Guide
10 Fast Crops Ready in About 45 Days or Less
Some crops make you wait all summer. These ones do not. Every crop here can give you something to eat around 45 days after sowing, and a few get there in three or four weeks. That makes them good for kids, for gaps between slower crops, and for anyone who needs a quick win to keep going.
The fast number is usually the early harvest: baby leaves, small roots or young heads. Full-size versions take longer, and each blurb says how much longer. Most of these are cool-season crops, so speed depends on sowing at the right time for your frost dates. Sown into summer heat, many of them bolt before they are worth picking. Nine are vegetables and one is a herb.
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The quickest crop here, about 21 to 35 days from sowing. Start checking daily from week three, because roots go from crisp to woody and split fast. Pull them at about an inch across. Flea beetles chew pinholes in the leaves, so row cover helps in a bad year.
How to grow radish → -
Young leaves can be cut in about 25 days, and full size comes by 45. Cut 1 to 2 inches above the soil and it regrows for another round. It bolts quickly once days get long, so sow short rows every 10 to 12 days in spring instead of one long one.
How to grow arugula → -
Baby leaves can be ready about 30 days from sowing. Full heads take up to 75, so choose loose-leaf types if speed is the point. Heat and dry soil turn lettuce bitter. Water before the soil dries out and pick in the morning, when the leaves are crisp.
How to grow lettuce → -
Mustard greens reach picking size in roughly 30 to 50 days and keep coming as you take outer leaves. They need steady food and water to keep that pace, or the leaves stay small and harsh. Slow-bolting types buy a little time in spring, not a whole summer.
How to grow mustard greens → -
Baby heads can be cut at 5 to 6 inches tall, about 30 days after sowing. Full heads take closer to 70. Either way, cut before a flower stalk appears. Cold snaps and dry soil both trigger early flowering, so pick a bolt-resistant variety if your spring is jumpy.
How to grow bok choy → -
Salad turnips can be pulled small at around 35 days, and the greens are edible too. Main-crop roots take up to 60. Go easy on nitrogen, or you get a fine crop of leaves on roots the size of a marble. Row cover keeps root maggot flies off.
How to grow turnip → -
Spinach runs about 40 to 50 days, a tight range that makes planning easy. Timing is the hard part. Long days push it to bolt, so a late spring sowing is a gamble. For fall, wait until the soil cools to 70 degrees F or less, since warm soil sprouts it poorly.
How to grow spinach → -
Young collard leaves can be picked about 40 days from seed, while bigger plants run up to 80. That spread is useful, since you start on small leaves early and let the plant keep going. It is a big plant at 18 inches apart, though, so it is no filler for a tiny gap.
How to grow collard greens → -
Quick kohlrabi varieties sit right at the line, about 45 days from seed. Giant types such as 'Gigante' can take around 130, so read the packet before you count on speed. Each plant gives one bulb. Cut it at 2 to 3 inches across, before it turns woody.
How to grow kohlrabi → -
10Cilantro
Cilantro leaves are ready from about 45 days, the slowest start on this list and the only herb. The short window is the bigger issue. Each sowing gives only a few weeks of leaves before it flowers, and heat speeds that up, so sow a pinch every couple of weeks.
How to grow cilantro →
Fast crops work best in small, repeated sowings. A short row every two weeks beats one big planting that comes ready all at once and bolts all at once. My kids lose interest in anything slower than a radish, so that row goes in first every spring. Tuck the rest into gaps between tomatoes and squash while those are still small.
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Questions about this list
What is the fastest vegetable to grow from seed?
Radishes are usually the quickest, with some ready in about three weeks. Arugula and baby lettuce leaves come next.
Are days to harvest exact?
No. The number on a seed packet assumes good conditions. Cool weather, low light or dry soil all slow things down, so treat it as a rough guide and start checking early.
Can I grow quick crops in midsummer?
Most crops on this list are cool-season plants that bolt in summer heat. In hot months, sow them in part shade, or wait and sow again for fall.
General guidance for home gardens. Timing depends on your frost dates; check your local extension office for local advice.