Can’t wait for a garden harvest? Discover the best fast-growing vegetables, herbs, and more to harvest in as little as 21 days—plus tips to boost growth in a short season.
One of the hardest parts of gardening is the waiting.
In a world where we’re used to instant everything, gardening reminds us that nature moves at its own pace.
And you can’t rush it.
But here’s the good news: not all plants take months to mature. If you’re an impatient gardener (I am too!), or just working with a shorter growing season, you can get quick results and faster harvests of fresh, homegrown food just choosing the right plants to grow.
These fast-growing vegetables go from seed to harvest in just a few weeks and are as close to instant as you can get in the gardening world.
The vegetables and herbs on this list are ideal for succession planting. (Learn about succession planting in this post.)
These would also be fabulous to grow in a late summer garden for a fall harvest.
As a fellow impatient gardener, I’m sharing my go-to fast-growing vegetables for when time is short—plus tips to help you get the most out of a quick season.
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Tips for Growing Food Fast
Because these low-maintenance, fast-growing vegetables will be ready to harvest in a short amount of time, they will benefit from a little extra care. Here are a few tips to help these plants thrive.
- Feed the soil. Provide rich, well-draining soil. Add compost and slow-release fertilizer if you can to give plants a steady supply of nutrients.
- Water consistently. Fast-growing plants hate dry spells. I like to set up a timer for a sprinkler or drip system with my fast-growing vegetables. It will take a bit of work now, but you’ll save yourself (and your plants) stress.
- Prevent pests early. If your garden is prone to pests like flea beetles or Japanese beetles, cover your beds with insect netting right from the start, even if your garden is not yet planted! It’s easier to prevent damage than to fix it.
Fast-Growing Vegetables for Your Garden
These low-maintenance veggies are ready to harvest in as little as 21 to 60 days. You can grow all of these from seed, and I highly recommend that you do to save time and money.
If you have more time to grow outdoors, you can replant any of these varieties whenever you want from seed. I’m including a few varieties I recommend for fast growth. Grab the seeds if you’re interested!
1. Lettuce
Days to Maturity: 21 days (baby) – 50 days (full size)
Leaf lettuce is one of the quickest and easiest veggies to grow, especially in the spring.
Instead of waiting for a full head to grow, harvest the outer leaves of a leaf lettuce plant and leave the inner leaves alone to grow. This “cut and come again” method keeps plants producing longer.
Try sowing a couple of short rows and rotating your harvest: pick from the first row one week, the second the next, and circle back around when the first crop is ready again.
2. Radishes
Days to Maturity: 21-30 days
Radishes are one of the fastest vegetables to grow, and one of the most satisfying to pull from the ground.
As an added bonus, the leaves of radishes are edible, so if you can hardly stand to wait 21 days for the root, pick the leaves instead!
While I don’t always love them raw, I do enjoy them pickled, roasted, or tossed into soups like sinigang (a Filipino tamarind soup).
Fun fact: If you let radishes flower, they’ll form edible seed pods with a mild, peppery flavor. Some varieties are even grown specifically for their pods!
3. Arugula
Days to Maturity: 21 days (baby) – 40 days (full size)
Also known as “rocket,” arugula lives up to its name—it takes off fast! Grow this salad leaf in the spring for the best-tasting, mild, and tender arugula you’ve ever had.
I like to leave a few arugula plants to bolt, or go to seed, so that the flowers can feed the pollinators in my garden. Once the flowers make pods, I wait for them to dry, save the seed and replant arugula in the fall or next spring!
4. Bush Beans
Days to Maturity: 50-60 days
Bush beans grow quickly and are great for filling in empty spaces in your vegetable garden. They don’t need a trellis, grow well in full or part sun, and produce tender pods fast. Keep picking bush beans as fast as they mature to encourage more pod production.
If you have time to grow a second wave, plant another row of bush beans two weeks after planting the first crop. This ensures that you have a steady supply of bush beans throughout your short growing season.
- Compass Bush Beans
- Forrester Romano Bush Beans
- Contender Bush Beans
- Gold Rush Bush Beans
- Royal Burgundy Bush Beans
5. Baby Bok Choi or Pac Choy
Days to Maturity: 30-35 days (baby)
Bok chois are one of my favorites for stir-fries and soups. They are like softer, leafier little cabbages and are so satisfying to grow.
If you like cabbages and kale, you will love bok choi. Similar fast-growing Asian greens include mizuna, komatsuna, and tatsoi.
6. Spinach
Days to Maturity: 28 days (baby) to 50 days (full size)
Spinach, like the other leafy greens on this list, is fast to mature in cool weather.
Plant it in spring or fall for the best results, or grow it under protection in mild-winter climates. It’s quick, nutritious, and versatile in the kitchen.
7. Zucchini
Days to Maturity: 48-55 days
Zucchini squash, or courgettes, grow big and fast.
Look for different varieties and choose one with the shortest maturity date you can find like the ones I have listed below.
For example, Sure Thing Zucchini (my favorite) takes only 48 days to mature, while Cocozelle typically takes 58 days. Ten Days can make a big difference if you’re an impatient gardener!
Feed zucchini plants well and give them space to sprawl, and you’ll have more than enough squash to make this delicious creamy smoked zucchini garlic dip for yourself and all your friends.
- Sure Thing Zucchini
- Benning’s Green Tint Sumer Squash (Patty Pan)
- Desert F1 Zucchini
- Dark Green Zucchini
- Scallop Blend Patty Pan Squash
8. Turnips
Days to Maturity: 40-65 days
Turnips may not seem like the most exciting crop to grow, but you may change your tune once you’ve had homegrown roasted turnips.
White turnips have excellent flavor and stay crisp and sweet. This variety also has very quick turnaround in just 30 days for baby roots and 40 for full size roots.
Turnips are also great for quick pickling in a mix with carrots and onions.
The leaves are also edible and great for stir fries if you can’t wait for the roots to develop.
9. Green Onions
Days to Maturity: 40-65 days
Green onions are so easy to grow and don’t take up much room. I love throwing scallions into stir-fries, fried rice, and making scallion pancakes.
Unlike bulbing onions, green onions aren’t dependent on day length and mature quickly. You can eat them at any stage, even seedling.
I like to sow a thick band of these and eat them as I thin them out.
10. Kohlrabi
Days to Maturity: 40-60 days
Kohlrabi is a funky looking vegetable that kind of looks like a UFO when you cut the leaves off. If anything, grow it for something weird to add to your garden!
Kohlrabi is a relative of cabbage but tastes a bit sweeter. To me, kohlrabi tastes like broccoli stems. You can eat both the leaves and the enlarged stem of this plant.
It’s great peeled and sliced into matchsticks for coleslaw.
Fast-Growing Herbs
Herbs are also quick growing and provide easy harvests. Since we’re mainly harvesting the leaves, it doesn’t take long for these plants to mature and yield.
Don’t forget that you can harvest these herbs in the baby leaf stage like microgreens. They’re super potent at this stage and excellent raw.
Here are a few of my favorite fast-growing herbs.
- Dill – Quick and easy to grow, and dries really well to preserve for fall and winter.
- Basil – Snip the tips to harvest basil and the plant will grow bushier and be more productive.
- Cilantro – Sow from seed and harvest continually to prevent it from bolting (flowering and going to seed). Or harvest seeds to use as coriander spice.
- Mint – Super fast-growing and spreads like crazy; grow in a pot to keep it in check.
Indoor Quick-Grow Plants
For gardeners who are truly in a hurry, you can grow microgreens or sprouts indoors in less than 14 days.
These tiny greens are packed with nutrients and ready in under two weeks—no garden bed required.
- Microgreens grow in shallow trays with soil or a growing mat. You’ll need a sunny windowsill to grow these.
- Sprouts will grow in a jar on your countertop with just water and rinsing—no soil needed.
Look for pre-made blends of either of these or mix your own. It’s a fun, fast way to bring something green into your kitchen anytime of year.
A Quick Harvest Is Just a Few Seeds Away
The main takeaway from this post is to compare days to maturity when you’re deciding between varieties. If you’re an impatient gardener, you’ll definitely want to choose the plants with the quickest turnaround.
While gardening is definitely a lesson in patience, it doesn’t have to be slow.
Growing a few of these fast-growing plants in your garden is a satisfying way to produce food, whether you’re new to gardening, feeling a little restless mid-season, or just love a quick win.
Even a small success —like your first handful of arugula or a jar of sprouts —can spark a deeper love for the garden.
Enjoy every single moment.
Got a favorite quick-growing veggie I didn’t mention? Or a tip for speeding things up in your garden?
I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and share what’s growing in your space!