Fast-growing plants and how to use them in an urban garden

If you want to transform your garden, balcony or patio, quickly, choose fast-growing plants. They are strong, so tend to be easy to grow. Here are some of our favorites.

Decorative bamboo

Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet. Some varieties can grow several feet over the course of just 24 hours. Clearly, those are not suitable for an urban garden. But, there are plenty of bamboo plants that grow fast, but do so at a more controlled rate. These are good for any garden. They can be used to create a privacy screen, or used as a living garden feature. Of, if you prefer, they can be grown indoors, in pots. 

If you do decide to plant them outdoors, you should invest in plastic root barriers. Using these will stop your bamboo plants from spreading too far.

Fast-growing privacy trees and shrubs

Turning your garden into a more private space is a good way to make sure you can get more use out of it. Of course, you could install a fence, but a living hedge looks much nicer. There are plenty of fast-growing trees and shrubs available. For example, North Privet, which grows at a rate of up to 3 feet, per year. If you prefer to use trees, take a look at poplar varieties like Leyland cypress or large trees like silver maples.

Growing flowers quickly from seed

If you working with a tight budget, growing your own flowering plants, from seed, is a good approach. Fortunately, there are plenty of lovely looking flowers that go from seed to plant in just a few weeks. Marigolds, nasturtium, annual phlox and sunflowers all go from seed to flowering within about 70 days.

They all look wonderful in flower beds. Some, like marigolds, do well in pots.

Fast-growing fruit

Some varieties of fruit bushes grow at a crazy fast rate. So fast in fact that in some countries they are used for hedging. Examples include cumquats, calamondins, Lilly pilly and Chilean guava. 

Blueberries are one of the most popular varieties of fast-growing fruit bush. They can be grown in a wide variety of climates and have become increasingly popular as people have understood just how nutritious these little berries are.

Fast-growing vegetables

If you like the idea of using your garden to feed your family, planting fast-growing vegetables also makes a lot of sense. You won’t have to wait long before you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Spinach can be grown from seed in 4 to 6 weeks. Arugula takes about 8 weeks to mature.

Carrots can be harvested in about 30 days and radishes mature in a similar amount of time. Beets take around 50 days to reach maturity, but you can harvest and eat the greens in about 30 days.

A few words of caution

If you are going to plant fast-growing plants there are a few precautions you need to take. It is all too easy for this type of plant to overrun sections of your garden and spread to neighboring properties. So, you need to keep them under control. This article tells you how.