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Corn
Zea Mays Corn
is one of our family's favorite vegetables.
Biting into a thick, juicy cob of corn, dripping with butter and
sprinkled with salt is a wonderful experience. But then, corn is also good
plain, or roasted (Yum!!). However,
corn is not a space-saver. Each
6-to-10-foot tall plant yields only one or two ears. Along with the traditional yellow, you can also grow black,
red, white and bicolor sweet corn. You
can also grow the super sweet, sugar-enhanced varieties. These particular cultivars will stay sweet longer after the
harvest because the sugar in the kernels converts to starch more quickly. SITE:
Plant your corn in full sun. Deep
and fertile soil and plentiful moisture. Corn
loves warmth, so it will thrive in places with warm summers. HOW
TO GROW: To grow corn in the North,
plant when the soil reaches about 60 degrees.
This is usually around the last average date of frost.
Sow the seeds one inch deep and four inches apart.
I like to plant two or three kernels in each hole, because when the corn
sprouts, I can cut back the weakest seedlings and keep the strongest two.
Leaving two plants growing together in one hole will aid in pollination
and support. Another way to help
ensure good pollination is to plant in blocks rather than rows.
For example: four rows of four plants, instead of one long row of sixteen
plants. When
the plants reach two to four inches, thin the short cultivars to two feet apart,
and the tall cultivars to three feet apart.
The
soil must be kept moist. You can
mulch to hold the moisture in and to prevent weeds.
Mulch also helps to prevent soil diseases infecting your plants. Fertilize
before planting, again when the corn is eight inches tall, and again when the
corn is 18 inches tall. Use dry
fertilizer if you are not organically gardening (I use 'Miracle Grow'; a
granular-type fertilizer that you dissolve in water.
It works on almost everything). A
liquid fertilizer every three weeks will also work.
If
you are organically gardening; Corn should have heavy nitrogen (mulching with
grass will help, as it contains much nitrogen).
Some organic fertilizers you could use would be blood meal, rotted
chicken manure, fish meal, leaf mold, fish emulsion and sawdust (non-treated, of
course). To
control cutworms, place a nail in the soil alongside each seedling.
This prevents the cutworm from wrapping around the stalk to feed. To
control corn borers and ear worms, apply a few drops of mineral oil or vegetable
oil to the tips of the silks after pollination, but while the silks are still
green. This traps the worms before they can reach the ear.
To
prevent smut, plant resistant cultivars; eliminate the infected plants and don't
plant in the same part of your garden for two years. HARVEST
after the silks turn brown and the kernels ooze a milky sap when punctured.
Since most cultivars lost their sweetness rapidly, eat the corn as soon
as possible after harvesting. To
store your corn, wrap the ear (with the husk on it) in a damp paper towel. Refrigerate for up to one eek.
You could also blanch and freeze the ears, or can it.
Canned creamed corn is also good. CULTIVARS:
Short cultivars are about 5 feet tall; Tall ones are 7 to 10 feet.
Tight husks protect ears from weather and insects. Yellow:
'Earlivee', 65 days, 7-inch ears, good flavor and yield, short, for the
North; 'Precocious', 70 days,
buttery flavor, 7-inch ears, seed tolerates cool soil;
'Gold Bantam', 78 days, old-fashioned texture, starchy, 7-inch ears,
medium stalks; 'Kandy Korn', 83
days, uniform 8-inch ears, seed tolerates cool soil, tall, strong, reddish
stalks withstand wind, well-adapted, freezes and cans well' 'Jubilee', 85 days, 11-inch ears, tip kernels fill well,
freezes and cans well. White:
'Silver Queen', 94 days, tall, tight husks, 8-inch ears, needs warm soil;
‘Platinum Lady', 86 days slender 8-inch ears, tall. Bicolor:
'Peaches and Cream', 80 days, yellow-and-white kernels, tall plants,
8-inch ears; 'Seneca Dawn', 80
days, yellow-and-white kernels, creamy texture, can stay on stalk for up to two
weeks after ripe; 'Early Gold &
Silver', 62 days, 8 1/2-inch ears. Super
sweet: 'Northern Xtra Sweet', 63
days, seed tolerates cool soil, uniform 8-inch ears, tight husks, short, freezes
and cans well; 'Early Xtra Sweet',
71 days, sweeter after picking, good texture, tight husk, widely adapted, tip
kernels fill well, freezes and cans well. Hint:
To remove silk from your corn quickly and with less mess, rub a damp
paper towel along the ear. The silk
will cling to the towel, not the ear. |
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