What Are Fast-Growing Plants You Can Harvest and Enjoy in Just 50 Days?

The cool season brings us many delicious and fast-growing plants we can enjoy in our kitchen gardens. If you live in a colder climate, you're probably heading into your cool season for the fall. That means your average high temperature will be between 31°F and 64°F and you'll have a likely chance of frost and/or snow.

For many gardeners, the fall cool season can be shorter than the spring season, which makes plants that you can grow and harvest in just 50 days ideal.

Here are some of our favorite fast plants to grow in a cool-season garden:

• Napa cabbage
• chives
• kale
• radishes
• spinach
• arugula
• purple mustard

Note: If you live in a warmer climate, you will likely experience your cool season over the winter. Go ahead and order seeds for these cool-season plants now so that you'll be ready to plant them as soon as your weather dips.

Now, let's look at each of these fast-growing plants in turn.

Plant Napa Cabbage Now for Your First Leaf Harvest in 50 Days

While some cabbage plants need up to 180 days to form full heads, Napa cabbage matures in just 60 to 80 days. But within 50 days of planting, I'm already harvesting the older, outer leaves.

Napa cabbage comes from the brassica family and loves to be grown in cooler weather. Unlike some of its cousins, however, Napa cabbage does not handle frost very well. Plant your Napa cabbage seeds about 80 days before your first frost date, and you'll be good to go!

Learn tips and tricks to grow cabbage in your kitchen garden.

Chives Are Fast-Growing Herbs

Not only are chives easy to grow, but they make a fantastic companion plant for the rest of your cool-season leafy greens. They actually attract beneficial insects and deter pests.

You can begin harvesting from your chives about 30 days after planting them in the garden or about 60 days after sowing them from seed. The great thing is, you can continue cutting from them until frost causes the plant to die back. Don't worry though—your plant will pop back up in the spring. 

Find our full guide to growing chives here.

Kale Leaves Are Ready to Harvest in 50 Days

Kale is a biennial plant, meaning it can last up to two years in your garden before going to seed. This brassica thrives in the cool season though, when temps range from 35°F to 65°F. Once it starts getting colder, a little touch of frost will actually give your leaves a sweeter flavor.

It takes 50 to 55 days from planting before you can begin harvesting kale leaves. You'll know your leaves are ready to be cut when they're about as long as your hand. After that, you should continue to harvest kale leaves at least weekly to encourage your plant to keep producing for you.

Check out our ultimate guide to growing kale.

Radishes Are Ready in Just 45 Days

Radishes, like Napa cabbage and kale, are another brassica that love cool weather. I typically plant mine when the weather ranges between 35°F to 65°F.

Most radishes are ready around 45 days or so after planting by seed, but my favorite radish variety, French breakfast radishes, need just 28 days to reach maturity. Don't forget that you can also eat the leafy greens while you're waiting on the root to form. To me, this is the best kind of fast food.

Explore five tips to grow your own French breakfast radishes and learn three signs that your radishes are ready to be harvested from the garden.

You Can Harvest Baby Spinach Leaves in Just 25 Days

Spinach loves cool weather. Its ideal temperatures range is between 45°F and 75°F, but spinach thrives when daytime temps climb no higher than the 60s. And don't worry if you have some frost headed your way while your spinach is still maturing. Spinach can handle a bit of frost.

Spinach grows super fast from seed, taking only 40 to 45 days to reach maturity, but you can actually start harvesting "baby spinach" leaves after just 25 to 30 days, depending on the variety you're growing.

Learn how to grow your own organic spinach.

Arugula Is One of the Most Fast-Growing Plants

This brassica loves growing in the cool season when it's above freezing but below 75°F, though honestly, arugula is not very picky about temperature. I've even grown arugula over hot Texas summers. It's basically a super green that'll keep producing until the ground is frozen.

I used to think that Australians and Brits call arugula "rocket" because of how fast it grows. You can harvest baby greens from your arugula plants in just 30 to 45 days after sowing your seeds and mature leaves in about six weeks. In my Chicago-area garden, I could keep harvesting arugula leaves until at least Thanksgiving or so, especially if I used a frost cover over my beds. 

Learn the simple steps to grow your own organic arugula.

Purple Mustard Greens Are Fast-Growing Plants

Our final fast-grower is another brassica that loves cool weather—are you seeing a theme here? Anyways, purple mustard plants grow best and produce tastier leaves during the months when you have an average high temperature between 31°F and 64°F. Mustard greens can tolerate a light frost and temperatures into the 20s, though they're not as cold-tolerant as their cousin, kale. Just a little bit of frost will actually make the leaves of mustard greens sweeter.

Most gardeners prefer to harvest mustard greens when they're baby-sized and milder in flavor, and getting to that point only takes about 21 days. Mature leaves take about 40 days to form. Talk about rapid growth!

Learn how to grow your own purple mustard greens at home.

Time to Sow Some Seeds for Fall!

Just because fall and cooler weather are coming doesn't mean it's time to tuck your garden in for the winter. There are so many things that can grow quickly even from seed in a cool climate. As the New York Times recently wrote, "September is the new May" in the garden.

Trust me, you don't want to miss out on all the delicious things you can grow this season!