What to plant in a deck salad

Just remember that a well-prepared soil or potting mix and regular feeding along the way makes a big difference to your plants' overall performance. Before you plant out, make sure that you prepare your soil well with Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food, and then once your plants have started to appear, give them a weekly feed with Yates Thrive Fish Blood & Bone Plant Food Concentrate.

So get your trowel, gloves and Dynamic Lifter at the ready – let’s get growing!

Beans

First appears: 7-10 days

Ready to harvest: from 8 -10 weeks

Beans, beans the magical fruit! Not only are they great for you, they are also fast and easy to grow.

Dwarf Beans are the fast growers in this family. Don’t let the height or size fool you those, these plants can really provide a bumper harvest! Sow successive plantings every few weeks to get a regular supply of wonderful, magical, crunchy beans. For a colourful addition of your deck, sow a rainbow of colourful beans with Dwarf Bean Mix.

Lettuce Baby Combo

First appears: 4-7 days

Ready to harvest: from 6 weeks

If you love your salad and want your own fresh supply, try growing your own at home! Lettuces are easy to grow, great for pots or small planters and, most importantly, are fast to get to maturity.

Lettuce Baby Combo is the perfect variety for the fast gardeners. This mix provides an abundance of leafy lettuce goodness that is ready to cut after 6 weeks – yes! 6 weeks! Better yet, you can cut as you need, which reduces waste and prolongs your harvest.

Radish

First appears: 5-8 days

Ready to harvest: from 4-8 weeks

Radishes are the rockets of the root vegetables. From planting they pop out of the ground quickly then start to form their crunchy, lightly peppery globe goodness underground, which can be ready within 4 weeks!

These are great for kids to grow as the seeds are easy to handle and the results are very quick to see. Perfect for your salad bowls and vegie patches as well. Sow weekly to ensure that you get a great regular supply. Try Radish French Breakfast or Radish Gentle Giant.

Alfalfa Sprouts

First appears: 2-3 days

Ready to harvest: from 3-5 days

Yes, you read right. Alfalfa sprouts are ready to eat within 3-5 days from planting! Sprouts really are the fast gardener's dream, and with lovely salads and fresh sandwiches galore, spring is the best time to get these growing in your place.

You don’t even need a specific sprout planter to be able to enjoy these wonderful spicy morsels. Just grab a glass jar, a bit of stocking or muslin cloth and a rubber band. Place seeds in the jar, cover with warm water and allow to soak for 3 hours. After this time, cover the top of the jar with the cloth, secure it in place with the rubber band and tip on an angle to drain. Leave it to rest on its side and there you have it, your own seed sprouting machine! Just be sure to water and rinse out twice a day to keep them nice and fresh.

Baby Carrots

First appears: 10-12 days after sowing

Ready to harvest: from 10 weeks

Love fresh home-grown carrots, but can’t stand to wait 18 weeks to get your hands on them? Give Baby Carrots a try! They're also available in a convenient seed tape, Baby Carrots Seed Tape.

These little beauties are ready to be harvested after just 10 weeks and are fantastic to grow in both garden beds and in pots as well. Sow more seeds every four weeks to increase your harvest.

Spring Onions

First appears: 10-14 days after sowing

Ready to harvest: from 8-10 weeks

These salad and stir-fry staples are not only fast-growing, but don’t make you want to cry when cut. No wonder they are a favourite to grow in the garden.

Spring Onion and Spring Onion Straight Leaf don’t require much space and can be grown in amongst lettuce crops or many of their companion friends. Once they are ready to harvest, just cut off the leaves as you need them – this helps increase the longevity of your crop.

Cucumber Burpless

First appears: 6-10 days

Ready to harvest: from 7-8 weeks

While certain cucumber varieties can seem to take a while to get themselves going, you won’t have trouble with this one! Cucumber Burpless Hybrid gives you fast results and the taste is just sensational. It is a fantastic addition to any garden.

Easy to grow in pots with a trellis or straight into the garden bed. Once the fruit has started to grow, pick them when they get to around 20cm long and enjoy all of your hard work!

Microgreens

First appears: 4-6 days

Ready to harvest: from 14-21 days

For those who love the finer things in life with a bit of speed; Microgreens are the plants for you! They show themselves in just 4-6 days and are ready to be picked off as needed in just 2 weeks! There for four different varieties for you to try: