Succession Planting Lettuce and Beans: Sowing Every Two Weeks Until Frost
Sow a whole packet of lettuce in one go and you get three weeks of more salad than you can eat, then bolted plants and an empty bed. Bush beans do the same: a heavy flush of pods, then a tired plant. Succession planting fixes this by sowing a smaller amount every couple of weeks, so one batch is coming ready as the last one finishes.
The Planting Calendar has a succession option for exactly this. Tick "Calculate succession planting dates" and, for crops that mature in under 60 days, it lists up to four more sowings two weeks apart, each with its own expected harvest, and drops any sowing that would not be ready before your first fall frost. In its crop list, that means lettuce (45 days) and beans (55 days). This guide works through both with example dates.
Example dates and why they are only examples
We used an example last spring frost of April 20, 2027 and an example first fall frost of October 15, 2027. Your own frost dates come from your local extension service or national weather service, and they are averages that shift from year to year and from one side of town to the other. The calendar uses exactly the dates you type in.
Lettuce: five sowings from late March
Lettuce tolerates light frost, so the calendar sows it direct four weeks before the last frost. With the example dates:
| Planting | Sow | Expected harvest |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 23 | May 7 |
| 2 | April 6 | May 21 |
| 3 | April 20 | June 4 |
| 4 | May 4 | June 18 |
| 5 | May 18 | July 2 |
That is two months of harvests from five small sowings instead of one large one. If you choose "Start Indoors" for lettuce, the calendar starts seeds on February 23, transplants on March 23 and counts the same two-week steps from the transplant date, so the table above is unchanged. Each later "sow date" is then the date to set out another batch of transplants, or to sow direct.
Beans: five sowings from early May
Beans are frost-tender and always sown direct (the calendar gives a direct sowing date even if you pick "Start Indoors"), two weeks after the last frost:
| Planting | Sow | Expected harvest |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 4 | June 28 |
| 2 | May 18 | July 12 |
| 3 | June 1 | July 26 |
| 4 | June 15 | August 9 |
| 5 | June 29 | August 23 |
Bush beans suit succession best because each sowing crops heavily for a few weeks and then fades. Pole beans keep producing for much longer from one sowing, so one or two sowings are usually enough.
Why the list stops at four extra plantings
The calendar always lists at most four plantings after the first, even when the season has plenty of room left. In the example, the first bean sowing has 109 days to spare before the October 15 frost, and the fifth sowing is ready on August 23. There is still time for more.
To find the last sensible sowing, count back from your first frost: subtract the crop's days to maturity and an allowance of about two weeks for slower growth in shortening days. With an October 15 first frost, that gives a last bean sowing around August 7 and a last lettuce sowing around August 17. Our guide to planning a fall vegetable garden shows the same count for other crops and a second example frost date.
Leaving the first fall frost blank does not help here: the calendar then assumes a frost 200 days after the last one (November 6 for an April 20 last frost), shows "(assumed)", and the bean list is the same four extra sowings.
What happens in a short season
The frost check matters most where summers are short. Take an extreme example: last frost May 25, 2027 and first frost August 20, 2027, an 87-day season.
- Beans are sown on June 8 and ready on August 2, 18 days before the frost. The calendar keeps only one more sowing, June 22, ready on August 16, and drops the rest because their harvests would come after August 20. That second sowing is ready just four days before an average frost date, which is cutting it fine for a tender crop: have a cover ready or skip it.
- Lettuce starts on April 27, ready June 11, and all four extra sowings fit (the last is sown June 22, ready August 6), because lettuce is fast and starts before the last frost.
Carrots, beets and other slower crops
Carrots take 70 days in the calendar, so the succession option does nothing for them; it only applies to crops under 60 days. Slower crops can still be staggered: sow carrots every three or four weeks through spring and early summer, and stop when the count back from your first frost says there is not enough season left.
How much to sow each time
The point of succession is small batches. A good starting point is a short block you can sow in ten minutes. As an example, the Plant Spacing Calculator fits:
- 8 lettuce plants in a 4 by 2 foot block at 10-inch spacing (2 rows of 4).
- 32 bean plants in a 4 by 2 foot block at 6-inch spacing (4 rows of 8).
Adjust after the first two harvests: if you are giving lettuce away, sow less; if a batch runs out before the next is ready, sow a little more or close the gap to ten days.
Keeping succession sowings going in summer
- Lettuce and heat. Lettuce tends to bolt and turn bitter in hot weather, and seed germinates poorly in hot soil. For midsummer sowings, choose varieties sold as slow to bolt or heat tolerant, sow in the evening, and use shade cloth or the shade of a taller crop. In a hot climate it can be better to pause in July and pick up again in August for fall.
- Water. Small seedlings in summer need the top inch of soil kept moist until they are established. See how much water a vegetable garden needs each week for the totals once they are growing.
- Space. Plan where each batch goes before the season starts. The Garden Layout Planner helps divide a bed into blocks.
- Pests. Slugs go for young lettuce and bean seedlings after rain. Check at dusk and see our guide to holes in seedlings.
What the calendar does not cover
- It uses one days-to-maturity figure per crop: 45 for lettuce and 55 for beans. Leaf lettuce picked young is faster; heading lettuce and pole beans are slower. Use your packet's figure.
- It always steps in two-week intervals and stops after four extra plantings.
- It checks only against the first fall frost, not against summer heat, which is often the real limit for lettuce.
- It assumes each sowing grows at the same speed. Sowings that mature in late summer and fall usually take longer.
- It does not know this year's weather. A late spring frost can still catch an early lettuce sowing; keep frost cloth ready.
A simple succession routine
- Run lettuce and beans through the Planting Calendar with succession ticked and your own frost dates.
- Copy every sow date onto a wall calendar.
- Count back from your first frost to add later sowings beyond the four the calendar lists.
- Sow a small block on each date, even if the previous batch looks slow.
- Pull each finished batch promptly, add a little compost and reuse the space.