On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:42:17 -0400, "DogDiesel"
wrote:


"The Cook" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:09:11 -0400, "DogDiesel"
wrote:



Growing days.

Is growing days the days from when you plant. Or from when they pop out.

Diesel.


Usually it is from the time you plant outside. If you normally plant
seeds it is from that time. If you start plants inside (or buy
plants) it is from the time they are set out.

But it all depends on the weather and maybe the soil conditions. And
some plants will only produce fruit when the temperatures are within a
certain range. For tomatoes the temperatures must be between 55° and
95°F for them to set fruit. Last year my husband decided to buy a
larger tomato plant. He set it out. The ones I started late from
seed in the greenhouse and were significantly smaller when set out
produced at just about the same time. Both were Better Boy.

So don't count on having a particular veggie on a particular day.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a



Thats a particular problem for me. Because it seems I leave my veggies in
too long . I was hoping to use the growing days guideline and pull them to
the day.


I assume that the days to maturity printed on the package is the same
for the whole country. And it just an average. See if you can get
some information from you county extension office. The information
will be geared to your area. Go here to locate yours.

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html


One of the regional seed companies put out a guide for the area
served. It gives the times for the middle area with changes for the
warmer & colder areas. Planting times are 2 to 3 weeks earlier or
later for the different areas.


If you are talking about root crops, I start looking sometime before
the date. For beets I sorta scrape some of the dirt away from the
beet to get an idea how big it is. And they don't all reach the same
size at the same time. I end up harvesting the beets over a week or
two. I will do the same for turnips since this is the first year I
have planted them. I don't know what the time to maturity is. I am
in the garden every day checking the plants and deciding if I can
harvest now. If anything I probably err on the side of too early
rather than too late. I get impatient waiting for things to ripen.

--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a