Gardening is a great way to enhance your food security, and especially important for surviving intermediate and long-term crisis situations. You won’t be able to head down to the grocery, most likely, and get yourself some fresh produce!

Aside from providing energy, veggies are a terrific source of vitamins and minerals that your body has to have for proper function. The downside is that many take a long, long time to grow. This creates a logistical burden on your food supply when you already have a lot to do besides!

Luckily, some veggies grow really quick and still offer great nutrition and taste great. Keep reading and I’ll tell you about the top 10 fastest growing veggies for your survival garden.

Sunflower Shoots

• Growing Zone: All, typically cultivated indoors or during warm season.
• Fastest Growing Variety: Harvest possible in 10-14 days with most varieties.
• Primary Nutrients: Rich in vitamins A, B, C, and E, calcium, iron, and magnesium.

Here’s one that lots of preppers, including me, were sleeping on. Sunflowers are edible, and the young shoots especially are nutritious and quite tasty with a vibrant, nutty flavor that is a perfect addition to salads or even eaten as is.

Better yet for our purposes, sunflower shoots are easy to grow indoors at any time of year and almost effortless to grow outdoors in the warm season. You can be eating in just 2 weeks when conditions are right!

Bush Beans

• Growing Zone: 3-10.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Provider’; matures in ~50 days.
• Primary Nutrients: High in fiber, protein, vitamins A, C, K; folic acid.

I think every prepper likes beans. If not the taste, then for the nutritional profile. Beans are one of the very best vegetarian proteins and they have an excellent profile of vitamins and minerals besides.

Unfortunately, many types take too long to grow if you’re trying to react quickly to a developing situation. Bush beans are your best bet here, with Provider being a standout choice for hardiness and rapid development.

Spinach

• Growing Zone: 2-9.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Bloomsdale’; ready in 40-48 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamins A, C, K; iron, folate.

Spinach has a well-deserved reputation as a nutrient Rich superfood, even though it has been eclipsed in recent years by trendier leafy vegetables. It’s a tremendous source of many vitamins and minerals, but namely vitamins A and K along with a good quantity of iron and folate.

Spinach is also a perfect choice for peppers because the leaves can be picked when they are young and the plant will keep growing if tended to.

Arugula

• Growing Zone: 3-11.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Astro’; harvest in 30-50 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamins A, C, K; calcium, potassium.

A peppery, bright and crisp lettuce, compared to more traditional favorites like iceberg and butterhead arugula grows fast, potentially maturing and as little as 30 days in ideal conditions.

One of the most popular cultivars is also one of the fastest growing: Astro. You won’t have any trouble finding it or growing it in most places! Arugula is also one of the most well-rounded leafy vegetables nutritionally.

Kale

• Growing Zone: 7-9.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Red Russian’; baby leaves in 25-30 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamins A, C, K; calcium, antioxidants.

You know it, and probably hate it, but you should definitely grow it in your survival garden. Kale is known for its tough, bountiful leaves and excellent nutritional profile. It has recently been seen as something of a “super spinach” and health nuts eat the stuff like crazy.

hether you prefer it or another vegetable for your salads, you can’t pass up the nutrition it offers, including tons of beneficial antioxidants. Like spinach, you can pinch off baby leaves and leave the plant to grow: those can be ready in under a month!

Mustard Greens

• Growing Zone: 6-9.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Green Wave’; ready in 20-30 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamins A, C, K; folate, manganese.

Yet another peppery, bright salad veggie. Mustard greens are very fast growing, surprisingly while rounded nutritionally, and a good change of pace from the veggies we talked about above.

Mustard greens are a veritable, natural multivitamin with lots of different vitamins and minerals to keep you in good health. Don’t pass on this one!

Baby Carrots

• Growing Zone: 4-10.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Amsterdam’; harvest in 50-60 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamin A, fiber, potassium.

Root vegetables and tubers are great, taste wise, but unfortunately many grow far too slowly to be of much use when things go bad fast. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t grow them, but our focus is on the quickest growing veggies.

Surprisingly enough, carrots make the cut: certain cultivars like Amsterdam can be ready in less than 2 months, and even earlier if you want to harvest them young. These are good for eating raw as snacks and, of course, in countless recipes.

Beets

• Growing Zone: 2-10.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Detroit Dark Red’; matures in appx. 60 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Folate, manganese, dietary fiber.

Dark red, delicious and full of nutrients that are difficult to get in quantity with other veggies, beets are a good way to round out your survival garden.

They are also incredibly adaptable, can be grown nearly anywhere and they come in quick, with the ever-popular Detroit dark red taking 2 months or a little less. The greens themselves are also edible, nutritious and tasty, so don’t throw them out!

Turnips

• Growing Zone: 2-9.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘Hakurei’; matures in 38-50 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber.

Turnips are a great compliment to beets and other veggies on this list, culinarily, and also a great candidate for preservation through canning and drying. Those are factors you should keep in mind so you can build up a longer lasting stash of food!

Loaded with vitamin C and potassium, turnips are great for replenishing hard-working bodies. Hakurei is a standout variety here; it grows lightning quick and giving good care and ideal conditions can be ready for harvest in just 5 weeks.

Green Onions

• Growing Zone: 3-9.
• Fastest Growing Variety: ‘White Lisbon’; ready in 60-70 days.
• Primary Nutrients: Vitamins A, C, K; folate, potassium.

Green onions are just immature onions, and are great for giving your survival garden some flexibility. You can bide your time and let your onions develop, or harvest them early while green to make use of them in as little as 2 months.

No surprise here, onions are essential to so many savory recipes but they can also be dried and added to things like soup mixes and more for long-term preservation.

The post Top 10 Fastest-Growing Veggies for Your Survival Garden appeared first on Survival Sullivan.

By: Tom Marlowe
Title: Top 10 Fastest-Growing Veggies for Your Survival Garden
Sourced From: www.survivalsullivan.com/fast-growing-veggies/
Published Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2025 12:06:35 +0000

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