Garden

[gardenman]

My first corn is now twelve to eighteen inches tall and doing very, very well. I just planted my second crop a few minutes ago. It's about two weeks later than I'd planned to plant it but we've had no rain for about three-plus weeks here. We're supposed to get thunderstorms today, more rain Friday and Saturday, then more rain Tuesday and Wednesday, so it looks like the rain won't be an issue for a bit. I've been giving the first crop four to six gallons of water a day and my rain barrels are very, very low. It's been raining all around us, but we've been in an annoying dry pocket. The coming rain should refill my rain barrels and I'll have water to spare.

[GoneButNotForgotten]

Gardenman, how exciting! I'm following your adventure in corn growing and enjoying it very much. Please keep us updated. I hope your dreams of corn come true! :-)

BTW, I live in the pacific northwest and it might surprise you but I've grown corn successfully--just one season, though. For me, it's more worth than it's worth (I'm in my 70's and these old bones and joints aren't what they used to be).

Best of luck to you!

[gardenman]

The first corn crop is now starting to form tassels. It's about three feet tall and growing very, very well. The first crop maxes out at about four feet. The second planting of corn has now sprouted and is about a foot or so tall, but is a taller growing variety that will reach six to eight feet in height. Will I have corn for the Fourth of July? Probably not, but maybe a week later. The tassels still have to fully emerge, the silks have to form, the ears of corn need to form and fill out. It takes about 20 days on average from being fully tasseled to having ripe corn. We've got a bit less than three weeks until the Fourth, so it's possible, but I think it might be a wee bit later. We'll see. The tassels aren't fully emerged yet but just forming. 

The corn gets heavily watered every morning. It's been fed twice and will get a third feeding in another week or so. There have been no problems with the crop yet. Once the plants start forming silks I'll spray them with some BT to discourage/kill any caterpillar activity. I should be up to my eyeballs in corn at some point in early July and then for most of the rest of the month. Sometime in August crop two should take over and last into September. 

There are about 38 plants in crop one and the seed packet says you get two to three ears per plant. That will give me a lot of corn in July if that level of production holds true. My later variety gives one to two ears per plant, so that's a bit more manageable. Things are going well so far. We'll see what happens over the coming weeks.

[gardenman]

I've been harvesting my corn for about a week now and this is today's crop.

It's doing very well. The second crop is getting close to the tassel stage. I could pick a few more ears today, but five is enough for my lunch. I'll pick a few more tomorrow. More ears are maturing over the next week to ten days or so. I'm eating lots of corn. 

[drizzellla]

@gardenman 

I saw the headline an thought - Oh No, isn't a bit late to start planting corn now?

Then I saw the date. 

I must say the corn looks perfect. Good job.

I bet the corn tasted so good.

I remember as a kid, when we visited one of our relatives. They would start heating a pot of water and then go out and pick some corn. It tasted so good. They had grown corn for many years and knew what they were doing. And I was the lucky recipient of their knowledge.

Enjoy your corn through the summer.

[gardenman]

@drizzellla 

Modern corn varieties don't lose their sweetness as quickly as older varieties did so you have a bit more leniency on when to harvest and cook it. Some even get sweeter after being harvested. I'll be eating those I picked today within about three hours or so for my lunch, so they should be fine.

You could still be planting corn. The early variety I'm harvesting now matures in 63 days. The first frost here is typically in mid-October so the corn would be ready around mid-September. I probably won't be planting anymore, but you could still be planting it. 

My second crop is probably a week from the tassel stage and then it's about 21 days until the corn matures, so in mid-August that should be ready to go. The first planting probably has a week or so of good harvest left, so there will be about a three-week cornless period, but I'll survive.