Some popular vegetable cultivars are classed as early, midseason, or late, and there can be significant differences in days to maturity.
Often the early cultivars are smaller, but not always, especially with tomatoes. The little ‘Peacevine
Some popular vegetable cultivars are classed as early, midseason, or late, and there can be significant differences in days to maturity.
Often the early cultivars are smaller, but not always, especially with tomatoes. The little ‘Peacevine’ cherry tomato grows on a small, 2- to 3-foot vine and is ready in 50 days. Though it is many times larger than a cherry tomato, the early-maturing cultivar called ‘Early Girl’, a delicious, standard-sized tomato, takes only two days longer to be ready for picking. The Japanese mid- or main-season cultivar ‘Pink Odoriko’ needs a full 76 days to mature. The paste tomatoes are smaller than ‘Early Girl’, but some take 100 days, whereas ‘Big Boy’, a huge, dense tomato, is ready to pick in 78 days.
Often cultivars noted as “early” and “late” withstand cold weather in spring and at the end of the summer more easily than those labeled “midseason.”
Early cultivars of fast-growing crops are especially interesting if you live in a cool climate and are planning succession cropping to maximize the harvest from a small garden. Sown or set out early, when the soil and the weather are changeable, they mature quickly, leaving behind plant material ready for composting and a row ready for a second round of plants.
Not all crops are conveniently labeled “early,”“midseason,” or “late.” Often you must figure that out for yourself. Early cultivars of slow-growing crops, such as the little ‘Scoop 11 Hybrid’ cantaloupe, are not necessarily labeled “early,” but they ripen in 68 to 70 days compared with ‘Ambrosia Hybrid’, which matures in 86 days. The earlier, smaller fruit has time to mature in the short season of the cool up