Guides · 6 min read
Succession sowing without a spreadsheet
One sowing is a meal. Three sowings are a habit. The calendar is the tool.
The two-week rule
Radish, lettuce, cilantro, arugula, bush beans, and dill are not one-and-done. Sow a short row every two or three weeks while the weather still matches the crop. Stop when heat or frost will catch the last sowing before it finishes.
You do not need a Gantt chart. A note on the fridge that says 'lettuce again next Saturday' outperforms an app you will not open.
Leave a gap on purpose
A 4×8 that is full in May has no room for fall kale. Pull the spent peas and the first lettuce. That empty square in July is not failure. It is the fall garden.
Count days to first frost before you refill it. If you do not have the days, plant garlic and rest.
What does not succession
Tomatoes, peppers, and winter squash are once. Start them on time and pick them. A second tomato sowing in June is how you collect green fruit in October.
Match your ZIP · Shop a kit · Start dates
The sow list
A note when it is time to sow
Seasonal, not daily. We will send what to start in your zone, and skip the rest of the year.
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A first garden that actually finishes
Six crops, one 4×8 bed, and the mistakes that waste a spring.
Seeds for containers, balconies, and rented light
Renters now out-buy homeowners on vegetable and herb seed. The packets have to match the pot.
Short-season Midwest: Chicago and zone 5–6
Last frost in mid-April. First frost in mid-October. That is the whole argument.