Fast food: what to sow now for a quick return
Keen to be eating from the patch in only a few weeks’ time? JOSH BYRNE shares his top picks for a quick return
Some vegies take ages to grow, and others are super quick. In my garden there’s room for both. The long-termers such as spuds, corn and melons bring big rewards at the end, while quick growers such as leafy greens, bush beans and radish come on hard and fast, and are a more regular addition to our meals. Quick crops can also be handy gap fillers, in both space and time, alongside slower-growing varieties. And if you have limited space, it makes sense to focus on the fast-growing crops to make the most of precious productive real estate.
Here are a few of my family’s favourites. All of these vegies are suitable for growing in pots, too. Choose containers with a depth of at least 25cm, and keep up the water, as potted vegies dry out faster than crops that are growing in the ground.
Salad greens
Lettuce varieties such as Oakleaf and
Cos are at the top of my list because they are so quick and so easy to grow. From seedlings, they can be ready to pick in four weeks, and they keep producing for weeks if you pick individual leaves rather than harvest the entire plant. For a continual supply, sow seeds in punnets every 3–4 weeks to plant out into the garden, with the aim of always having some plants ready to harvest and others coming on behind them. Lettuce does best in mild conditions and needs regular watering. These are hungry plants that have shallow roots, so regular light applications of liquid fertiliser give the best results.
Chard
This is another continual cropper that grows quickly. Chard grows for months but can be cropped weekly. Four to six plants are plenty for the average family, supplying enough for meals and freezing. Like most leafy greens, chard prefers rich soil and responds well to regular doses of liquid fertiliser. It also tolerates light shade. Provided it gets plenty of water, chard grows throughout most of the year.
Asian greens
Pak choy is a dinner staple at our place, particularly during late autumn and winter, when it grows best in Perth’s climate. I direct-sow a new row every few weeks, and it’s ready to harvest in as little as six weeks. Unlike the lettuce, we harvest our pak choy whole, as it’s best eaten when small and tender. I often plant a row of asian greens alongside leafy vegies that are slower to mature, such as cabbage, in the same crop rotation. When the slower vegies need more room as they grow, it’s time to harvest the asian greens, which frees up the space. These are both hungry crops that enjoy fortnightly doses of liquid fertiliser, so growing them side by side like this is also very practical.
Radish
My record for growing radish is three weeks from seed to table. It’s the ultimate quick cropper. Long, white varieties such as White Icicle and Daikon take a bit longer and are normally ready in about six weeks.
Radish is another good space filler for planting between slower-growing root crops such as carrot and beetroot. All of these should be direct-sown for best results, and you can normally get two crops of radish in by the time the carrots and beetroots need the space. As with all root crops, don’t overfeed radish or you’ll end up with an abundance of foliage at the expense of root tuber development. To be honest, if your soil is half decent, there’s no need to fertilise them at all.
Bush beans
These compact annual plants are quick growers and, unlike their taller cousins, the climbing beans, they don’t require a support structure. Bush beans are also quicker to crop, producing mature pods in as little as 8–10 weeks. They make a useful filler crop throughout summer and autumn and, being legumes, help to naturally improve soil fertility.
Spring onion
Regular onions, including red, white and brown varieties, take a long time to mature (4–5 months), as do their relatives, garlic and leek. Spring onions can be harvested much sooner because they don’t produce a bulb, and they can be picked as soon as they have formed enough of a fleshy base to be worth eating. If you plant lots, you can pick some small as part of thinning out the plants, allowing more room for the remaining ones to keep growing. Unlike bulb onions, however, spring onions can’t be stored in the pantry. They keep well in the fridge but are best eaten fresh, so plant plenty and harvest regularly.