Days to Harvest Chart: How Long Each Vegetable Takes

In short: Radishes are quickest from seed; asparagus takes years from a crown and globe artichokes a year from a transplant. Check whether a figure counts from seed or from a transplant before you plan a fall planting.

Reading the column: seed, transplant, tuber

NC State Extension heads this column Days to Harvest, with the note that the count is from seed unless the row says otherwise. So a bare number, such as the figure for radishes, counts from sowing seed in the garden. Where a row carries a letter and an equals sign, the letter says what the count starts from: T for a transplant, S for seed, Tu for a tuber, C for a crown and B for a bulb. The chart above splits those into columns so you can read across.

25 of the 56 crops have both a seed figure and a transplant figure. Tomatoes show the point. Set out as a transplant they take 75 to 85 days. Grown from seed they take 125 to 135 days, and the table's double asterisk adds that the seed is to be started indoors and never sown straight into the garden. The same note appears on 7 crops in all.

Why the two numbers differ

In every row that has both figures, the seed count is the longer one. For tomatoes the two differ by 50 days. For peppers, listed at 75 to 80 days from a transplant and 145 to 150 days from seed, they differ by 70 days. The table does not explain the gap, but it is what you would expect when a plant started from seed has to grow to transplant size first. It also means a bought transplant is the faster route to a harvest, and a late start from seed rarely suits slow crops.

Leaf lettuce makes the same point in a quicker crop: 15 to 25 days from a transplant, 40 to 50 days from seed.

Quick, medium and slow

Radishes are the quickest crop from seed, at 20 to 25 days. Bush snap beans take 50 to 55 days. Carrots take 75 to 80 days, and pumpkin, at 115 to 120 days, is among the slow crops grown from seed. Sweet potatoes, grown from transplants, take 95 to 125 days.

A few crops are counted from something other than seed, and some of those counts are long. Irish potatoes are planted as tubers and take 95 to 120 days. Garlic goes in as bulbs and takes 180 to 210 days. Jerusalem artichokes, planted as tubers, take 6 to 8 months. Globe artichokes, set out as transplants, take 1 year, and asparagus, planted as crowns, is counted at 2 years to harvest. Those rows count months or years, not days, so do not set them beside the fast greens in a fall plan.

Why it matters in fall

A fall crop has a fixed end, and the count has to fit inside it. NC State's own fall planting windows show the effect. The last fall transplant column for tomatoes is Aug 1, and tomatoes need 75 to 85 days from a transplant. Radishes, which need 20 to 25 days, are listed as late as Sep 1. Two rows are not a rule, but they show the count and the window working together. NC State also says to choose a planting date that avoids known pest seasons, and gives waiting for whitefly numbers to fall before a fall planting as one example, so the window is not set by days to harvest alone.

The table does not give frost dates, and the days to harvest do not say whether a crop will finish before your first frost. That is the part you supply. The University of Georgia has a rule that does it explicitly, and the Georgia vegetable garden calendar walks through it.

Worked example: fall broccoli

Broccoli is a transplant crop in this table, at 70 to 80 days. The last fall column for broccoli transplants is Sep 1. Count forward on a calendar from that day by the low and high ends of the range and the first heads come about Nov 10 and the last about Nov 20. NC State does not print those dates; they are plain addition from its numbers.

Whether that fits depends on how late your fall growth lasts, which the table does not say. A gardener who plants on the first day of the last column has used up all the room. One who plants earlier in the window has more. The planting windows themselves are in the central North Carolina planting calendar, and the spacing that goes with each crop is in the plant spacing chart.

When to harvest butternut squash

For most vegetables the count in the chart is the guide. Winter squash is different, because it is picked ripe by sight and touch, not by the calendar. NC State's row for winter squash gives 70 to 95 days from seed and 42 to 67 days from a transplant, which tells you roughly when to start looking. The University of Massachusetts says to treat catalog counts with care: it quotes a New Hampshire researcher who said that catalogs often list 70 to 76 days from seeding for acorn squash when the real figure is closer to 90 to 100 days. That was acorn, not butternut, but it is a reason to trust the squash over the packet. UMass adds that most varieties are mature 50 to 55 days after the fruit sets, a count that needs you to have noted the day.

Signs a butternut squash is ripe

Color comes too soon to be the signal. South Dakota State says butternut turns its tan color 2 to 3 weeks before it should be harvested for best quality, and UMass says it turns tan 45 days after pollination but should wait 2 weeks more. The sources then give several signs to use instead:

• A hard rind. Illinois Extension says to harvest when the fruits have a deep, solid color and the rind is hard. South Dakota State calls the old test of whether a fingernail can puncture the rind good for many squash but not all, and says a rind that turns less glossy is another clue that the fruit is maturing.
• A corky stem. South Dakota State rates stem corking, the loss of green and the brown, woody stripes where the stem meets the fruit, as at least as good an indicator. Fruit left on the vine after the stem corks gets no better and may rot.
• Full seeds. UMass says squash is mature when the seeds are completely filled. Picked too early, the fruit draws on the starch in its flesh to fill them, and the flesh suffers.

Frost and cutting

Minnesota says to pick before a hard freeze, and that a light frost that kills the vine will usually not harm the fruit. Illinois adds that fruit hit by a heavy frost does not keep. South Dakota State says squash is sensitive to temperatures below 45 °F but can survive brief cooler spells if it is warmed again soon after. Cut the stem with pruners or a knife, leaving a short piece on the fruit: Illinois says 2 inches if possible, and South Dakota State says the attached stem helps avoid stem-end rot. UMass, writing for growers, notes that butternut stems can be removed to stop them puncturing other fruit, as long as the scars heal in curing.

Curing butternut squash

Curing hardens the skin, heals wounds and speeds the change of starch to sugar. The sources do not agree on the conditions, so here they are in their own terms. Minnesota says to field-cure for 1 to 2 weeks in dry, sunny weather, or indoors in a warm, ventilated space at 80 °F. UMass gives 5 to 10 days at 80 to 85 °F and 80 to 85% relative humidity. Illinois says room temperature, about 70 °F for 10 to 20 days, and that most winter squash benefits except acorn, sweet dumpling and delicata. South Dakota State says a week or two above 80 °F right after harvest can raise the sugar without cutting storage life, though sustained heat above that shortens it.

UMass adds that curing is not always necessary: a butternut free of wounds, going into storage for a few months, has time to convert starch on its own.

How long butternut squash keeps

Store winter squash cool, dry and with air moving. Minnesota says around 55 °F with relative humidity of 50 to 75%. Illinois says 50 to 55 °F in a dry building, and to pile no more than 2 fruits deep, or lay the fruit in a single layer so rot cannot spread. UMass says 50 to 60 °F with 50 to 70% relative humidity, with chilling injury possible below 50 °F. South Dakota State says 50 to 60 °F, with relative humidity of 50 to 70%, a dry fruit going in, and no storage near apples, ripe pears or tomatoes, whose ethylene shortens shelf life.

On how long butternut lasts, the two sources that say differ. South Dakota State puts butternut at 2 to 3 months under ideal storage and says it reaches its best eating quality after 2 months. UMass, writing for growers, says full-size butternut should be stored 1 to 2 months before eating and will keep 4 to 6 months. We do not average them. South Dakota State notes that home gardeners may not reach the ideal conditions, so plan on its shorter figure.

Example: a tan butternut in early October

A gardener finds a butternut that has turned tan but still has a glossy rind and a green stem. Going by South Dakota State, that is the early color change, not ripeness. She waits, checks that the stem has started to cork and the rind has lost its shine, and cuts it with a piece of stem before a hard freeze. She cures it somewhere warm and dry for a week or two, then stores it cool, expecting it to sweeten for a month or two before she eats it.

What the ranges cannot tell you

The ranges were printed in July 8, 2016 for central North Carolina, not for your garden. A seed packet counts days for one variety and often from a different starting point, so use the packet number when it differs. NC State also notes that quick-maturing varieties may help avoid insect and disease problems, which is one more reason to compare packets.