Sweet Corn - 2014

This year I decided to plant sweet corn in the yard instead of in the garden.  The picture below shows Benjamin (right) and his friend Xander near the two rows of corn.  As with most things, I learn a few lessons from what I did right, but most importantly and more frequently from what I did wrong.  I'll discuss a couple of those with you and we'll incorporate some changes prior to planting the corn crop next year.

Children of the Corn

I planted an heirloom variety of corn called Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn and have planted this as one of three varieties for about 3 or 4 years now.  This year I planted only Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn.  I moved the corn out of the garden area and into the yard. This was a move that didn't excite my wife at first, but I kept the corn patch neat and clean and she now approves of this move.  I like planting corn in the yard because it means that there is less grass to grow.  This was a good move and I'll likely plant here again next Spring.

The second good thing is an experiment that I tried that really worked that I'll tell you about.  In prior years, we've had thunderstorms that blew through the area with strong straight line winds that knocked the sweet corn flat.  Some lifted back up on its own, but others (due to the fact that heirloom corn grows EXCEEDINGLY TALL) never recovered and I took a big hit on my yield.

This year I tried something new.  You can't see it very clearly in the photo below, but I hammered two stakes on either side of the the corn in beginning of the rows, two stakes on either side in the middle, and two stakes on either side of the corn at the end of the rows.  Then, using twine from the round bales of hay I use for the cows, I made a twine cage around the rows, using the stakes as the frame and increasing its height as the corn grew.  We had rains and windstorms but the corn laid against the twine fence rather than laying flat on the ground.  Success!!  I'll definitely do this again next year.

In prior years I planted using the directions on the seed package that stated that you should plant 1 seed every 9 - 12 inches.  That takes up a lot of land that could be growing other crops.  This year, I planted every 4 inches.  I was able to get more corn plants per square foot. I think I'll continue this in the future as well.

The Sweet Corn Crop

One of the disappointments of the crop this year was the height of the corn and the yield and I believe most, if not all of this was attributable to soil quality.  Although I amended chicken litter into the soil, this ground is just not as rich as my garden soil that I've worked hard to build and I think that adversely affected the growth.  This soil is old hardpan ricefield dirt.  I only got one ear of corn per stalk and the size of the ears was small to medium.

Corn Tasseling

Notice the tassels in the photos above and below.  The zoomed in picture below of the tassels illustrates how the tassel has pollen that dangles and falls.

Pollen from the tassel

The pollen will fall into the silk and fertilize the corn.  It is neat to think about the fact that each single strand of silk when fertilized makes one kernel of corn!

The Silk - How 'bout that redhead?

It is time to harvest sweet corn when the silk on the outside of the shuck is dark brown.  Pulling back the husk will reveal plump, sweet delicious corn.  I like to shuck an ear and eat it raw, just standing out there in the garden, enjoying the evening and the sweetness of the freshest corn imagineable.  Good stuff!

The first ear of the season

Then I took the corn to the back patio and began shucking the corn, removing as much of the silk as possible.  I read where it is important to start your water boiling when you go out to harvest as the sugars begin converting to starch as soon as you harvest.  In other words, be prepared to eat it or blanch it and freeze it quickly if you want to eat it at its peak sweetness!

I'm all ears

We took the first part of the harvest inside and blanched the ears for 7 minutes in boiling water, then cooled it in ice water to stop the cooking process.  Then we bagged it up in gallon size Zip Loc bags and put into the freezer to enjoy later.  Tomorrow we'll harvest more to eat fresh.

Shucked Corn ready to be blanched

As far as the husks and silk, I fed some to the cows and goats and I'll compost the rest to put organic matter back into the soil.

Aww Shucks!

We didn't exactly have what I would classify as a bumper crop of sweet corn, but we have enough to eat and we're thankful for that. This year I'm going to save the corn cobs to make corn cob stock, too.

Corn tassels silhouetting the western sky

We learned some lessons that we'll continue in future growing seasons, and over the next year, I'll work to build up the soil for next growing season.  Gardeners are always looking forward to next year!!!