Urban and first-time gardeners are gravitating toward easy-to-grow garden staples! If you can, why not start planting these garden favorites that only need 60 days or less to mature? Trust me, you could start this now. It’s important to get creative to save money and make this work especially if you are working with a limited budget.

As well, one of the best advantages to planting fast-maturing plants (other than quicker harvests) is that these plants will need less water and fertilizers before they are harvested. These are also vegetables that were recommended for victory gardens during World War II.

Even if you haven’t started any seeds yet for your garden, there are some vegetables that can be planted indoors now and harvested within 60 days.

7 Vegetables You Can Harvest in 60 Days

1. Fresh greens such as spinach, kale, and chard – Dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, or swiss chard are one of the items missing out of winter diets and can easily be grown indoors, but are often put on the wayside.
2. Radishes are one of the easiest types of root crops to grow and are a great seed to start now before the hot weather comes. They also have some medicinal value. Read more here.
3. Beans and peas are garden staples for many gardens. There are many varieties of beans that you can play around with to see which one will be a favorite in the household. We prefer to have some beans growing for hearty meals and some for salads.
4. Beets are chock full of the immune-boosting nutrient vitamin C, which will help your body fight off colds naturally, but that’s not all! The tops can also be harvested for sautees and salad mixes. One could easily consider beets a two-for-one veggie to grow.
5. Carrots have long been considered a garden regular. This root crop is rich in beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A in the body.
6. Cucumbers are prolific when they get going and perfect for canning, but slicing cucumbers are best for salads. Nothing beats the summer heat like a fresh cucumber from the garden. These sun-loving vegetables are great for first-time gardeners and easy to grow.
7. Squash is considered a no-fuss seed variety that can be a prolific producer if given the right elements.

The best way to keep a constant supply of these garden favorites is with succession cropping. That means that rather than sowing your plants all at once, you space the sowing times out over a period of weeks so that you have a continuous harvest. Most gardeners who use this method space their sowing times out to every two weeks. The great part is if your garden gets really prolific give some of the extra produce to a friend or neighbor and share the love!

The biggest problem for those who live in colder climates will be the space to get this going.  It can be difficult, but only at first.  Take a look around and figure out how many windows you could put plants under to get them growing. Try to figure out your spacing, and order seeds and soil accordingly. Also, don’t forget to get heirloom seeds so you can save them and have your own supply of seeds for planting indefinitely! We actually let some of our potatoes start to get eyes and “grow” so they can be planted in the spring.

One of the best survival tips anyone can give another person is this: learn to grow and safely store your own food. This website is a great resource to get you started.  There are so many articles available to help even those who say they don’t have the slightest green thumb.  I didn’t either, ask my husband and he’ll tell you the truth: I had to earn my green thumb. But it can be done.  It’s an important life skill and not a day goes by that I don’t stop and thank myself and feel gratitude toward those who helped me learn how to garden and produce my own food.