Winter vegetables might inspire both enthusiasm and trepidation as their season begins. Sowing their seed and plugging their seedlings into a fresh garden is delightful. Concern for their performance while summery warmth continues is not. It may take a while, but the weather will eventually cool. Later phases of succession planting will enjoy it even more.

Succession planting, which is the same as phasing, looks simpler than it is. Most simply, it is cultivation of small groups of any vegetable throughout its season. First groups might seem premature, but then seem less so as their season evolves. Subsequent groups are likely to seem more appropriate to their season. They can be one to several weeks later.

Planning is important for efficient use of space. The first groups of winter vegetables can use space as summer vegetables relinquish it. Later groups can use space as these first groups of winter vegetables relinquish it. However, with good crop rotation, any one type should not grow twice on the same sites. They prefer former sites of different vegetables.

So, succession planting is more complicated than growing one big group for the season. It is practical, though, for extending the harvests of individual varieties. The first groups of each variety are ready for harvest first. Each subsequent group should become ready as the preceding group finishes. The last group should finish at about the end of its season.

Different types of vegetables obviously respond differently to succession planting. Those that grow in autumn and spring but not winter need no other succession planting. Radish grows so fast that several phases can fit into one season. Cabbage can linger for so long that only two or three phases might be sufficient. Besides, they develop at different rates.

Succession planting is also effective for several spring bulbs that will soon be available. Although less obviously, and later next spring, prolonged planting should prolong bloom. However, reliably perennial bulbs synchronize for subsequent spring bloom. Succession planting is less effective for summer bulbs later. It only delays prolonged bloom for some that bloom for a recurrent bloom cycle.