10 Garden Hacks for Growing Vegetables Faster

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Growing your own vegetables is enormously rewarding, but waiting for your plants to grow up can be really, well, boring. Fortunately, with a few simple hacks you can speed the process, hopefully, leading to that juicy harvest sooner. Even if you consider yourself a beginner with a green thumb or you’re already a little more advanced, there are some tips and tricks that can make growing a more bountiful vegetable garden happen in no time.

Once you’ve eliminated the garden clutter, there are lots of great hacks that can transform your garden into a vegetable producing powerhouse, and these hacks can be pulled off from using things you probably have lying around the house to some oddball creative planting techniques. Get ready, to put on your gardening gloves and bring your veggies to life a bit faster!

Start Seeds Indoors

Even if you’re growing outdoors (which isn’t optimal in colder climates), planting seeds indoors gives you an advantage in terms of the amount of time your seeds are exposed to light. If you don’t have access to a greenhouse or indoor balcony space with enough light then you can try to plant seeds in a simple container like an old egg carton or yogurt cups under controlled indoor conditions. By the time the frost is over, your seedlings will be very far along and be able to jump right into the garden and grow faster than before.

Warm Up the Soil

Warming the soil a little bit can really help, if your cold soil is slowing things down significantly. Before you plant try covering your planting beds with black plastic for a few weeks. The plastic traps heat in the soil, warming up your seeds and seedlings and this tends to speed things up.

Use Compost Tea

Compost tea is a liquid form vegetable growth booster. Compost can be steeped in water and makes a simple and nutrient dense solution that plants can easily (and happily!) absorb. All you need to do is pour it around the base of your vegetables to give them a little extra boost of nutrients. It’s a refreshing ‘energy drink’ for your garden, full of good stuff that plants love.

Plant in Raised Beds

Green Plants on a Plant Box — Photo Credit: Ian Probets/Pexels

Beds raised up are warmed quicker in spring and drain better for faster growing plants. The other advantage of the raised bed is that you can control the soil quality pretty well, giving your plants the best shot at growth and thriving, and raised beds are easier to work with because you no longer have to bend or stoop to plant or harvest.

Try Companion Planting

Companion planting of purple zinnia with sun gold cherry tomatoes are a perfect combination. — Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Plants can grow faster and healthier when they have “friends”. Planting basil beside tomatoes boosts tomato growth or beans can add nitrogen to the soil which helps leafy greens. Placing the proper plants together can help them grow stronger and quicker while acting as a garden support squad.

Use Epsom Salt

To get your vegetables their minerals, such as magnesium, a sprinkle of Epsom salt placed around your vegetables can help. Magnesium is very important for peppers and tomatoes to grow, this is very helpful for them. A quick growth boost can be had by just dissolving a teaspoon of Epsom salt in water and applying it every couple of weeks.

Mulch to Retain Moisture

Mulching for aesthetics doesn’t end there — it provides moisture retention and keeps the soil temperature steady, both of which can increase growth. You can also use straw, wood chips or grass clippings as mulch. Also, a few inches of mulch can also help keep weeds down, leaving your plants to only nourish and then grow.

Prune and Pinch Regularly

10 Perennials You Must Prune This Fall (Plus 5 That Thrive on Their Own) — Image Credits: johnalexandr via 123rf

Getting rid of dead or crowded leaves gives your plants the extra energy to focus elsewhere. If you pinch off the suckers on tomato plants, for example, the plants will put that energy into growing fruit rather than extra foliage. A little trim here and there can make a big difference in how quickly they grow.

Rotate Your Crops

Crop unrecognizable gardener in gloves and jeans planting green plants into fertile soil while working in garden on summer day — Photo Credit: Greta Hoffman/Pexels

One way to prevent soil depletion which over time can slow the growth of vegetables, is to rotate your crops each year. Planting keeps your garden healthy by using different nutrients from the soil. And crop rotation can also help reduce pests that build up if you plant the same crop in the same spot each year.

Compost Pollution in the Soil

According to Oxford Garden Design, coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, which is ideal for plants that have leafy growth such as lettuce and spinach. If you’ve got used coffee grounds, you can sprinkle them directly in the soil, or you can add them to your compost.

Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.