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Planting Vegetables Midseason
Often, beginning gardeners mistakenly think that all vegetables must be planted in the spring. If they were busy then and time passed them by, they might think they missed their chance to grow vegetables at home in their garden.
As long as weather conditions remain good for the time from germination to harvest, however, the fact is many vegetables can be planted once, twice, or more each season—as first plantings or as succession plantings after other vegetables have been harvested [See: Planting Succession Diagrams].
Other gardeners simply wait to plant their gardens at midseason, long after frosts are over but while there are many growing days left on the calendar.
In this section, you’ll find:
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- How to plant cool-season and warm-season vegetables in midseason.
- Conditions for planting, time-to-maturity, and harvest.
- Comparing annual and perennial vegetables.
- Lists of vegetables by total germination-to-maturity days.
- Using transplants in midseason gardens.
- Extending growing time with season extension techniques.
While most home gardeners plant vegetables in the spring and harvest them from midseason to autumn, many more know it’s smart gardening to plant successions of vegetables all season long.
Beginners frequently get the bug to plant a home vegetable garden when they see another’s garden brimming with vegetables, but fear they missed their opportunity. This page tells how to start a vegetable garden at times other than spring. It also describes how to plant vegetables in space that is fresh after other crops were harvested.
A majority of the most popular home vegetables are annuals—they grow from seed, flower, and mature in a predictable cycle— living their lives from germination to harvest. Others either are perennials, bulbs, or root vegetables with growth cycles controlled by sun, soil temperature and moisture, or internal clocks that trigger growth at a time that’s best for ensuring reproduction of their species.
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Planning Midseason Plantings
What’s important for those planting vegetable gardens in midseason is that there’s enough days left before the first frosts for warm-season annual vegetable plants to mature, and enough days left with frost-protection for cool-season vegetables to reach their harvest.
In our Vegetables Plant Selector and Care Guide, under the Harvest tab, you’ll find the average number of days each vegetable takes to grow from planting to maturity. You’ll also find this information on most seed packages and vegetable plant care tags.
Your Garden Season’s Length
The length of your gardening season will vary depending on your climate, elevation, and other considerations [See: Regions and Gardening Seasons]. One good guide is our plant hardiness zone map with average last frost date information [See: Vegetable Planting and Harvest Planner].
Next, refer to the following chart to find the general range of first frost dates for your climate zone. Use either personal experience from living in the area or ask the staff at a garden store or nursery to guide you on where your location is likely to fit within the range this year.
Typical First Frost Dates of Autumn
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- USDA Zones 3–4—August 1–August 31
- USDA Zones 5–6 — September 1–September 30
- USDA Zones 6–7 — October 1–October 31
- USDA Zones 8–9 — November 1–November 30
- USDA Zones 10-11 — December 1–January 15
If, for example, it’s July 1, and your region typically gets its first frost on October 15, the time remaining is 107 days. Any vegetable with a seed-to-harvest duration of 107 or less days is a candidate for planting in your mid-season garden. You’ll have to wait until the following season to plant warm-season, long-maturity vegetables that require more days, such as husk tomatoes, eggplant, leeks, peanuts, or Jerusalem artichokes.
With your list of vegetables that are candidates for planting on this date in hand, you’ll choose the ones you want to plant now to grow in your mid-season garden.
Nearly the same method is used to plan vegetable sequential plantings for multiple harvests in home vegetable gardens [See: Planting Succession Diagrams]. Planting a midseason garden is as though you started at the second or third planting of a succession-garden sequence.
Vegetable Seed-to-Maturity Days
Listed below are the most popularly planted vegetables grown in home vegetable gardens, along with the average number of days their seed takes to mature.
The chart lists the vegetables in order of length of maturity, with fast-maturing species first, and those that take the longest last. If you’re planting transplants instead of seed, use the shorter “time to maturity” estimate on the plant tag.
After calculating how many days remain until average first frost in your region, this order quickly provides all the vegetables with shorter maturities than that number.
Remember that vegetables are also divided into three harvest types: Continuous-harvest vegetables that produce over a period of weeks or months, Mature-Harvest Vegetables that produce a single crop when they mature, and Durable Vegetables that mature and hold in the garden for weeks or months until needed for use [See: When to Harvest Vegetables].
These additional distinctions may modify your list of candidate vegetables for planting in a midseason vegetable garden or a planting succession.
Days Required from Sown Seed to Maturity
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- Radishes — 22–35 days
- Turnips — 30–60 days
- Daikon — 50–70 days
- Lettuce, Looseleaf — 40–50 days
- Amaranth — 42–70 days
- Swiss Chard — 45–55 days
- Beans, Pinto — 45–60 days
- Beans, Romano — 45–60 days
- Beans, Snap — 45–60 days
- Beans, Wax — 45–60 days
- Kohlrabi — 45–60 days
- Beets — 45–65 days
- Bak Choy — 45–80 days
- Celery Mustard — 45–80 days
- Pak Choy — 45–80 days
- Spinach, Garden — 50–50 days
- Cabbage, Early — 50–60 days
- Squash, Summer — 50–65 days
- Carrots — 50–75 days
- Tomatoes — 50–90 days
- Cucumbers — 55–65 days
- Okra — 55–65 days
- Peas, English — 55–70 days
- Peas, Garden — 55–70 days
- Peas, Snap — 55–70 days
- Peas, Snow — 55–70 days
- Peas, Sugar — 55–70 days
- Kale — 55–75 days
- Spinach, Malabar — 55–75 days
- Spinach, New Zealand — 55–75 days
- Corn, Ornamental — 60–100 days
- Corn, Popcorn — 60–100 days
- Corn, Sweet — 60–100 days
- Squash, Winter — 60–110 days
- Shallots — 60–120 days
- Cowpeas — 60–70 days
- Crowder — 60–70 days
- Peas, Black–Eyed — 60–70 days
- Peas, Southern — 60–70 days
- Berries, Blueberry — 60–80 days
- Collards — 60–90 days
- Peppers, Hot — 60–95 days
- Peppers, Sweet — 60–95 days
- Beans, Drying — 65–70 days
- Beans, Butter — 65–80 days
- Beans, Lima — 65–80 days
- Lettuce, Bibb — 65–80 days
- Lettuce, Butterhead — 65–80 days
- Celery Lettuce — 65–90 days
- Celtuce — 65–90 days
- Broccoflower — 70–100 days
- Broccoli — 70–100 days
- Cauliflower — 70–100 days
- Melons, Summer — 70–100 days
- Sunflowers — 70–80 days
- Beans, Broad — 80–100 days
- Beans, Fava — 80–100 days
- Beans, Horse — 80–100 days
- Beans, Windsor — 80–100 days
- Beans, Scarlet-Runner — 80–105 days
- Onion — 80–150 days
- Cos — 80–85 days
- Lettuce, Romaine — 80–85 days
- Lettuce, Crisphead — 80–90 days
- Lettuce, Iceberg — 80–90 days
- Endive, Belgian — 85–100 days
- Endive, Curly — 85–100 days
- Endive, French — 85–100 days
- Escarole — 85–100 days
- Gourds — 85–100 days
- Radicchio — 85–100 days
- Rutabagas — 85–100 days
- Turnips, Swedish — 85–100 days
- Garlic — 90–100 days
- Potatoes, Early — 90–110 days
- Berries, Strawberry — 90–120 days
- Cabbage, Late — 90–120 days
- Pumpkins — 90–120 days
- Beans, Gram — 100 days
- Chickpeas — 100 days
- Beans, Garbanzo — 100–105 days
- Brussels Sprouts — 100–110 days
- Celeriac — 100–120 days
- Celery — 100–120 days
- Cucamelons — 100–120 days
- Melons, Bitter — 100–120 days
- Parsnip — 100–130 days
- Eggplant — 100–140 days
- Melons, Winter — 110 days
- Potatoes, Midseason — 110–120 days
- Potatoes, Late — 110–140 days
- Jerusalem Artichoke — 110–150 days
- Peanuts — 110–150 days
- Sunchokes — 110–150 days
- Sweet Potatoes — 110–150 days
- Yams — 110–150 days
- Ground Cherries — 120 days
- Husk Tomatoes — 120 days
- Tomatillos — 120 days
- Salsify — 120–150 days
- Leeks — 120–170 days
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