Days to Harvest???

I have grew vegetables from seed, and harvested about 5 months from sprouting date. The seed packages say 60-80 days. I don't understand. How is it for you?

This number of days deal is a very general guideline? What vegetable? How was your weather? Did you water enough and consistantly? Did the plant get full sun? Was the soil warm enough when you planted the seed? Did you choose vegetables that do well in your climate? Was your soil fertile? Was your soil either too sandy or too much clay? How was the drainage? Was the ph too the plants liking? Many vegetables just sort of sit in the ground and wait till the weather suits them to produce. Eggplant, okra, squash. Tomatoes only set fruit if they are neither too hot or too cold. Many in the Cabbage family only grow when they are cool enough. Gardening is a good trick and takes awhile to figure of OR in my case practice and dumb luck! Were your veggies good?

When you are starting from seeds, the DTM ( days to maturity) start from the time you put your Plants into the ground. The DTM's are a general guideline and could be more days or perhaps less depending on climate, soil and other conditions.

Thank you for the replies. I guess i live in a 'Twilight Zone'. I attributed the slow growth too desert-like temps July thru August. And its strange that onions did not bolt with the warmth of May and June. And they had taken 210 days to mature. ??? This year I learned that the plants are going to let me know what they want to do, and I will take notes! One report is that there are 9 micro-climates in the area where I live.

Oh and the onions were DELICIOUS. Made some onion rings with a recipe from Emeril. And the potatoes made the best fries. No complaints with the taste of the vegetables. I grow organic.

Then that's all that really matters, right? I did potatoes and onions for the first time this year and was thrilled with them. There's just nothing like running outside and plucking for dinner. (That would be plucking, not clucking!)

I grew one batch of onions in a window box, just to see how they would do. They did really well, so I am going to try my luck with growing them inside this fall/winter. I do lettuce and chard inside, along with my herbs, and they do quite well. Shouldn't a few onions/shallots be happy there too???

BTW, I agree with all of the above in answer to your questyion. I've found such varience. Some's earlier, some's later. The only time I really pay attention is if something's a warm crop and needs more than a hundred days, in which case I need to start it VERY early here in NY. (I also like to get a 2nd crop of some things in, so I try to find the earliest DTM for that purpose.)

Tom Thumb lettuce seems to do well in a container. Colored chard is as pretty as any houseplant! Gardeners in Phoenix do summer veggies in the winter. Tomatoes quit in Tucson when it gets hot and start setting fruit again in the fall except the small tomatoes. You will have alot better luck with a nice variety of little tomatoes. Tomato Growers Supply has a cherry assortment that has done well. Start the seeds indoors. Put out as soon as your last frost date. With a mild winter and a plastic "hoop" I had little tomatoes all year the year before I had a greenhouse. Okra, eggplant, peppers and long beans like the heat.

Oh, that reminds me. I grew Tom Thumb peas in the house last winter, too, and they did well. It was fun, too. Nothing like munching on peas when you're looking out at a foot or more of snow!

Here in the high desert (days in the low 100's, nights in the low 70s - yes, that's a 30 degree swing or more each day), I have been slowly discovering what likes the heat, what really likes full sun even when you say "full desert sun", and what does not... I've only been gardening in this challenging environment for two seasons, so I'm mostly not qualified to say... but...

* California #5 black eye peas - looks like they are right on schedule to ripen at about 90 days like the pkg says

* zucchini - black beauty - pkg says 60 days - started setting fruit in 40, although it really helped to hand polinate early in the morning as the pollen is supposed to die at high temps

* yellow crook neck squash (sorry, don't have the cultivar with me right now) - started setting fruit at 40 days, also, but has sporadic fruit set - seems heat related, but I really can't say that for sure

* mortgage lifter toms that were set out as pretty large transplants the beginning of may ripened some fruit in late June before the real summer heat set in - then grew like crazy & bloomed like crazy but set no new toms until just a few weeks ago when the temps cooled down to the 90's. We had a few cool days this week and I am hoping we will set some more fruit. The yellow pear cherry toms set some fruit even when it was near 100. I understand that Aug/Sept is tom season around here if we don't get an early freeze.

* yellow wax beans look healthier whenever it cools down to the low 90's and they continue to bloom like crazy, but still no beans.

* Basils of all sorts have been growing like weeds - hard to keep up with pinching off the buds once the temps hit 90+ ( I let some bloom on purpose as they are so pretty and so yummy smelling)

* Oregano and sweet marjoram seemed to benefit from some afternoon shade. Some are growing under my tomato plants and they seem to like the dappled shade, even though they are somewhat less vigorous than their full sun counterparts.

* I planted several cultivars of garlic last fall (sept/oct), and because we have fairly cold winters, I think, the hard neck ones did the best. Hard to tell, though, as frolicking canines did in some of the garlic well before harvest time. Siberian did very well, surviving snow, temps down to 0*F in winter and temps of 100+ during summer.

* sugar snap peas took forever to really start going and by then, the 95+ heat showed up. I believe they were 20 days later than the package. Also, the yeild, while very yummy and of good quality, was somewhat reduced. Since we love peas, I'm going to plant tripple the recommended rate next year.

* Rosemary loved the dry heat, but I noticed it did better once the toms were big enough to give it a bit of afternoon shade.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now. Good luck!