The world is becoming an increasingly modern place. Regardless of reasoning now is a great time to take a step back and start your own garden. You don’t need acreage, just a patio and a pot. In as little as 25 days, you could be enjoying your own homegrown vegetables!
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Planning Your Grow Space
The primary thing you’re looking for is sunshine. This is the one thing that will most drastically affect the success of your garden. Choose a spot that gets at least six hours of sun a day.
This can be a strip of land next to your driveway, an apartment patio, or a full-blown backyard garden.
Getting Ready to Plant
You’ll need to have a prepped space in the ground or potting soil to get your plants started. For container gardening, just get your hands on a good potting mix from the store and fill your pots.
If you’re planting in the ground, you’ll want to do a little prep work. Dig up your planting space – to break up the soil – be sure to remove any weeds, and it’s not a bad idea to add a little fertilizer.
Learn more about the basic amendments we include when making our own potting soil mix here.
Another great option is to set up some raised beds. This is a fabulous quick-fix for folks with absolutely terrible soil or renters who can’t dig up their entire yard.
If there’s still snow on the ground, don’t worry! A DIY row cover will allow you to get a garden started, even in the depths of winter.
Have questions about prepping your garden space? Tell us what you need to know in the comments below! We want to help you set up a successful garden.
Fast Growing Vegetables for a Quick Harvest
Radishes: 30-50 days
Radishes are one of the fastest & easiest plants you can grow.
They’re also fun to play around with because their spice is directly related to how much you water. Do you like spicy radishes? Then water less often. If you hate the bite, then water more frequently.
Radishes are a cool-weather crop. The seeds are sown outside, planted directly in quality soil.
Leafy Greens: 20-72 days
Salad greens grow ridiculously fast, depending on the variety. So be sure to check your packaging. Thin, frilly greens like arugula, mizuna, and mesclun are ready closer to the 20-day mark. Things like kale, spinach, and romaine take a little longer. However, they’re all quick enough to be worth the investment.
Salad greens are another cool-weather crop. You can start them indoors under grow lights or in a greenhouse. As the ground warms in early Spring, you’ll be able to sow them directly outside in zones 4-9.
Bok Choy: 21-40 days
Though also a type of leafy green, this plant deserves its own category. Bok choy – or pak choi – is a type of Chinese cabbage. We often include them in our salads, but there are many preparations available. Because it has a smaller head, it grows quicker than traditional Western cabbage.
You can harvest individual leaves around 21 days, or wait the full 40 days for a mature head. Boy choy grows best in cool weather, in zones 4-7.
Beets: 28-50 days
Beets are one of the most nutritious plants you can grow, especially their greens. They’re super high in fiber and vitamin C. You can harvest the greens around 28 days, and the beets themselves around 50 days.
Because they’re a root vegetable, they can’t be started indoors and must be directly sown in quality soil.
Turnips: 30-60 days
Turnips are another insanely fast-growing root vegetable. Plus they’re the perfect substitute for Southern-style collards greens – yum! The greens can be harvest around 30 days and the turnips are ready around 60 days. Turnips are grown all over the world for their ease and versatility.
Small Carrots: 65-70 days
Though these take a little longer to grow, I still wanted to include carrots because of the high yield. You can plant them tightly together, so they’re worth the extra time for a big harvest. Be sure to choose small carrot varieties, as full-sized carrots take quite a while to grow.
Peas: 56-70 days
One of my favorite parts of early spring is the sugar snap peas. In fact, we just planted ours a few days ago, along with some shelling peas. It also helps that they grow very quickly. Sow them directly in the ground today and enjoy your harvest in about a month and a half!
Bush Beans: 40-70 days
It’s a little early in the year for bush beans, but I wanted to include them because they’re so prolific. Wait for slightly warmer temperatures to plant your beans – and then stand back!
Next Season…
As temperatures warm, you’ll need to change your planting strategies. Most of these cool-weather crops won’t do well in the heat of summer, but that frees you up to plant other insanely fast-growing crops like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini!
What do you think? Are you ready to start a garden? Ready to spend less time waiting & more time enjoying your harvest? Now is the perfect time, so start planning today!
Be sure to check out these helpful articles & videos for more quick harvest ideas…
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