AL, LA, S. Dakota, MS, or GA

South Dakota??? No where near the same zones as GA and LA.

There are early corn varieties for short season areas with cool climates; would these work in the south....

Yes if planted early enough to beat the high heat of summer and that might require some early season protection. It would be much earlier than you would plant in your current location. But they are not the recommended varieties for southern gardening.

I'm wondering if you could use this strategy (multiple maturing varieties planted at the same time) for other veggies too?

Yes you can.

how far apart do the days with the maturing time have to be (if for an early variety, it's 40 days, how many days would late season variety have to be....60, 90, etc.)

That would all depend on the length of the gardening season where you were located. There is no set fixed time required as long as the late season has time to mature before first frost in that location. Average would be 20-30 days difference. But as if often discussed here, DTM is only a general guideline and varies greatly depending on seasonal weather and growing conditions.

Dave

Corn. the answer is yes. I have planted Silver Knight, Silver Princess, Silver King, and Silver Queen for an extended harvest. The extra early corn like Silver Knight, Quickie etc perform to specs here but are inferior to second earlies and main season varieties so getting a week or so jump is the only advantage.As the heat comes up the DTM decreases so the difference between harvest times is shortened. With the four varieties above I can get a 4-6 week harvest window. Also I can skip summer and start the sequence over in August for fall harvest.

Okra is a full season crop so no need for succesion plantings. Common beans and the brassicas can't stand summer. But spring and fall seasons work well.

Here summer is pretty well restricted to the cowpea family, lima beans, okra, sweet potatoes etc.

The key to growing in the South is timing. You can grow cool season and short season things if you figure out when they need to be planted, most of the time. There are some things, mostly plants that need long periods of cooler weather or are perennials like rhubarb that just won't work but most of the time failudpres in the South are matters of timing.
I still haven't figured out regular green beans but I'm sure it's a imaging issue. I think my problem with cucumbers is also timing, although I may have a soil issue with cucumbers as well.
Oftentimes, your whole calender for planting and growing from the North has to be thrown out because everything is so different in the South, depending on where you're located. You might be planting lettuce and peas in Dec-Jan, setting out your tomatoes in Feb in order to beat the heat, pulling up the tomatoes to plant okra and cowpeas in May or June.

Regarding the corn, there are synergistic varieties; which basically combines the sweetness of a sh2 (sh2 is 'super sweet') and tenderness of se (se is 'sugary enhanced'). Typically there are 25% sh2 kernels and 75% se kernels.

It's been said you can plant early season corn with late season corn. However which season would early season corn be planted in?

It was recommended to plant way earlier than I would start corn in the north; would this be the spring for the south, which is when you'd grow your cool weather veggies?

The reason I'd like to do two plantings of okra, is there is the early maturing varieties, that take 50-60 days; however there is also one called 'silver queen' that is a later variety that takes about 80 days to mature.

This information is coming straight from the catalog with information about the different types of corn varieties.

Yeah that is what has me very confused. People say the timing for planting crops in the south is polar opposite of the schedule you use for growing crops in the north.

You plant your warm weather crops at the beginning of the year, and your cold weather stuff in late fall and spring.

However since the south's 'spring' is the opposite of 'spring' in the north, what months are considered 'spring' in the south?

You've given some general guidelines thank you for this, however I could use some more clarification in regards to this.

Also what months should your hot weather crops be started, and what months are too hot to grow them? I'm assuming with tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, you'd be 'setting them out' from transplants.

Here on the N/S Carolina border you are best served to plant corn on or about April 15 (last frost date). You need to get started early to avoid pests such as corn ear worms. This same date works for any tender veggie (tomato, bean, egg plant, cucs, melons et al). I plant my potatoes, peas root crops (beets/carrots) and cole (cabbage/broccoli/cauliflower)in mid February for spring harvest and plant them again in mid July for fall harvest. Lettuce and radish I plant in Early March for the spring season and again in early September for fall.

Concur: It depends on where you are in the south. Here in Middle Ga. Cool season crops are planted in February March for spring. English peas are planted around Thanksgiving and over wintered and a second crop in February.Irish potatoes are planted in Late January early February. Frost sensitive crops like common beans, tomatoes, peppers, corn etc are planted around the last frost date. Late March, early April here. All The "as soon as the ground can be worked" plants are planted in February. Sweet potatoes, melons,lima beans, okra etc are planted in April. Okra wil bear continuosly until late September. Cowpeas, lima beans can be planted in June. Cant't successfully start anything here in July.

I find the chart, linked below, to be very helpful in picturing what gets planted when, and grows when especially for the Atlanta area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Georgia Organics Planting Calendar

This is a forum troll who goes around asking for detailed information about how to garden but never takes time to do any research herself. You should be able to tell by the "southern" states listed.

DarJones

The purpose of this forum is to ask for help. I think it's complete garbage to have to research BEFORE you make threads. Yes you should giving basic info, as to what you're growing, what method of gardening you're using etc.

Yeah of course I'm not going to follow a planting schedule for the south, because my gardening zone isn't in the south.

If you're so offended by my threads, then don't waste your time and energy posting on them. Nobody is forcing you to respond to them, so quit complaining about me being a troll, when you're the one choosing to respond to the threads. FYI, you're being just as much of a troll by flaming when you know making such a remark is going to instigate fights.

Yeah of course I'm not going to follow a planting schedule for the south, because my gardening zone isn't in the south.

Then why post the question? Is it just hypothetical like so many of your other posts? If so then like most hypothetical discussions it is a waste of our time since there are so many specific, but unknown variables that would have to be considered to even begin to make the discussion relevant.

If it is for future reference then logically one would wait until they actually move there and can provide the specific details needed to answer the question. And if you ever did actually move to the deep south and garden there then the local experienced gardeners would be your best source of information.

I think it's complete garbage to have to research BEFORE you make threads.

That simply isn't true. Those who take the time and make the effort to type out their shared knowledge with you rightly expect you to have first done at least the minimal basic research. Why should we have to spend the time spoon feeding all the basic info when it is already so easily available if you just take a couple of minutes to look for it?

Plus you are asking for very specific regional - deep south - information about a very specific crop - corn. So logically one would go to sites that provide information specific to the question - deep south gardening forums (which Garden Web has) and websites about growing corn. One would not logically just post such questions to general garden discussion forums.

Responsible participation in discussion forums is a two-way street so some of that responsibility is yours.

Dave