It's Sweet Corn Season. Is it Worth Growing Your Own? Oh, Yes!
Friday July 21, 2006
Corn takes up a lot of space in the garden for a long time, yet gardeners are happy to accommodate it. If you've never tasted just picked sweet corn, you owe it to yourself to try growing it at least once. Freshly picked sweet corn is like nothing you've ever purchased at any store, even the farm stand down the road. It is so tender and sweet cooking is optional.
The challenge to growing sweet corn is having the patience to wait for it to ripen and beating the critters to the harvest. The supersweet varieties are getting all the attention, but the old fashioned standard sweet varieties really shine in the home garden, where they can be picked and cooked within minutes and you can enjoy that creamy corn texture that the supersweets are lacking.
There are dozens of varieties to try, early, mid and late-season. If you want to get the kids involved, try one of the colorful introductions with blue or red kernels, like Ruby Queen shown here, or maybe some homegrown popcorn. Growing your own corn is worth the reward. Photo Courtesy of The Burpee Company
Comments
Yes, corn does take up a lot of space, but as you say, it’s well worth growing your own. My partner and I got tired of the starchiness of store-bought corn. Even when they advertise it as sweet, they can’t hide the starch. But picking it straight off the stalk is the best way to ensure that fresh sweetness!
Corn (Zea mays rugosa) can grow up to nine feet tall, depending on the variety. We grow “earliking” corn (Could this have come from “early King corn?” Or does it have to do with you liking these ears?) which grows one or two ears per five foot stalk. Its kernels are yellow and it takes about 66 days from seed to ripe fruit.
Scarecrows don’t quite work in warding off crows, but we’ve found a gadget in a catalogue that has a motion sensor and makes a noise and sprays water at the birds, and that one seems to work, most of the time. Deer should be kept away (try hanging bloodmeal or detergent in small sacks around the cornfield) and try to control field mice, if you have any.
Corn grows only from seed (doesn’t like to be transplanted) sown directly into the ground. Grow in blocks, not straight lines, for pollination purposes. Make sure the soil is not too moist when planting, since corn seeds can rot. Corn prefers long, hot summers.
My wife and I use Heavy Harvest, Spring, Summer, and Fall, a time-release fertilizer made by a company called Advanced Nutrients. The nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio is balanced according to the season and we find it ideal for corn. We also grow other vegetables with it, and it works equally well for squash, cucumber, peppers, and tomatoes.
Be careful when weeding, since corn is a shallow rooted plant. You can also interplant corn with pumpkins or squash—these low growing vegetables will prevent weeds from sprouting. In order to ward off many insects and pathogens, you will want to spray with Scorpion Juice, made by the same company that manufactures our fertilizer.
It’s worth the precaution, because you really don’t want to end up with corn borers, or corn earworm, or corn maggots. These are insidious, and can ruin your whole crop. By using Scorpion Juice, both as a systemic and as a spray, you increase the immunity of your plants with scientifically proven Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR).
True, corn takes up a lot of space in your garden, but if you can spare the space for it, the rewards of enjoying corn fresh off the stalk will more than compensate. Corn is the sweetest when it goes straight from the stalk to the pot of boiling water. Also, don’t overcook. It takes only five minutes and presto, butter and salt to taste!
Your cobs are ready for harvest when the silks—those hair like growths at the end of the husks—start to turn brown. Some people like fresh corn so much, they eat the kernels raw. They’re bursting with milk at the time of harvest, just begging to be bitten into.
Yes, corn does take up a lot of space, but as you say, it’s well worth growing your own. My partner and I got tired of the starchiness of store-bought corn. Even when they advertise it as sweet, they can’t hide the starch. But picking it straight off the stalk is the best way to ensure that fresh sweetness!
Corn (Zea mays rugosa) can grow up to nine feet tall, depending on the variety. We grow “earliking” corn (Could this have come from “early King corn?” Or does it have to do with you liking these ears?) which grows one or two ears per five foot stalk. Its kernels are yellow and it takes about 66 days from seed to ripe fruit.
Scarecrows don’t quite work in warding off crows, but we’ve found a gadget in a catalogue that has a motion sensor and makes a noise and sprays water at the birds, and that one seems to work, most of the time. Deer should be kept away (try hanging bloodmeal or detergent in small sacks around the cornfield) and try to control field mice, if you have any.
Corn grows only from seed (doesn’t like to be transplanted) sown directly into the ground. Grow in blocks, not straight lines, for pollination purposes. Make sure the soil is not too moist when planting, since corn seeds can rot. Corn prefers long, hot summers.
My wife and I use Heavy Harvest, Spring, Summer, and Fall, a time-release fertilizer made by a company called Advanced Nutrients. The nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio is balanced according to the season and we find it ideal for corn. We also grow other vegetables with it, and it works equally well for squash, cucumber, peppers, and tomatoes.
Be careful when weeding, since corn is a shallow rooted plant. You can also interplant corn with pumpkins or squash—these low growing vegetables will prevent weeds from sprouting. In order to ward off many insects and pathogens, you will want to spray with Scorpion Juice, made by the same company that manufactures our fertilizer.
It’s worth the precaution, because you really don’t want to end up with corn borers, or corn earworm, or corn maggots. These are insidious, and can ruin your whole crop. Scorpion Juice, used both as a systemic and as a foliar spray, inoculates your corn with scientifically proven Acquired Systemic Resistance (SAR).
True, corn takes up a lot of space in your garden, but if you can spare the space for it, the rewards of enjoying corn fresh off the stalk will more than compensate. Corn is the sweetest when it goes straight from the stalk to the pot of boiling water. Also, don’t overcook. It takes only five minutes and presto, butter and salt to taste!
Your cobs are ready for harvest when the silks—those hair like growths at the end of the husks—start to turn brown. Some people like fresh corn so much, they eat the kernels raw. They’re bursting with milk at the time of harvest, just begging to be bitten into.