13 Fastest Growing Vegetables You Should Add To Your Garden

Gardening season is upon us, with warm weather and clear skies well on their way. Summer is almost here, and plenty of people are ready for a new outdoor hobby to soak up some sun. For foodies, gardening is especially rewarding, since you can actually eat what you grow — if you plant the right vegetables! Anyone who's ever enjoyed farm-fresh produce can tell you that nothing at a chain grocery store can beat the taste of fresh vegetables. When you grow them yourself, it just makes getting garden vegetables more convenient and can be a major point of pride. 

Of course, starting a vegetable garden isn't always a quick process. For would-be gardeners in the U.S., the first step is to find out which of the 26 USDA grow zones you're in. Once you have that figured out, you can decide whether to grow vegetables in a raised bed, straight in the ground, or even indoors. When you're ready to pick out some vegetables to grow, you can focus on plants that bear fruit quickly. Some plants can deliver vegetables to your table in just a few weeks! Even beginners and those who wouldn't describe themselves as someone with a green thumb can enjoy these fast-growing vegetables before summer's end!

Radishes are an iconic summer veggie, with their brilliant, red coloration surrounding a stark white center. Sliced, they add a peppery taste to salads and upscale toast recipes. Whole, they become much more versatile, with home chefs able to easily reduce the spicy kick of radishes or enhance the flavors by combining them with other ingredients. Radishes are a root vegetable, but even their leaves are suitable for eating. You can plant radish seeds in the spring or the fall, as long as the temperatures stay below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This naturally leads to a much faster maturation, with radishes ready to harvest as early as four weeks after planting. It's important to note that smaller radishes tend to have a milder flavor, while larger varieties are spicier than normal.

For the best results, plant radishes in full sun, though partial shade should work well enough as long as the radishes get at least six hours of sun every day. You'll also have to monitor its early growth closely. When the seedlings are 2 inches tall, you'll need to thin radishes to 2- to 3-inch spacings. Check your seed packet for specific care instructions and to know when to harvest. Depending on the variety you choose, you could have spicy radishes grown in a month!

Arugula is a great little leafy vegetable, especially if you're looking for a fresh, peppery addition to your meal. There are dozens of recipes that feature arugula, so it's a happy coincidence that arugula is one of the fastest-growing vegetables around. Planting arugula from seed is easy to do, even when the ground is still a bit chilly. In fact, it's suggested to plant arugula as soon as the ground is workable, likely before spring has truly sprung. 

The leaves can be harvested almost immediately, though the tiny arugula comes with a distinctive, spicy, pungent flavor, similar to horseradish. On the other hand, waiting too long to harvest will cause the leaves to develop a much stronger taste that can be overwhelmingly bitter to some. Typically, a sweet spot can be found if you harvest around three to four weeks after planting. Cut the arugula about 2 inches from the ground, and the plant will regrow in another few weeks. Be careful to protect your plant from pests, but otherwise, arugula is a fast and easy vegetable to grow this summer.

One of the absolute easiest plants to grow happens to also be a boon in anyone's kitchen. Also called scallions, there are so many ways to use this vegetable to amp up the flavor of your favorite dishes. Of course, whether you use them as scallions or simple green onions is up to you, especially since you can control when they're harvested! All you need to get started are the white green onion bulbs, typically the part you'd just throw away after chopping the green leaves. Plant these ends into the soil so that the roots are completely buried. Another nice thing about growing green onions is that you can grow them indoors or outside, as long as they get ample sunshine and stay in temperatures above freezing.

Green onions are quite possibly the fastest vegetable you can grow. In just seven to 10 days, you can harvest the green onions again. If you leave a few inches behind, they'll grow right back, giving you endless onions! This plant is a popular pick for windowsill gardens in the kitchen, since it will do well indoors. Go ahead and pick up a bundle of green onions at your grocery store; it may be the last one you need to buy!

Bok choy is another delicious and versatile green vegetable that's a perfect fit for plenty of meals. Being a type of Chinese cabbage, which is, in fact, native to China, Asian cuisine often takes advantage of the bok choy's crunchy, slightly peppery flavor profile. From stir fry to soups, there are many ways to enjoy a freshly grown bok choy, with a little preparation. Bok choy can be grown from seed in a short amount of time, though you'll want to compare varieties to pick a plant that will grow as fast and easily as you want. The fast maturation of bok choy reflects its aversion to high temperatures. The best time to plant bok choy is during the spring or fall.

When the plant reaches 6-8 inches in height, there's baby bok choy to harvest, if you prefer bok choy with a more tender texture and sweeter flavor. This happens after only 30 days! If you wait until the plant reaches its full size of 12-15 inches, you still have fresh bok choy on the table in 70 days or less. If you sow more seeds every two weeks, you'll really be able to maximize your harvest and give your meals a fresh improvement.

Keeping lettuce fresh can sometimes feel like a never-ending, uphill battle. Sure, there are ways to prepare and care for lettuce, but in the end, many people find themselves with brown, inedible lettuce shoved towards the back of the crisper drawer. Given this antagonistic relationship between kitchens and fresh lettuce, it may surprise you to learn that lettuce is actually one of the fastest-growing vegetables available. There are many varieties of lettuce to choose from, so the time to harvest can vary quite a bit, but generally speaking, more tender varieties can be had in just over a month, while others can take up to 85 days to mature.

Some of the fastest-growing lettuces are leafy varieties, such as salad bowl and buttercrunch lettuce. You can harvest lettuce from these varieties as soon as 40 days after planting from seed, or just 15 days after transplanting. The best time to start lettuce from seed is in April, though fall planting is another good option. For year-round lettuce, it's not too difficult to grow a number of varieties indoors, as long as you have a suitable container and ample sunlight

Turnips aren't appreciated by many, but that doesn't mean there aren't delicious recipes for them. Most people simply roast them, but you can also mash them or add them to classic dishes, like Tyler Florence does with his chicken noodle soup recipe. This simple, yet tasty vegetable also happens to be one of the fastest-growing vegetables you can plant, making it an ideal choice for quick garden harvests. Unlike some other vegetables, it's best to start with the seed and skip the transplant, as turnips can't survive most moves. 

The seeds can be planted as soon as the ground is workable, though, with the turnips themselves being totally fine with weather as cold as 40 degrees Fahrenheit and as warm as 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Typically, two to three weeks ahead of the predicted last frost date is a good time to plant turnips you want to harvest in late spring. If you're hoping for a fall harvest, try planting turnip seeds towards the end of summer and early fall. Turnip greens are ready to harvest after just a month. Some early varieties of turnips can then be harvested within five weeks, but most standard varieties are ready to be pulled up after two months.

Kale has had quite the roller coaster of an existence in cooking, especially over the past 50 years. Despite spending decades relegated to being Pizza Hut's salad bar decor of choice, it eventually became labeled as a superfood after a viral marketing campaign. Although kale has certainly waned in popularity over the past few years, there are still tons of people who love to see it in their fridge. Kale is known for being a tasty addition to hearty and fresh recipes, and it may be a good option for growing in your home garden, too. 

As with most vegetables, there are a number of varieties of kale to choose from. For example, the winterbor variety can be harvested in as little as 28 days. Other varieties come with qualities, such as heat tolerance or cold hardiness, and can take up to 75 days to be ready for harvesting. Kale isn't the easiest to take care of, though. You'll need to thin it out after about two weeks, and you'll need to make sure that the soil stays moist, especially when it doesn't rain, as it needs almost 2 inches of water per week.

Yellow squash has the apt nickname summer squash, not only because of its sunny color, but also because it really is a great vegetable addition to a summer spread. The pop of color and crisp texture makes it perfect for mixing into quinoa salads, while its sweet, yet mild flavor is ideal for grilling. Yellow squash plants are small bushes, so they don't need much room to grow.

Growing from seed, you'll need to wait until after the threat of frost has completely passed, as it's usually best to start the seeds in the garden. Typical yellow squash varieties can be harvested after 41-50 days, which is hardly a long wait. Once the squash begins to grow, it will be ready to pick very quickly. For the best flavor, harvest yellow squash once they've reached 6-8 inches in length. Try not to damage the vine by snipping off the yellow squash with sharp scissors or shears. You should continue to get fresh yellow squash throughout the season!

Zucchini is a wonderful squash that's perfect for light and refreshing summer recipes. The mild, earthy flavor picks up whatever seasonings you add, creating more dynamic dishes and offering a bit of texture, depending on how exactly you cook it. There are many ways to enjoy zucchini, from simple roasting to more complicated fritters, but the first step is getting it into your kitchen. Zucchini plants are well-known for producing lots of vegetables throughout the growing season, which, when combined with their relatively fast maturation rate, makes them an excellent choice for gardening beginners. 

It's easy to grow zucchini either in a garden bed or in a container, but you should make sure to choose varieties that suit your space. Regardless of whether you choose smaller varieties for container growing or standard ones for growing in a garden, most will be ready to harvest within 60 days. Once you start seeing flowers, you could have zucchini on the table the very next week! One common mistake new gardeners make with zucchini is harvesting too late. As the zucchini gets bigger, it loses some of its flavor and can even become bland. Be sure to pluck zucchini when they are about 6-8 inches long, while they're still tender and a bit immature. This will avoid bruised and flavorless vegetables.

Garden salads and picnic sandwiches just wouldn't be the same without some crisp, cool cucumbers included. These refreshing vegetables are a wonderful summer snack, and they aren't too difficult to grow. In fact, they have a fast turnaround, with gardeners able to harvest fresh cucumbers in 50-70 days, depending on which variety they choose. The only drawback to growing cucumbers is that they have a lot of pests that need to be controlled, even when the seedlings have barely poked through the soil. 

When exactly you should harvest your cucumbers also depends on what you plan on using them for. If you want to pickle your cucumbers, be sure to pick them before the seeds harden, which is when they're still a bit small and immature. For standard cucumber taste, you'll still want to pick them a little immature, which is when they are about the size and color you might see at the store. If cucumbers start to turn yellow, it's a sign that their flavor will be bitter, and you have probably missed the chance for a good harvest. Don't worry though, as cucumber plants produce a lot of vegetables throughout the growing season, so you should get a few more opportunities for a quick and fresh cucumber!

Carrots are an essential vegetable for any kitchen to keep in stock. It's useful as a crunchy addition to stir fry, is one of the main ingredients for aromatic mirepoix, and can be a tasty and nutritious snack all by itself. Growing your own carrots can be a fun experience, yielding a vegetable that has seemingly endless possibilities for home chefs. Typically, carrots take 50-80 days to reach maturity, so you could plant some carrots in spring and harvest them before summer's end! 

You'll want to plant carrot seeds directly into the soil. They will grow as soon as the ground is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but if you wait until the ground is actually warm, you'll be able to harvest them sooner. Don't transplant them, though, as this will cause the roots to split, giving you a forked carrot that's simply not as easy to handle and may even be less tasty. The harvest date for carrots varies based on the specific variety planted, but carrots can be planted between April and June for harvesting in July until October.

Green beans are another ubiquitous vegetable found in cuisine around the world. Growing them isn't too difficult, but they can call for a bit more prep work than other vegetables. There are two main types of plants that you'll need to choose from when adding to your garden: bush beans and pole beans. As their names suggest, bush beans are green beans grown in bush form, while pole beans grow on climbing vines and will need a trellis to be successful. While bush beans require little to no maintenance, they are much more susceptible to pests and disease. On the other hand, pole beans need a bit of extra care, but they will yield more green beans and won't be fighting off pests as much. 

Both types of green beans can be harvested in about two months, with bush beans producing vegetables after 50-55 days and pole beans after 55-65 days. Bush beans will have all of the green beans ready to harvest simultaneously, so if you want multiple harvests, be sure to stagger planting by two weeks. Pole beans will continuously produce green beans for up to two months, thanks to their fast-growing vines.

Many people's first introduction to beets was through the Nickelodeon cartoon show, "Doug." Since then, however, beets have become a popular superfood that can grace a dinner table after roasting or help jumpstart your day in a smoothie. Although they aren't too expensive, beets are certainly not the cheapest vegetable you can pick up. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to grow your own fresh beets? 

Beets are a bit more difficult to grow than a beginner might be comfortable with, but they do grow very fast. Beets should be planted deeply, under partial shade, and with adequate drainage, as they also need plenty of water. As long as the soil is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, you can plant beets, even if it's technically winter. Both the leafy greens and the beet root itself are great for fresh meals, though you'll want to stop harvesting leaves once they get bigger, as the flavor will get stronger and more unpleasant. Once the beets are the size of a golf ball, which usually takes seven to eight weeks, you can start harvesting them! Young plants can be cooked whole, with the tops still attached. You can even save the roots on the bottom of the beets for various recipes by storing them in the fridge for up to two weeks.