Ok, so you’re trying to grow a bunch of vegetables in a hundred days. Here’s a list of the fastest-growing crops and vegetables you can grow on your homestead.
With your common radishes harvested in about 3 weeks after you’ve sowed seeds, your garden and greenhouses now have timelines. Bush beans can be ready for harvest in less than two months, complementing any crock pot recipes you have.
All in all, most quick-growing vegetable crops come to harvest in as little as 4 to 10 weeks.
The Fastest-Growing Vegetables
Choose the crop you want to grow then look for the type that grows in your local area best.
Each vegetable species is followed by the number of days for that crop to reach full harvest/edible size.
But remember, most vegetables are edible as soon as they’re bitesize.
Snap beans.
Bush green beans: ‘Blue Lake 274’ (58); ‘Contender’ (53); ‘Derby’ (57); ‘Provider’ (52); ‘Tendercrop’ (54); ‘Tendergreen’ (57); ‘Top crop’ (51). Bush yellow beans: ‘Cherokee Wax’ (52); ‘Gold Crop’ (54); ‘Slender Wax’ (56).
Lima beans.
‘Baby Bush’ (67 days); ‘Baby Fordhook Bush’ (67 days); ‘Henderson’ (70).
Beets.
‘Detroit Dark Red’ (58); ‘Early Wonder’ (52); ‘Lutz Green Leaf’ (70); ‘Ruby Queen’ (60); ‘Sweetheart’ (58).
Broccoli.
‘Cruiser’ (58); ‘Green Comet’ (60); ‘Green Goliath’ (60); ‘Premium Crop’ (60); ‘Packman’ (55).
Cabbage.
‘Charmant’ (52 days); ‘Earliana’ (60 days); ‘Early Jersey Wakefield’ (63); ‘Golden Acre’ (58 days); ‘Ruby Ball’ (70).
Carrots.
‘Baby Finger’ (50 days); ‘Danvers’ (65); ‘Imperator’ (64 days); ‘Lady Finger’ (60 days); ‘Scarlet Nantes’ (70); ‘Tendersweet’ (60 days).
Cauliflower.
‘Early Snowball’ (55 days); ‘Snow Crown’ (60); ‘Snow Grace’ (65); ‘Snow King’ (45 days).
Chard.
‘Burgundy’ (60); ‘Rhubarb’ (60); ‘Fordhook Giant’ (57); ‘Lucullus’ (50); ‘Rainbow’ (55).
Sweet corn.
‘Bodacious’ (72); ‘Early Xtra Sweet’ (79); ‘Maple Sweet’ (70); ‘Cotton Candy’ (72); ‘Spring Snow’ (65); ‘Sugar Snow’ (71).
Cucumbers.
‘Bush Crop’ (55); ‘Fanfare’ (63); ‘Salad Bush’ (57); ‘Spacemaster’ (56); ‘Straight Eight’ (65); ‘Sweet Slice’ (63). Pickling cucumbers: Calypso (50); Lucky Strike (52); National Pickling (55); SMR-53 (53).
Eggplant.
‘Beauty’ (65 days); ‘Burpee Hybrid’ (70); ‘Dusky’ (56); ‘Easter Egg’ (52 days); ‘Ichiban’ (58 days); ‘Millionaire’ (55 days); ‘Violetta’ (65 days).
Endive, Frisse.
‘Fine Curled’ (50 days); ‘Salad King’ (46 days).
Kale.
‘Dwarf Blue Curled Vates’ (55 days); ‘Russian Red’ (40 days), ‘Siberian’ (60 days); ‘Verdura’ (60 days).
Kohlrabi.
‘Early White Vienna’ (55); ‘Grand Duke’ (48); ‘Triumph’ (55); ‘Purple Vienna’ (62).
Butterhead lettuce.
Butterhead lettuce varieties are ready in about 30 to 40 days.
Heading and semi-heading lettuce.
‘Grand Rapids’ (45); ‘Green Ice’ (45). Butterhead lettuce: ‘Bibb’ (70); ‘Buttercrunch’ (70); ‘Summer Bibb’ (62). Loose-leaf lettuce: ‘Black-Seeded Simpson’ (45 days); ‘Salad Bowl’ (45); ‘Lollo Rossa’ (56 days); ‘Oak Leaf’ (50 days); ‘Red Sails’ (45 days).
Melons.
‘Alaska’ (65 days); ‘Super 45’ (45 days); ‘Sweetie’ (65 days).
Mustard Greens.
Curled leaves: ‘Fordhook Fancy’ (40 days); ‘Giant Red’ (23 days); ‘Green Wave’ (45 days); ‘Kyona’ (40 days). Plain leaves: ‘Komatsuna’ (30 days); ‘Tendergreen’ (34 days).
Oriental Mustard or Asian Greens.
‘Bok Choy’ (45 days); ‘Canton Dwarf Chinese Flat Cabbage’ (40 days); ‘Gai Choy’ (45 days); ‘Green-In-Snow’ (45 days); ‘Mitsuba’ (60 days); ‘Mizuna’ (36 days); ‘Pak Choy’ (42 days); ‘Tatsoi’ (45 days).
Okra.
‘Annie Oakley’ (50); ‘Dwarf Green Long Pod’ (52); ‘Emerald’ (55); ‘Clemson Spineless’ (56); ‘Burgundy’ (53).
Onions.
‘Beltsville Bunching’ (65 days); ‘Southport White Globe’ (65 days); ‘White Buching’ (40 days); ‘White Lisbon’ (60 days).
Peas.
‘Daybreak’ (54); ‘Alaska’ (55); ‘Spring’ (57). Main-season peas: ‘Early Snap’ (70); ‘Green Arrow’ (68); ‘Knight’ (61); ‘Little Marvel’ (63); ‘Sugar Ann’ (70); ‘Sugar Snap’ (70); ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ (65); ‘Little Sweetie’ (60); ‘Oregon Sugar Pod II’ (65); ‘Snowbird’ (58).
Peppers.
‘Bell Boy’ (70); ‘Camelot’ (67); ‘Cardinal’ (70); ‘Early California’ (65 days); ‘Sweet Banana’ (70). Chili peppers: ‘Cayenne’ (70); ‘Hungarian Wax’ (70); ‘Mexibell’ (70).
Radishes.
‘Burpee White’ (23); ‘Champion’ (28); ‘Cherry Belle’ (22); ‘Comet’ (25 days); ‘Early Scarlet Globe’ (23); ‘Easter Egg’ (25).
Spinach.
‘America’ (45); ‘Bloomsdale Long-Standing’ (45); ‘Winter Bloomsdale’ (45); New Zealand Spinach (65).
Strawberries.
‘Eversweet’; ‘Quinault’; ‘Ozark Beauty’.
Summer Squash.
Scallop squashes:
‘Bennings Green Tint’ (54 days); ‘Pattypan’ (55); ‘Peter Pan’ (50 days); ‘Scallopini’ (50 days); ‘Sunburst’ (50 days).
Straightneck squashes:
‘Early Prolific Straighneck’ (50); ‘Early Yellow’ (50 days); ‘Seneca Butterbar’ (50).
Crookneck squashes:
‘Early Crookneck’ (53);’ Giant Crookneck’ (55 days); ‘Yellow Crookneck’ (42 days).
Zucchini squashes:
‘Green: Aristocrat’ (53); ‘Chefini’ (48); ‘President’ (50); ‘Spineless Beauty’ (45); ‘Cocozelle’ (51 days); ‘Cousa’ (51 days); ‘Florentino’ (47 days). ‘Sundrops’ (45 days).
Cherry tomatoes.
Cherry tomatoes are prolific and ready in 55 to 70 days.
Tomatoes.
Early harvest tomatoes:
‘Alisa Craig’ (70 days); ‘Celebrity’ (70); ‘Early Girl’ (60); ‘Bush Beefsteak’ (62 days); ‘Champion’ (65); ‘Moneymaker’ (70 days); ‘Stupice’ (52 days).
Small fruit tomatoes:
‘Green Grape’ (70 days); ‘Large Red Cherry’ (70); ‘Super Sweet 100’ (70); ‘Sweet 100’ (70 days); ‘Sweet Million’ (65); ‘Yellow Pear’ (70); ‘Husky Gold’ (70); ‘Patio Hybrid’ (65); ‘Tiny Tim’ (45).
Turnips.
‘Golden Ball’ (60); ‘Just Right’ (60);’ Market Express’ (38 days); ‘Purple Top White Globe’ (55); ‘Royal Crown’ (52); ‘Tokyo Cross’ (35).
Watermelon.
‘Early Midget’ (65 days); ‘Golden Midget’ (65 days); ‘Sugar Baby’ (68 days).
-Stephen Albert, Horticulturalist
Four Ways to Grow Quick-Maturing Crops
Here are four strategies to get the most out of your garden:
#1. Intercropping
Intercropping–planting two crops one short, one tall side by side: garlic and strawberries. Intercropping matches a quick-maturing crop with a slower maturing crop.
At planting time place quick-maturing crops next to a slower-maturing crops.
While you wait for “long stayers” such as leeks, parsnips, salsify, potatoes, and onions from seed to come to harvest, quick-maturing crops will be in and out of the garden and on the table.
#2. Succession cropping
Rather than sowing or planting the crops you want to eat all at once, space them out over time so that your harvest is continuous, not a glut. Quick-maturing crops planted every two weeks in succession will keep your garden producing through the season. When the first sowing appears above the ground, make the next sowing.
#3. Catch cropping
Catch cropping fills space and production gaps in the garden. Sometimes–often at midsummer–crops come out of the garden for one unexpected reason or another: pest or disease damage, animal damage, or loss. Fill the gap with a quick-maturing crop.
Quick-maturing crops can go into the garden late and still come to harvest before the end of the season.
Beat the heat in dry years.
Quick-maturing cultivars avoid the competition for water in dry years.
Quick-maturing crops can go into the garden early in the season and be replaced later by drought-tolerant crops or not at all.
-Stephen Albert, Horticulturalist
There you have it, a list of the fastest growing crops for your garden. Find what grows best for you in line with what you and your family enjoy eating. Keep in mind your local climate and traditionally successful crops that can act as staples for your meals, and rotated into your long-term storage.
Take a look at our articles on how to begin prepping and 17 Crock Recipes for your first 100 days as a prepper, homesteader, or survivalist.
“Always Be Ready” Max