Always wanted to grow your own vegetables but worried it’s a lengthy and tiring process? Never fear, with these six easy and fast-growing vegetables, you can be eating homegrown in less than two months!
1. Microgreens
Microgreens are veg harvested while still only tiny shoots and are packed with vitamins and antioxidants to help boost health. They can also be grown on windowsills.
There are many seeds you can sow, one of the best and quickest are peas as the shoots are delicious. Other include mixed salad leaves, lettuce, beetroot, pak choi, kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, or leeks. Avoid tomatoes, aubergines, squashes and beans.
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Time until harvest: a few weeks
2. Radish
Radish is one of the quickest and easiest veg you can grow, and they also don’t take up much space.
Sow them from March onwards, either in the ground or in pots, about half an inch deep. Then keep them well watered and harvest when about the size of a 10p coin.
Time until harvest: 30 days
3. Lettuce
Lettuce is great for someone who has never grown veg before because it’s so quick and easy. Lettuce can grown in the ground or virtually any container and they don’t need a lot of space. There are different varieties which can be sown at different times of the year, meaning it is possible to grow your own lettuce almost year-round.
If you sow into the ground, make sure to thin out your seedlings when they start to come through, leaving about 2.5cm between them initially so as to give your lettuce room to grow without being crowded out.
Time until harvest: 30 – 50 days
4. Carrots
Carrot growing time varies depending on the variety, but you could be eating your own in less than two months. Baby carrot varieties are the fastest growing of all.
Sow your seeds from spring onwards, a couple of inches apart, and make sure they are well-watered. Preferably your soil will be quite fine as stony soil can cause carrots to fork.
Time until harvest: 30 to 70 days
5. Spinach
Spinach can be sown any time between March and July, and is ready to eat within two months, or even sooner if only using as salad leaves.
Sow spinach seeds outside about an inch deep and an inch apart. Thin them out once the seedlings start coming through to make sure they don’t get overcrowded – you can eat the thinnings as microgreens! Then simply make sure they’re well-watered in dry spells and harvest once the leaves are big enough.
Time until harvest: 40 to 60 days
6. Spring Onions
Spring onions are super easy to grow, and once sown pretty much look after themselves.
They can be sown in spring, from March time. Sow the seeds outside about half an inch deep.
Time to harvest: around 60 days
Growing your own vegetables is such a rewarding process and with these six examples, you don’t have to wait long for the delicious rewards.
Even if you’ve never grown anything before, you can be eating homegrown food in no time. And if you get the gardening bug, Kitchen Garden is full of great advice for beginners and pros alike.
