Stir-Fry Garden

A stir-fry garden combines fast-cooking vegetables with aromatic herbs for flexible weeknight meals. The mix offers contrasting colors, textures, and harvests from late spring through frost.

What to grow in a Stir-Fry Garden

How to design it

Choose a sunny site with at least six to eight hours of direct light. Plant tall or trellised peas and beans along the north edge, with peppers and eggplants in the middle and bok choy, carrots, and green onions at the front. Give each pepper and eggplant about 18 to 24 inches of space, and sow carrots in short rows or bands.

Care through the season

Water deeply when the soil begins to dry a couple inches below the surface, keeping moisture steady for beans and fruiting crops. Work compost into the bed, then side-dress peppers, eggplants, and broccoli with a vegetable fertilizer as they grow. Replace spring peas and bok choy with warm-season crops when heat arrives, then sow bok choy again for fall.

Tips

Harvest beans young and often, before seeds make the pods bulky. Cut bok choy at the base or harvest outer leaves while it is tender. Cilantro bolts quickly in heat, so sow it in small batches and use basil as the warm-weather herb.

General planning ideas for US home gardens; adjust plant choices to your climate, space, and local frost dates. Page updated Aug 4, 2026.