Those are surely good questions Mike! The problems with accepting written maturity dates for crops is that it cannot take into account things like plant variety (there are varieties of corn that mature in 60 days and some that mature in 84 days, and everything in between), growing zones, weather differences from year to year, season to season, and even week to week, etc., etc.
For example, what variety are your onions? What has the weather been like - sunny and warm for 60 days, or cloudy, cool, and rainy for most of those 60 days? How has the feeding been going? If your garden receives two or three torrential downpours in a fairly short time the nutrients will be leached out of the soil, and feeding more often will be required in order for the plants to thrive.
Carrots and potatoes (and other crops!) are subject to the same variables. Some varieties mature in 60 days of normal growing conditions, and some take 90 days or longer.
If you are serious about growing a second crop - and I hope you are - then you do the best you can, and if/when you discover your garden is not going to be ready when the seedlings are ready, you do things to slow your seedlings' growth, such as lowering temperature, reducing water, reducing light, etc.
Jim Kennard
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