Sweetcorn from the allotment
My first sweetcorn from the allotment
After three years of trying to grow sweetcorn I finally have success. In the previous two years they were eaten I think by the pigeons, even when they managed to get to a foot tall. This year I asked someone to build me a cage from three heras panals that I had. The last side have wire and a gate, and scaffold mesh on the top making it totally enclosed. The cage was built on ground that previously had a duck run on it so the ground had plenty of natural fertiliser on it. I have struggled with bindweed in the allotment so I laid s plastic sheet on the ground to try and stop the weed growing through.
I planted the corn in pots in the greenhouse in compost three seeds to a 6inch pot. I had a great germination rate with only 3 not growing, so I had 15 plants to plant out. When the seedlings were about 6 inch high, and the weather had warmed up slightly after all the snow and rain I planted them out. The sweetcorn were planted in a grid for pollination approximately 18inches apart. I left the plastic sheet down to try and stop the bindweeds and cut holes in the plant the corn.
This year saw some of the hottest weather for many years, having been in a level 3 heatwave warning for a couple of weeks I thought I was going to lose a lot of the vegetables I had planted. However by keeping the plastic sheet down I had unwittingly trapped the moisture in the ground and my sweetcorn seemed to thrive. I did water the corn twice during the heatwave when they looked a big limp.
The sweetcorn grew and grew and was approximately 7ft tall and my cage looked like a jungle. When some of the cobs hair started to go brown I knew it wouldn’t be long. As soon as all the tassels had turned brown and I couldn’t see and green tassels/hair I pulled twisted them off. Finally after three years I have homegrown sweetcorn.
I planted the corn in pots in the greenhouse in compost three seeds to a 6inch pot. I had a great germination rate with only 3 not growing, so I had 15 plants to plant out. When the seedlings were about 6 inch high, and the weather had warmed up slightly after all the snow and rain I planted them out. The sweetcorn were planted in a grid for pollination approximately 18inches apart. I left the plastic sheet down to try and stop the bindweeds and cut holes in the plant the corn.
This year saw some of the hottest weather for many years, having been in a level 3 heatwave warning for a couple of weeks I thought I was going to lose a lot of the vegetables I had planted. However by keeping the plastic sheet down I had unwittingly trapped the moisture in the ground and my sweetcorn seemed to thrive. I did water the corn twice during the heatwave when they looked a big limp.
The sweetcorn grew and grew and was approximately 7ft tall and my cage looked like a jungle. When some of the cobs hair started to go brown I knew it wouldn’t be long. As soon as all the tassels had turned brown and I couldn’t see and green tassels/hair I pulled twisted them off. Finally after three years I have homegrown sweetcorn.
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