For example, four or five separate crops of lettuce or two to three separate plantings of beans or squash can be worked into a garden inside a single season by an ambitious gardener who plans ahead. One succession that has worked successfully reads like this. Another planting plan could include lettuce in spring, squash in early summer and broccoli in fall. Notice that in each case the spring and fall crops are always frost tolerant, cool season vegetables. Intercropping involves the simultaneous culture of two or more vegetables or a vegetable with a nonvegetable plant in the same garden space within the same growing season.
Many combinations are possible.
To keep a rotation sequence in proper order, it is best to intercrop members of the same family whenever possible. Radish can be sown between rows of transplanted cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. The radishes will be harvested long before its slower maturing companions take up the space. Bibb lettuce or leaf lettuce can be planted between slower growing endive and escarole. The lettuce will be harvested before the endive needs the room.