Set the interval between sowings to be shorter than the harvest window of one sowing, and size each batch to feed the community for the whole interval, plus a margin for losses. If one sowing of lettuce is harvestable for 3-4 weeks and you sow every 2 weeks, one or two sowings are in harvest at any time. Count the number of sowings by dividing the length of the season by the interval, and record real dates so you can tighten the schedule next year.
A staggered sowing schedule is a plan of dates and quantities for repeated sowings of one crop, set so that harvests overlap slightly and the supply never runs out.
The Interval Comes From The Harvest Window, And The Batch Size From Demand
The carrier guide (Four-Season Growing & Season Extension) recommends sowing lettuce every 2 weeks from early spring to late summer for a community of 50-100 people needing continuous salad, with each sowing producing for about 3-4 weeks. That fixes the interval. The size of each batch has to come from demand.
Worked Example: Heads Per Sowing
Illustrative inputs (replace with your own): 100 heads of lettuce eaten per week; sowing every 2 weeks; a loss allowance of 20% for failures, bolting and pests.
- Demand per interval: 100 heads/week × 2 weeks = 200 heads.
- Heads to plant per sowing, allowing for losses: 200 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = 250 heads.
- Number of sowings in a season of 24 weeks: 24 ÷ 2 = 12.
- Overlap: with a 3-4 week harvest window and a 2-week interval, each sowing overlaps the next by 1-2 weeks, so the supply is continuous.
Dates
Work out each sowing date by counting back from the date you want the batch ready, using days to maturity from the seed source or your own records. Growth slows as days shorten and nights cool, so the printed days to maturity are optimistic for autumn sowings; add time, which you learn by recording. The carrier names August as the critical month for the winter crop sowing.
What You Need
- A calendar or sowing board.
- A record of every sowing, its date, and when harvest started and ended.
- Seed for all the sowings, stored dry and cool (Community Seed Bank Management).
Method
Step 1: Fix the demand per week from the community’s meals.
Step 2: Set the interval from the harvest window.
Step 3: Compute batch size with the loss allowance.
Step 4: Write the dates for the season and mark the cut-off for heat in midsummer and for cold in autumn.
Step 5: Record and revise after each season.
Common Mistakes
- Using the same interval all season — summer sowings mature faster than spring ones; shorten the interval in warm weather if gluts appear.
- No loss allowance — a single failed sowing leaves a gap.
- Forgetting the end of the season — sowings stop when the crop can no longer mature.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Quick-Turnover Crop Rotations — what follows each sowing in the bed
- Combine with: Caloric Budget for a Community — setting salad against calories