/15 7/20 6/30 8/2

7/1 8/8 7/2 8/11 7/4 8/8 7/5 8/10

7/14 8/14 7/18 8/17 7/19 8/28

8/3 9/9 8/4 9/5 8/5 9/15 8/7 10/2 8/9 9/25

8/12 10/5

For each crop, gather several years’ worth of planting and harvesting records in two columns (this example is squash).

Make a graph - Five steps

1. Plot a graph for each crop, with sowing date along the horizontal (x) axis and harvest start date along the vertical (y) axis. Mark in all your data.

2. Mark the first possible sowing date and find the harvest start date for that.

3. Decide the last worthwhile harvest start date, mark that.

4. Then divide the harvest period into a whole number of segments, according to how often you want a new patch.

5. Determine the sowing dates needed to match your chosen harvest start dates Next we’ll take one step at a time

Step 1: Plot a graphX axis = Sowing Date, across the bottom

1-Apr 21-Apr 11-May 31-May 20-Jun 10-Jul 30-Jul 19-Aug11-Feb

1-Apr

21-May

10-Jul

29-Aug

18-OctY axis = Harvest Start Date

Step 2: Mark the first possible sowing date, find the harvest start date for that Draw a line up from

your first possible sowing date on the x axis to the graph line.

Draw a horizontal line from the point on the graph line to the y axis.

This is your first harvest date. Ours is around May 19.

1-Apr 21-May 10-Jul 29-Aug11-Feb

1-Apr

21-May

10-Jul

29-Aug

18-Oct

Y axis = Harvest Start Date

Step 3: Set your last worthwhile harvest date

• Decide your last worthwhile harvest start date of the year

• Draw a line across from this date on the y (harvest) axis to the graph line

• Draw a vertical line from this point on the graph line to the x axis to show when you need to sow

• Our Aug 7 sowing gave an Oct 2 harvest start. Too late!

• Now we sow Aug 5 and harvest from Sept 24

1-Apr 21-May 10-Jul 29-Aug11-Feb

1-Apr

21-May

10-Jul

29-Aug

18-Oct

Y axis = Harvest Start Date

Step 4: Divide the harvest period into a whole number of segments, according to how often

you want a new patch Count the days from first harvest of the first sowing to first harvest of the

last sowing: May 19 - Sept 24 is 128 days of squash! (Plus the 30 days from the harvest start of the last sowing to the end = 158 days of squash!!)

Decide roughly how often you want a new patch coming into production

Divide the harvest period into a whole number of intervals. If we want fresh squash every 32 days, we’ll need 4 equal intervals between plantings (32 x 4 = 128).

Four intervals means 5 plantings. (P-I-P-I-P-I-P-I-P)

The harvest start dates will be May 19, June 20, July 22, Aug 23 and Sept 24.

Use the graph to get the planting dates needed. April 21, May 17, June 21, July 16, and Aug 5.

Sowing intervals are 26, 25, 25, 20 days – a bit shorter later in the season.

Step 5: Determine the sowing dates needed to match your chosen harvest start dates

• Draw a horizontal line from one harvest start date to the graph line

• Then drop a vertical line down to the horizontal axis

• Read the date on the horizontal axis at this point• Repeat for each harvest start date• Write these planting dates on your schedule

Squash Succession CropsSowing date Harvest start

Apr 18 Jun 1Apr 21 May 19Apr 23 May 25

May 14 Jun 3May 15 Jun 21May 20 Jul 5May 25 Jul 4May 29 Jul 7Jun 12 Jul 20Jun 15 Jul 20Jun 30 Aug 2

Jul 1 Aug 8Jul 2 Aug 11Jul 4 Aug 8Jul 5 Aug 10

Jul 14 Aug 14Jul 18 Aug 17Jul 19 Aug 28Aug 3 Sep 9Aug 4 Sep 5Aug 5 Sep 15Aug 7 Oct 2Aug 9 Sep 25

Aug 12 Oct 5

Apr

12

Apr

22

May

2

May

12

May

22

Jun

1

Jun

11

Jun

21

Jul 1

Jul 1

1

Jul 2

1

Jul 3

1

Aug

10

Feb 26

Apr 17

Jun 6

Jul 26

Sep 14

Nov 3

Squash Succession Crops

Sowing Date

Har

vest

Sta

rt

With several years of data you might get an very uneven line.

Squash Succession Crops Graph with multiple years of data

Smoothing the graph lineThe line of the graph is often uneven, due to

differences in weather from year to year, and to growing varieties with differing maturity dates.

Practice with a pencil, drawing a line in the air just above the graph.

When you’re fairly confidant, draw a smooth line, trying to hit most of points, leaving equal numbers of them above and below the graph line.

Another Example: Sweet Corn• Using our graph of corn sowing and harvest dates (on

the next slide) I estimate that April 26, May 19, June 6, June 24, July 7, and July 16 would be good dates for 6 plantings to provide fresh eating every 15 days.

• The planting intervals are 23, 18, 18, 13 and 9 days. • The intervals get noticeably shorter as the season goes

on.

Reminder of the main goals of planned succession planting:

Continuous supplies of popular summer crops, such as beans, squash, cucumbers and sweet corn; cold-weather

hoophouse greens and year-round lettuce. Avoid gluts and shortages.

Cucumber Generally. Photo credit Kathryn Simmons.

Extra benefits from plannedsuccession planting:Save space and work

• We used to do 6 plantings of cucumbers. • The intervals between sowings were 50, 30, 20, 16, and 17 days.

• By using the graphs, we have been able to go down to 5 plantings, at intervals of 52, 25, 25 and 20 days. The sowing intervals decrease as the season warms up, as it takes fewer days for plants to mature. The first planting uses transplants and is very slow to mature — probably we could just start later still and lose nothing.

• By moving the second planting 10 days later than it used to be, we are able to direct sow rather than transplant, which saves us time.

• This revised schedule saves us from dumping cucumbers on our neighbors’ porches!

Cucumber Succession CropsSowing Date Harvest Start 0.880152 4622.504

4/23 6/184/25 6/3 38832 38900.58 38871

5/9 6/185/14 7/35/15 6/225/27 7/15 #REF! #REF!6/12 7/296/21 8/96/25 7/276/28 8/16/30 7/23

7/2 8/167/4 8/157/5 8/207/7 8/21

7/14 8/287/18 9/87/19 9/10

8/3 9/218/6 9/29

8/11 9/258/12 10/5 5/19

5/29

6/86/186/28

7/87/18

7/288/7

8/17

8/279/6

9/16

9/2610/6

10/16

4/13

4/23 5/

3

5/13

5/23 6/

2

6/12

6/22 7/

2

7/12

7/22 8/

1

8/11

Har

vest

Sta

rt D

ate

Sowing Date

Cucumber Succession Crops

Benefits of succession planting:Avoid chancy sowings: sweet corn• We used to make 7 sweet corn plantings:

April 26, May 17, June 2, June 16, June 30, July 14 and July 28. The intervals were 21, 15, and then 14 days.

• We eliminated the late (and sometimes unproductive) 7th planting and increased the size of the 6th, sowing our usual range of 3 varieties.

• Using the graph of our corn sowing and harvest dates, we switched to 6 plantings with intervals of 23, 18, 18, 13 and 9 days.

Silver Queen Sweet Corn. Credit Kathryn Simmons

Factors insuccession planting:Keep it simple

• Cucumbers also take a little longer to mature than squash. • These two features would suggest making more plantings

of cucumbers than of squash, • BUT. . . after looking at the graphs, we decided to plant

both on the same set of dates, for simplicity. • If we could be satisfied with a new patch coming on-stream

every 36 days, we could sow only four times.

• Our squash plantings stay productive for around 40 days, but cucumbers sometimes only last 35 days.

Other factors affectingplanting frequency:Mexican bean beetles Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, Bugwood.org

• Mexican bean beetles used to destroy our beans.

• We needed 7 plantings at 15-day intervals.

• After 2 weeks of harvesting a planting, we did “Root Checks.”

• Now we buy the parasitic pedio wasp, and sow 6 times, not 7.

• These sowing intervals are 28, 28, 22, 20 and 15 days.

• We also get more beans than previously, and they’re prettier.

• Bean photo credit Kathryn Simmons

Bean Beetle Parasite(Pediobius foveolatus)

• These tiny wasps do not overwinter, so buy them each year unless you don’t get enough MBB to worry about.

• Wasps are shipped to you as adults or as parasitized Mexican bean beetle larvae, called mummies. The adults emerge from the mummies, and the females lay eggs in your MBB larvae.

• Timing is critical: order as soon as you see larvae.• Release 20 mummies = 400-500 wasps for every 1000 sq. ft. of

beans (40 units/acre). 2013 prices $60/1000 adults, $30/20 mummies. Plus UPS Next Day Saver, about $20.

• NJ Department of Agriculture Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory contact: Tom Dorsey at (609) 530-4192. See http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/beneficialinsect.html

Bean Succession CropsSowing Date

Harvest Start

4/16 6/134/18 6/204/20 6/164/21 6/14

5/2 6/235/7 7/2

5/11 7/85/12 7/55/13 7/15/14 6/305/16 7/15/17 7/35/22 7/16

6/5 7/306/8 8/2

6/10 8/36/13 8/16/24 8/96/29 8/246/30 8/15

7/8 8/217/14 8/287/15 9/27/19 9/37/20 9/17/22 9/67/25 9/11

8/3 9/188/4 9/268/6 9/308/7 9/20

4064

5

4065

5

4066

5

4067

5

4068

5

4069

5

4070

5

4071

5

4072

5

4073

5

4074

5

4075

5

4076

5

4077

5

40650

40660

40670

40680

40690

40700

40710

40720

40730

40740

40750

40760

40770

40780

40790

40800

40810

40820

40830

Bean Succession Crops

Sowing Date

Har

vest

Sta

rt D

ate

Bean Succession Crops graph with several years’ data

Winter succession crops in the hoophouse

To maintain continuous supplies of salad and cooking greens, as well as radishes and small turnips, we plan several winter successions of hoophouse crops.

Planning winter succession crops• Hoophouse space is so valuable,

make best use• Rate of growth is faster inside than

out• Plants tolerate colder conditions in a

hoophouse than they could outdoors

• Double plastic hoophouse in zone 7, with extra thick rowcover for an inner tunnel, salad greens can survive when it’s -12F (-24C) outside

• Without the inner rowcover, they survive when it’s 14F (-10C) outside.

Photo of tatsoi by Wren Vile

Gather information as you go• Our hoophouse planting schedule includes a column for

Harvest Start date and Harvest Finish date. • In tiny print we the dates from recent years• We leave space to write in results from the current year

Factors to consider• Seeds may take much

longer to germinate in cold weather

• “Days to maturity” number in the catalog refers to spring - add 14 days or more

• If the catalog is from a different bioregion, beware!

Photo of Chinese cabbage by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Hoophouse Succession Planting• 2 sowings of chard,

mizuna, scallions, tatsoi, yukina savoy

• 3 sowings of turnips, bulb onions

• 4 sowings of lettuce mix

• 5 sowings of spinach and radish

Back to the graphs• Using succession crop

graphs follows the same process as for outdoor summer crops

• Keep good records and eliminate sowings that are too late to give a harvest – some crops bolt in January (Tokyp bekana and Maruba Santoh), some in February (tatsoi)

Cherry Belle radishes. Photo by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Radish Succession Crops Graph

“Filler Greens”

• As well as scheduled plantings, sow a few short rows of lettuce, spinach, Asian greens to transplant and fill gaps as soon as they occur

Large transplants of filler greens.Photo by Ethan Hirsh

Follow-on Winter Hoophouse Crops• Some people use the term “Succession Planting” to refer to a succession

of different crops occupying a space.

• We follow our first radishes with our second scallions on 11/17

• Our first baby brassica salad mix with our fifth radishes on 12/23

• Some of our first spinach with our second baby lettuce mix on 12/31

• Our first tatsoi with our fourth spinach on 1/15

• Our Tokyo bekana on 1/16 with spinach for transplanting outdoors

• Our pak choy and Chinese cabbage on 1/24 with kale for planting outdoors

• Our second radishes with our second baby brassica salad mix on 2/1

• More of our first spinach with dwarf snap peas on 2/1

Year-round lettuce part 1Photo Credits Kathryn Simmons

The short version is that we sow • twice in January, • twice in February, • every 10 days in March, • every 9 days in April, • every 8 days in May, • every 6-7 days in June

and July,

Year-round lettuce part 2Photo: Cold-hardy (not heat-tolerant) Tango lettuce. Credit Kathryn Simmons

• every 5 days in early August,

• moving to every 3 days in late August,

• and every other day until Sept 21.

• After that we ease back to every 3 days until the end of September.

• Those last plants will feed us right through the winter.

Hot weather lettuce sowing Lettuce likes 40°F–80°F (4°C–27°C). Optimum 75°F (24°C) (germinates in only

2 days). Max germination temperature is 85°F

(29°C). Sow late afternoon or at nightfall - better

emergence than morning sowings.

Lettuce Succession CropsSowing Date Harvest Start 1/0 1/13

1/5 4/121/15 4/151/25 4/172/5 4/20

2/15 4/262/25 5/13/5 5/5

3/15 5/113/25 5/184/5 5/25

4/15 6/44/20 6/115/6 6/23

5/17 7/15/25 7/76/1 7/136/8 7/20

6/15 7/316/22 8/66/29 8/127/6 8/18

7/13 8/247/20 8/307/27 9/58/3 9/118/5 9/13

8/15 9/278/25 10/129/5 11/10

9/15 12/16 9/15 9/20 12/169/25 1/13 #REF! #REF!10/5 2/2

10/15 2/1510/25 2/2511/5 2/25

11/15 3/1811/25 3/2812/5 4/4

12/15 4/612/25 4/9

Dates from ColemanItalic dates approximate, from Twin Oaks

4/134/23

5/35/135/23

6/26/126/22

7/27/127/22

8/18/118/218/319/109/209/30

10/1010/2010/30

11/911/1911/29

12/912/1912/29

1/81/181/28

2/72/172/27

3/93/193/29

4/84/18

1/13

1/23 2/

22/

122/

22 3/4

3/14

3/24 4/

34/

134/

23 5/3

5/13

5/23 6/

26/

126/

22 7/2

7/12

7/22 8/

18/

118/

218/

319/

109/

209/

3010

/10

10/2

010

/30

11/9

11/1

911

/29

12/9

12/1

912

/29

Har

vest

Sta

rt D

ate

Sowing Date

Lettuce Succession Crops

Growing Degree Days

A measure of heat accumulation can indicate when it’s warm enough to plant tender crops, or when they might be ready to harvest. GDDs can also be used to plan dates for succession sowings. GDDs reflect actual conditions, rather than simply the calendar, a

method which will not work well now climate change has taken hold.

For most purposes a base temperature of 50°F (10°C) is used –roughly the temperature at which most plant growth changes start to take place. Each day when the temperature rises above the threshold, growing-degrees accumulate.

Growing Degree Days

Average the maximum and minimum temperatures for the 24 hour period, and subtract the base temperature. Add each day’s figure to the total for the year to date. This is the GDD figure.

Wikipedia has a good explanation at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing-degree_day

www.farmprogress.com has a free mobile phone app! Using GDDs to plan for succession sowings of sweet corn

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/scpltsched.htm Using Heat Units to Schedule Vegetable Plantings, Predict

Harvest Dates and Manage Crops http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/f11degreedays

Resources 1 ATTRA Market Farming: A Start-up Guide,

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=18 ATTRA Scheduling Vegetable Plantings for a Continuous Harvest,

www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=20 ATTRA Intercropping Principles and Production Practices (mostly field

crops, but the same principles apply to vegetable crops), www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=105

ATTRA Season Extension Techniques for Market Farmers, https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=366

SARE at www.sare.org -A searchable database of research findings SARE’s Season Extension Topic Room http://www.extension.org/organic_production The organic agriculture

community with eXtension. Publications, webinars, videos, trainings and support. An expanding, accessible source of reliable information.

Resources 2 Virginia Co-operative Extension Service Fall Planting Guide

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-334/426-334.html. Wrong chart currently!

Growing Small Farms: http://growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/ Debbie Roos keeps this site up to the minute. Click on Farmer Resources

www.johnnyseeds.com. Winter growing guide www.motherofahubbard.com Winter Vegetable Gardening www.averagepersongardening.com info on winter gardening Penn State Extension High Tunnels site

www.extension.psu.edu/plants/plasticulture/crop-information

www.HighTunnels.org Information for growers section.

Resources 3 - books The Complete Know and Grow Vegetables, J. K. A. Bleasdale, P. J. Salter et al. Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers, Donald N. Maynard and George J.

Hochmuth. The 2012 edition is free online from Missouri Extension The New Seed Starter’s Handbook, Nancy Bubel, 1988, Rodale Books The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, Richard Wiswall, Chelsea Green Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start-up to Market, Vern Grubinger The New Organic Grower, Eliot Coleman, 1995, Chelsea Green The Winter Harvest Handbook, Eliot Coleman Extending the Season: Six Strategies for Improving Cash Flow Year-Round on

the Market Farm, a free e-book download for online subscribers to Growing for Market magazine

The Hoophouse Handbook, 2nd edition, Lynn Byczynski Nature and Properties of Soils, fourteenth edition, Nyle Brady and Ray Weil Garden Insects of North America, Whitney Cranshaw The Harvest Gardener, Susan McClure

Succession Planting for Continuous Vegetable HarvestsPlan for continuous supplies of popular summer crops,

such as beans, squash, cucumbers and sweet corn; cold-weather hoophouse greens and year-round

lettuce.

©Pam Dawling 2015 author of Sustainable Market Farmingwww.sustainablemarketfarming.com

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