Planting Sweet Corn

For the past several years I've planted the sweet corn in the garden.  It has produced well, but has proven to be quite a temptation for Nellie, the goat.  She enjoys putting her front hooves on our four foot tall 2 x 4 welded wire fence that partitions the garden from the pasture and craning her neck over to eat the corn once it gets taller. I got tired of losing a lot of the harvest to Nellie.  So I presented an alternative to Tricia and after deliberations in our family's Agriculture Committee (ha ha), I received the go-ahead to till up a spot in the yard to plant the sweet corn - safely out of Nellie's reach.

A good friend brought his roto-tiller attachment for the tractor he was letting me use and we tilled a spot measuring 46 feet long.  There's nothing scientific about that measurement, it's just the way it ended up.  I pulled up a couple of rows to raise the ground level a bit and we were ready to start planting sweet corn.

A couple of rows ready for seed sowing

I enlisted the help of my sidekick, Benjamin, and we got down to business.  Benjamin got an old tomato stake from last year and made a trench approximately 1 inch deep down the middle of each row.

Making the trench to plant the seed corn

I'm using a non-GMO, open pollinated heirloom variety called Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn.  I purchased this seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed and have had good success with it each year I've planted it.  This stuff is so good, sometimes when harvesting, I'll pull back the husk and eat it raw, right out there in the garden.  Sweet as candy!

Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn

Benjamin started dropping seeds in the trench - one seed every 5 inches.  Some publications will tell you to soak your corn in water for a little while to speed germination.  We've done that in past years and it works, but this year, we were racing the sun going down and decided to skip that step.

One seed every 5 inches.

There's something about putting a seed in freshly turned soil.  I think it is the faith involved in putting a seemingly dead thing in the ground and covering it, looking forward to a good growing season, culminating with a bountiful harvest.

Kernel of corn in the trench

This soil is rested and hasn't grown anything but grass in a long time.  Still, I wanted to give it some good, fertile soil to start off in so we filled in the trench with some organic garden soil that I purchased.  The planting guide I was looking at says to cover the seed with 1/2 inch to 1 inch of dirt.  After the corn is about a foot tall, I'll side dress with some chicken litter for fertilizer.

Adding some rich soil to the trench to cover the seed

Here are two 46 foot rows of sweet corn, all planted and covered.  Yeah, maybe our row isn't exactly straight, but that's okay.  When it is on your plate, you don't worry about how straight your rows were!

Crooked rows of Sweet Corn

Now I told you we didn't pre-soak the corn before planting, but Benjamin pulled out the water hose and began to spray down the rows.  I asked him to simulate a good soaking rain in order to make the freshly planted corn swell and begin to grow.

Artificial Rainfall

Benjamin kept at it, walking back and forth to ensure the entire length received adequate 'rainfall.'  

Finishing up 

I then took plenty of hay and used it to mulch the ground right up to where the corn was planted.  I'll keep the soil watered and keep checking on things.  It is warming up and I should see some sprouts in a week.

Not only will the corn planted in the yard keep Nellie from eating it, but it also reduces the amount of grass I have to mow!  How's that for progress?