July 4, 2012

So let’s talk about corn. It’s the Fourth of July and corn’s bound to be on the menu all across this country. I planted my crop earlier this week. 

This variety, Blue Jade is from Seed Saver’s Exchange and here’s their description:
Miniature plants (up to 3 feet) bear 3-6 ears with sweet steel-blue kernels that turn jade-blue when boiled. One of the only sweet corns that can be grown in containers; 70-80 days. (Seed catalog hyperbole? We’ll see). 

I’ve never grown corn, always assuming my garden was too small and the weather too cool here at the coast. After seeing this corn patch in a small garden near my home and only about 30 feet from water’s edge, I decided to try growing corn.

The wife of the gardener tells me they had a bountiful harvest last year. I walk by this garden often. The soil is very rich and loose.

Here’s the second crop. Seed spacing is only about six to seven inches.

So I soaked my seed and planted per packet at eight inches apart and in a three foot square block.

The birds have been eating my lettuce and chard, so I’ve covered the seed with black nursery trays and row cover; not very attractive these arrangements to foil the birds. 

I’m counting on lots of July sunshine and family is counting on me for a first ever corn harvest in about 75 days–mid-September.