Quick Growing Vegetables

It’s been a wake up call and a half hasn’t it?

Few of us have really had to think about where our food comes from for a long, long time. Cash may have been tight but there was always fresh food in the stores if you had the money to pay for it.

And suddenly there isn’t.

But as most of us are stuck at home we do suddenly have time on our hands to grow some healthy food for ourselves. And luckily there are some super quick growing vegetables we can harvest fast.

I’ve picked out 5 quick growing vegetables for you that:

1. Are super easy to grow for beginners
2. You really will eat lots of
3. And you can save money on.

Growing Vegetables For Beginners

I can totally vouch for these 5 quick growing vegetables being easy to grow for beginners as I am so, so, soooo not an expert gardener myself.

I didn’t grow up gardening and I don’t spend huge amounts of time on it but I can grow these vegetables and I grew them when I first started gardening with the help of a three year old, so seriously they’re easy.

And – another big plus – these quick growing vegetables are super easy to grow in pots in a small space.

Growing Vegetables In Pots

I love seeing pictures from all those super self-sufficient gardeners with their allotments and smallholdings or mini-homesteads.

But I don’t have any of those.

And most years I grow my vegetables in pots or containers in a very small space in my central London garden. So don’t be put off. You could even grow these veggies on a small balcony.

And still help keep yourself in healthy food that you will actually eat.

Healthy Vegetables You Will Actually Eat

There are loads of lists of quick growing vegetables out there on Pinterest but TBH I wouldn’t know what to do with half of them and some of the rest aren’t exactly the basis of a hearty meal.

I mean radishes – for example – are lovely and radishes are a seriously quick growing vegetable but they’re not exactly substantial are they?

If we’re going to go to the effort of growing our own vegetables it needs to be worth the effort and these vegetables are because they are quick and easy for beginners to grow from seed and they are chock full of immune boosting vitamins and minerals we all need right now.

So go on : save the list, give them a go and let me know how you get on.

And for more easy gardening for beginners ideas do follow me on Pinterest.

5 Quick Growing Vegetables

1. Salad Leaves

Salad leaves are the quickest of quick growing vegetables and perhaps the most useful. Simply sow small quantities of seeds from packets of mixed salad leaves in a couple of small pots on a sunny window sill or table and you will have food in less than a month.

You can have a continuous crop of salad leaves if you:

• Sow another pot each week for the next month
• Cut your first pots of leaves to grow again when you first harvest your leaves.

Whole lettuces won’t grow as quickly but are still pretty fast and if you pick varieties that are good to cut and come again you can keep a continuous crop coming. I’ve just planted the wonderfully named Drunken Woman 😉

Salad leaves and lettuce really are super simple to grow in pots. My only key tips are:

1. Keep soil moist through misting rather than watering as shoots fragile
2. You can use a shallow pot to grow them in so if you’re short on pots, a margarine or ice cream tub or the like with drainage holes pierced in it would do the trick.

2. Spinach

Spinach is another super useful quick growing vegetable. You can find varieties that are almost as fast as salad leaves and if you sow little and often and cut-and-come-again you can have a continuous crop in pots and containers in a small space.

Spinach is also a brilliantly health boosting veg for all of us right now as it’s rich in :

• Vitamin C
• Iron
• And folic acid
• Plus calcium & a bunch of b vitamins

And you can smuggle it into picky eaters by blending it into cheese sauce, pasta sauce and even berry smoothies.

3. Beetroots

Beetroots aren’t quite as speedy to grow as salad leaves and spinach BUT you can actually eat the leaves – who knew? – whilst waiting for the roots to fatten up.

Add young beetroot leaves to salads or cook the older leaves like spinach. Plant in pots at double density and you can start harvesting some smaller ones early whilst letting others grow on.

Beetroots are rich in iron, vitamin C, folic acid and a bunch of other goodies so are a great quick growing vegetable to plant for super healthy food fast.

4. Turnips

As surprisingly are turnips.

I know, I know turnips have got a bad rap but that’s because too many of us have been fed badly cooked old turnips. Young fast growing turnips are delicious in everything from raw salads to pasta sauce, curry & stew. You can also add turnips to mash potato to lower its GI & increase its nutritional value. And again like beetroots you can eat the leaves.

Overall turnips are rich in fibre, loads of vitamins and minerals and even omega 3 fatty acids – again, who knew?!! They are also an incredibly easy vegetable to grow as you can plant out directly in pots and containers right now (early April) without having to start off seedlings inside.

5. Carrots

Carrot seeds can also be sown outside directly whilst it’s still chilly and if you hunt out quick growing varieties – like Amsterdam Forcing you can be eating your first crop in just a month.

The trick with the carrots as with the other beetroots and turnips is to sow little and often rather than getting all excited and planting them all up at once. The root veg will store – unlike the greens – but it’s much easier to store them in the ground and just pick them as you’re ready to eat them.

And seriously, once you have tasted fresh vegetables straight from the garden you’ll never want to go back to plastic-wrapped, plastic-tasting supermarket varieties and will be hooked on growing vegetables for life.

So there you go, five super quick growing vegetables to get planting right now for healthy food fast. But before you run off to get gardening I’ve got one extra easy to grow suggestion for you and that is mushrooms.

Extra : Mushrooms

Now mushrooms are obviously a fungi not a vegetable but they are seriously easily food to grow quickly in pots and containers at home – as a beginner and with kids – even if you have a tiny garden or no garden space at all.

To get started read these How To Grow Mushrooms For Beginners tips.

I do hope these suggestions help you get started growing vegetables. If you found these tips helpful please do share them and for more simple gardening tips for beginners do follow me on Pinterest and check out these easy gardening posts:

• How To Grow Courgettes
• Organic Gardening For Beginners
• Easy Organic Weed Control

Original image sources: Fresh young spinach leaves on a white background, Pieces of chopped beet and whole beet on white background, Fresh wet spinach with water drops & Salad mix with rucola, frisee and radicchio / Gemischter Salat by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0