Autumn & Winter Growing
A few small sowings at regular intervals can keep your kitchen supplied with fresh leaves for months.
One of the easiest mistakes to make when growing salad leaves is sowing the whole packet at once.
For a few weeks you have more lettuce, rocket and baby leaves than you know what to do with. Then suddenly they are finished, and the next crop is nowhere near ready.
Succession sowing solves this problem. Instead of making one large sowing, you sow smaller amounts regularly throughout the season.
The basic idea: sow a small amount, wait around two weeks, then sow again. As one crop is being harvested, another is growing behind it.
During autumn and early winter this simple habit can make the difference between having one short harvest and picking fresh leaves over several months.
Why succession sowing works so well for salad leaves
Many leafy vegetables are naturally quick growing. They are also at their best when harvested young.
That makes them ideal for repeated sowings.
Instead of trying to keep one group of plants producing indefinitely, you continually replace older plants with younger ones.
This gives you:
- younger and more tender leaves
- fewer sudden gluts
- a longer overall harvest
- better use of small growing spaces
- a steady supply for salads, sandwiches and cooking
You do not need a large vegetable garden either. Succession sowing works particularly well in pots, window boxes, raised beds and balcony planters.
How often should you sow?
During mild autumn weather, try making a small sowing approximately every 10–14 days.
As temperatures fall and growth slows, you can increase the gap between sowings. During the colder part of winter, sowing every two to three weeks may be enough.
There is no need to follow this schedule perfectly. Temperature, daylight and your local climate all affect how quickly seedlings grow.
The goal is simply to have crops at several different stages of growth.
Good varieties for repeated sowing
You do not have to sow the same thing every time. Alternating different leaves keeps winter salads more interesting and spreads the risk if one crop has a difficult week.
A colourful mixture of lettuces designed for harvesting young. Sow small patches regularly and cut the leaves while they are tender.
View Mesclun Salad LeavesA useful choice when you want a little more flavour and variety from your baby-leaf harvests.
View Mesclun Asian MixPeppery rocket is particularly useful for succession sowing because the young leaves can be harvested regularly in small quantities.
View Rocket EsmeeSpinach enjoys cooler growing conditions and can provide tender young leaves for salads as well as larger leaves for cooking.
View Spinach RenegadeA loose-leaf lettuce that works well when individual outer leaves are picked gradually instead of waiting for a large heart to form.
View Lettuce Salad BowlPak choi can also be harvested young as a baby leaf, making it an excellent addition to autumn and winter salad mixtures.
View Pak Choi TaisaiA simple succession-sowing routine
1. Start small
You do not need to fill an entire bed. Sow one short row, part of a planter or one container.
A small patch of baby leaves can produce a surprisingly useful harvest.
2. Write down the date
Add a plant label with the variety and sowing date.
This makes succession sowing much easier because you can immediately see which crops were sown first and when another batch is due.
3. Sow again before the first crop is finished
Do not wait until you have eaten the last leaf.
Your second sowing should already be growing while you are harvesting the first. That overlap is what creates a continuous supply.
4. Harvest little and often
For baby leaves, begin picking when the plants have produced enough leaf growth to use.
Use scissors or pick individual leaves carefully. Avoid damaging the central growing point if you would like the plants to produce another flush.
5. Keep sowing
Once the habit is established, succession sowing takes very little extra work.
A small sowing every couple of weeks is usually much easier to manage than planting a huge quantity at the beginning of the season.
An easy four-sowing plan
You could begin with something as simple as this:
Week 1: Mesclun Salad Leaves + rocket
Week 3: Spinach + lettuce
Week 5: Mesclun Asian Mix + pak choi
Week 7: Repeat your favourites
By this stage you should have several crops at different points in their growth cycle. Continue the pattern for as long as your local conditions allow.
Adjust your sowing to your climate
Winter means very different things in different parts of Europe.
Mediterranean Europe
In Cyprus, Malta, southern Greece, southern Italy, coastal Spain and similar climates, autumn and winter can be excellent seasons for leafy vegetables.
Once the strongest summer heat has passed, cooler days make crops such as lettuce, spinach, rocket and Asian greens much easier to grow. In very mild areas, succession sowing may continue through much of the winter.
Temperate Europe
As autumn progresses, outdoor growth becomes slower. A greenhouse, cold frame, polytunnel or sheltered container can considerably extend the harvest season.
Northern and colder regions
The limiting factor during winter is often not simply temperature but low light. Growth may become very slow during the darkest weeks.
Protected sowings can still be useful, but think of winter growing as maintaining a supply rather than expecting the rapid growth you would see in spring.
No vegetable garden? Use containers
Salad leaves are some of the easiest edible crops to grow in containers.
Try dividing your available space between three or four pots. Sow one pot first, another around two weeks later, and continue through the remaining containers.
By the time the first container begins to finish, you can clear it, refresh the compost if necessary and sow it again.
Small-space tip: shallow rectangular planters are particularly convenient for baby leaves because you can sow short rows of several different varieties in the same container.
Do not forget about water
Cooler weather means containers dry more slowly, but newly sown seeds still need consistent moisture while they germinate.
Keep the compost moist without leaving it waterlogged.
In Mediterranean climates, warm and windy autumn days can still dry small containers surprisingly quickly, while in cooler climates overwatering may become a greater problem as temperatures fall.
Check the soil rather than watering automatically.
The secret to a winter full of fresh leaves is not one big sowing. It is lots of little ones.
Sow a little, harvest a little and sow again. With several small crops growing at different stages, even a few pots can provide fresh salad leaves for weeks or months.
Happy sowing,
Fontana Seeds