Why little and often beats one big sowing

Almost everyone over-sows in their first year. A packet of lettuce seed, a bright Saturday in April, and suddenly you have four rows that heart up in the same fortnight. By mid-August the salads have bolted, the beans are stringy and you are leaving bags of courgettes on neighbours' doorsteps.

The fix is not to grow less — it is to grow the same amount in smaller, more frequent batches. In a family kitchen garden, aim for a steady trickle rather than a flood: a bowl of salad leaves most weeks from May to October, a handful of herbs whenever you want them, climbing beans from July into September, and a few pumpkins on a shelf in the shed to see you through to February.

As a rule of thumb, sow something small every two to three weeks from early March to the end of August. It takes ten minutes with a mug of tea, and it prevents an awful lot of gluts.

Salad leaves and herbs: the continuous crops

These earn their place because they are cut-and-come-again and easy to sow in small pinches. Work in patches rather than long rows — a 30cm square of loose-leaf lettuce, rocket, mizuna, mustard, spinach or chard will give you several cuttings before it needs replacing. Sow thinly, cover with a sprinkle of compost and water with a fine rose. Start cutting when the leaves are 8–10cm, taking the outer ones and leaving the crown to regrow.

Sow a mix rather than a single variety, and choose slow-bolting types for the hot weeks of July. Sowing in the cool of the evening and keeping the patch shaded helps more than any special variety.

• Permanent herbs: rosemary, thyme, sage, mint and chives need almost no attention once settled.
• Annual herbs: sow parsley, coriander, dill and basil in small pinches every three weeks. Coriander bolts fast in heat, so keep a pot on the kitchen windowsill as backup.
• Winter leaves: a late-August sowing of winter lettuce, land cress and corn salad under a cloche will crop into November.

Tomatoes, beans and the summer backbone

Sow tomatoes under cover from late February to mid-March. Six plants in a greenhouse or polytunnel, plus three in a sunny sheltered spot outdoors, is plenty for most families. Pot them on as the roots fill the pot, then plant out once the last frost has passed — mid-May in the south, early June further north. Water steadily rather than in occasional floods, which is what causes split fruit and blossom end rot, and start feeding weekly once the first truss has set.

Climbing French and runner beans are the most generous crop in any small garden. Sow in modules in mid-May, plant out late May or early June, and give them a wigwam of eight canes. Keep picking — beans left to swell stop producing. Sow a second wigwam three weeks later to stretch the season, and use dwarf French beans for pots and small beds. Broad beans sown in autumn or February give you a crop before the climbing beans get going.

A few pumpkins for the winter shelf

Two or three plants are ample; they sprawl. Sow in pots under cover from late April to mid-May, then plant out once frosts have passed into a pocket of well-rotted manure. Train the vines in a circle or over a mound of compost, water generously through summer, then ease off as the fruit colours.

Harvest when the skin is hard enough to resist a fingernail and the stem has begun to cork — usually September into October, and always before a hard frost. Cure them somewhere sunny and dry for ten days, then store cool and frost-free at around 10–15°C. They will keep to January or beyond, and any that soften go straight into soup.

A month-by-month rhythm

• February–March: sow tomatoes and chillies under cover; start the first salads and herbs in pots.
• April: sow pumpkins and courgettes indoors; direct-sow salad, radish and beetroot under a cloche.
• May: sow beans in modules; plant out tomatoes once the frost risk has gone; keep sowing salad.
• June–July: a salad patch every three weeks; water in the morning and mulch to hold moisture.
• August: last main sowings of salad and winter leaves; keep on top of the beans.
• September–October: harvest and cure pumpkins, plant garlic, clear beds and spread compost.

Small habits that keep it going

Water deeply and less often, so roots go down rather than sitting near the surface. Net anything the pigeons fancy, check beans for aphids and label every sowing with its date — it is the quickest way to learn what works on your soil. Above all, resist sowing a whole packet "just in case". Half a row now, half a row in a fortnight, and the garden will feed you a little at a time, right through the year.