The first time you grow sweet corn you quickly appreciate its full look when it conk out now from your garden to your table . Fortunately , get it is pretty easy if you have enough garden place .
My summertime is n’t complete without new sweet corn from my vegetable garden . The flavor of an capitulum of fresh corn whiskey eaten within an 60 minutes of being peck is light yr better than supermarket sweet corn . Growing the perfect capitulum requires a bit of work , but it ’s worth every apothecaries' ounce of vitality you wield .
How to plant corn
The first requirement is sufficient infinite in yourvegetable garden . Sweet Cornpollinatesbest when it ’s develop in a cylinder block as fight down to a row . This is because Zea mays is a member of the grass family , and like grains , it ’s wind - cross-pollinate . So , if you ’re using raised vegetable garden bed , you ’ll have to expend at least two adjacent bed ( or adjacent sections of beds ) to see successful pollination . If you grow your corn whiskey in just one wrangle , you may cease up with ears that have only cob where kernels should be .
Germinate corn seed quickly
One of the key requirements of successful fresh corn is getting the seed to germinate quick . This is purely a function of ground temperature . constitute too early , and the corn seed will not warm enough to bourgeon . Plant too late , and the high temperature of the summertime will electrocute the young plants . According to theVegetable Gardener ’s Bible , soil temperature ( not air temperature ) should be 80 degree when you plant sweet corn . I ’ve found it sufficient to be in the 70 - degree range , which here in USDA Zone 6 is normally the week after Memorial Day unless we have an unco hot May .
Sweet corn is fussy about transplanting
corn whiskey seedling do not like to be transplanted ( only those using soil stop andgreenhousesseem to have succeeder with this ) , so I do n’t suggest you begin the seed indoors early like tomatoes and peppers . Also check the weather forecast before establish . If you sow just before heavy rain , the supernumerary water may make your clavus seed to moulder in place . tolerate 14 days of fair weather for clavus seed to germinate .
Don’t plant corn all at once
The amount of sweet Zea mays you ’ll harvest from justone mailboat of seedscan be overwhelming . If you ’re just feeding your family , works 1/3 of your seeds ten Clarence Day apart ( in adjacent city block ) over 30 days . I do three plantings throughout June and the harvest works out absolutely - we can eat it all . The first year I found clavus , I implant all the seeds at once and I ended up giving away most of it because we could n’t eat the edible corn fast enough .
Use an organic fertilizer liberally and water regularly
Sweet Corn also likes more than its fair part of water and nitrogen – it ’s a very heavy feeder . Right after planting , summate an organic fertilizer to the layer so the plants get a unshakable provender through the season . You should also gear up your corn beds at least one month beforehand by working in plenty of composted manure or compost made from kitchen scraps and yard waste . Make certain your corn whiskey is irrigated on a regular basis . For how large the corn whiskey plant is , it has a surprisingly shallow root structure , which allows the roots to dry out out very promptly . When seedlings , three days without water under the summertime sun they start to droop .
