Easy, Fast-Growing Vegetables to Plant in May for a Bounty of Early Summer Harvests
Enjoy pickings in 60 days or less
A vegetable garden really ramps into action in May. Gardeners can take advantage of the ideal conditions on offer by planting crops that grow and mature quickly for fantastic harvests by early summer.
There is a great range of vegetables that can go from sowing to harvesting in under 60 days. While many gardeners think of lettuces as the primary fast-growing vegetables to sow this month, you can also plant radish, green onions, turnips, beans, beets, and chard for speedy pickings.
Article continues below1. Radish
Growing radishes is quick and easy. It is a perfect gateway crop for any new grower, as you can experience the full joys of sowing to harvesting in under 30 days.
Summer radishes come in different shapes, such as the ever-popular ‘French Breakfast’ (you can get packets of ‘French Breakfast’ radish seeds at Burpee) with longer roots, compared to the globe-shaped ones of a variety like ‘Cherry Belle’ (get packets of ‘Cherry Belle’ radish seeds at True Leaf Market).
Once the soil temperature reaches 60°F, plant radish seeds directly in their growing position in drills a half-inch deep and keep the crop consistently moist.
I always opt for successive planting of radishes every few weeks for regular small croppings, rather than gluts of roots that get too woody if they are left in the ground too long.
Start harvesting radish at least 25 days after sowing, once their roots reach an inch across.
2. Spinach
This fast-growing cool-season crop runs to seed in hot weather, making it suitable for earlier sowings to provide harvests before the temperatures rise. If you start growing spinach this month, you can start picking highly nutritious baby leaves around 30 days after sowing.
Sow the seeds a half-inch deep in drills or holes, spacing them a couple of inches apart. This can be done in the ground, or you can sow into containers if you want to grow spinach in pots on a deck, patio, or balcony. Once the seedlings appear, thin them to around three inches apart.
A key aspect of growing spinach is getting the watering right. The crop needs consistently moist soil; a lack of water can cause the plant to bolt or turn bitter. A good tactic is to water deeply early in the morning.
Spinach is a perfect cut-and-come-again vegetable. Start harvesting spinach as a baby crop once the leaves are large enough to use. This can be as little as 25-35 days from sowing in ideal conditions. Larger leaves will require a bit more patience, as they take 4-6 weeks to develop.
See the range of spinach seeds at Amazon
See the range of spinach seeds at Botanical Interests
3. Green Onions
Green onions, also often interchangeably called scallions, are a type of onion grown for long, mild-flavored stalks and small bases. Eaten raw or cooked, they can go from sowing to harvesting in little over a month, and a crop sown in May will be ready to pick in early summer.
Sow seeds outdoors directly in a sunny growing position where the crop can get at least six hours of sunlight each day for the strongest and quickest-maturing vegetables. For a healthy crop, it is beneficial to add compost to the site ahead of sowing.
A product such as this organic compost at Amazon helps with structure, moisture retention, and nutrients.
Thinly sow the seeds in half-inch deep drills (space additional rows 6-8 inches apart) and keep them moist for germination in around 7-14 days. Thin the seedlings to around two inches apart and continue to keep the soil consistently moist as they develop.
Green onions can be harvested as soon as 50-60 days from planting. Lift the largest first once they reach eight inches tall to allow the others to continue growing.
Over the years, I have had success with the variety 'White Ishikura'. It is a Japanese-type bunching onion that can be grown throughout the year. You can get 'White Ishikura' seeds at True Leaf Market.
4. Turnip
Turnips are great for speedy, mildly spicy roots to be eaten raw or cooked, plus the turnip greens are also edible. You can grow turnips that are flat or round in shape, with white or purple skins, and white or yellow flesh.
Sowing early varieties of turnips in May, such as ‘Purple Top Milan’ (you can get ‘Purple Top White’ turnip seeds at Burpee) will provide a harvest in early to mid-summer. The early varieties take around six weeks from sowing to harvest and are ready for picking when they are young, tender, and 2-3 inches in diameter.
Sow turnip seeds directly into their growing position. They are not suitable for starting indoors and transplanting, as the crop doesn’t like root disturbance. Plant the seeds in a half-inch deep drill in a sunny spot in the vegetable garden, and keep the soil consistently moist.
5. Bush Beans
Beans come in two forms, bush and pole. The main advantages of growing bush beans are that they are compact and don’t need a trellis or structure, and they produce quick harvests.
Whether you grow snap or shelling beans (both types come in bush and pole varieties), you can plant beans directly in the ground once the soil reaches 70°F. Sow seeds an inch deep and six inches apart directly into the soil in a sunny spot in the garden.
If conditions are not quite ready, you can sow seeds indoors and transplant seedlings outdoors a few weeks later. The quickest crops will come from direct sowing, but those started indoors won’t take too much longer.
You can start harvesting bush beans around 50-60 days after sowing, in optimum conditions. Pick the beans when they are tender and 4-6 inches long. Regular harvests keep the plants producing more beans, and pods left too long on the plant go tough and less palatable.
See the range of bush bean seeds for planting at Amazon
See the range of bush bean seeds for planting at Walmart
See the range of bush bean seeds for planting at True Leaf Market
See the range of bush bean seeds for planting at Burpee
6. Beets
Beets are among the easiest vegetables to grow, and there is a good range of varieties to try growing at home.
You can think outside the box when it comes to growing beets, and experiment with growing white, yellow, or multi-colored beets (like these ‘Chioggia’ beet seeds at Burpee with white and red ringed flesh), or varieties with longer roots than the typical cylindrical ones (such as these ‘Cylindra’ beet seeds at Burpee).
No matter what varieties you choose, you can plant beets in May. For the earliest harvests, you can enjoy baby beets around 50 days after sowing, or wait 60-70 days for mature roots to enjoy. It is up to you how and when to harvest beets, depending on your plan for them. If you pick baby beets, you can leave others in place to grow on in the space left.
To sow beets this month, space seeds two inches apart in drills made a half-inch deep in the soil. Each beet seed in the pack is actually a cluster of three or four seeds, so don’t sow too thickly or you’ll be inundated with seedlings. As seedlings appear, thin them to three inches apart.
Beets are another perfect vegetable for succession planting, and one I routinely sow in small batches three weeks apart.
7. Swiss Chard
Swiss chard offers a great combo of ornamental grace and prolific harvests. The tall, colorful stems make a vivid impact in any kitchen garden, and the plants can be harvested over long periods when treated as a cut-and-come-again crop.
For maximum impact, I like to plant a multi-colored variety like ‘Bright Lights’ for stems in bright shades of white, yellow, pink, red, and orange. You can get ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard seeds at Burpee to sow this month.
Once the soil temperature has reached at least 50°F in spring, you can sow chard seeds outdoors. Plant Swiss chard seeds in one-inch drills, spacing every four inches apart. Keep the soil evenly moist for good germination, then thin the seedlings to 18 inches apart.
Start harvesting Swiss chard for baby leaves 30-40 days from sowing. Once the leaves reach four inches long, start picking a few at a time and never take more than a third at once. Mature leaves will be ready to harvest after 50-60 days.
This kit has seed packets to grow 35 different heirloom varieties of vegetables. It is all you need to fill any garden with crops, and includes many vegetables to plant in May.
This meter can tell you the soil temperature, so you know when the conditions are right to plant vegetables. It also tells the moisture levels, soil pH, and sunlight intensity.
A granular plant food formulated for growing vegetables and tomatoes. It contains essential plant nutrients and feeds your crops for up to three months.
There is just time to mention one more of those vegetables to plant in May that you can harvest as baby leaves in under 60 days. And that is kale.
When you grow kale, the highly nutritious baby leaves can be picked off when they are three or four inches long. The best way to harvest kale is to take the outer leaves and keep the inner ones to continue growing.
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