A Long Row To Hoe

The weather has been outstanding.  It was high time to get a little work done in the corn patch in the side yard.  This past fall it was planted in pumpkins (that the August rains obliterated) and purple hull peas which produced nicely for weeks. Now it is time to rotate the land back into sweet corn.  Prior to starting work, I poured myself a quart jar full of sweet tea and sat down on a bench in the shade with a file and my garden hoe and put I nice, sharp edge on the hoe.  Now we're ready to do some work.

First I mowed the corn patch down close to the ground.  In past years I would have turned the entire area over with a shovel, but I'm doing something different this year and will only work it minimally.  I've amended the soil with plenty of composted leaves and cow manure for the past several years and while the surrounding land is hard and compacted, the soil in the corn patch is soft and easily-worked with a hoe.

Working with a hoe and only turning the top few inches of ground is easier than turning it over with a shovel and also doesn't disturb the soil.  While it is not exactly "no-till," I think it is the best of both worlds, working up a nice seed bed while preserving the soil structure and worm tunnels that aerate the soil.  Here I am just getting started...

It was a long row to hoe, but I got it done.  I had to refill my jar of sweet tea a time or two.

Once all the ground was worked, I used a garden rake to level out the seed bed and pull all of the dirt clods out of the way.  There wasn't much weeds to speak of, so I didn't need to weed.

My planting crew, consisting of Benjamin and myself, got busy planting since the sun was racing toward the horizon.  This year, I'm planting Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn and Country Gentleman Sweet Corn - two varieties I plant every year. But I'm adding a new variety to the mix this year - Dorinny Sweet Corn.  I've marked out a test plot of the new variety and we'll see how it does in comparison to the others.

At the supper table tonight, we were discussing what our favorite crops were from the spring garden and what we are looking forward to.  I was just commenting to Tricia tonight that one of my favorite summertime meals that she makes is homemade pizza with fresh-picked tomatoes, basil, and sweet corn on top.  We have a ways to go, though, before we even think about harvesting.  The corn has sprouted and is about four inches tall.  It is a little yellow, so I think I'll spray it with some fish emulsion and top-dress it with some composted chicken litter I get out of the hen house.  With the corn planted in the side yard corn patch, we'll shift focus to getting everything planted in the garden.