Sweetcorn and the North/South Divide.

[veggiechicken]

Help required with important research

There is a suggestion that Sweetcorn grows better in Scotland and the North of England than it does in the South and in Wales and probably Ireland.

Please will you answer the Poll questions and add your approximate location in a post.

Thank you

There isn't a prize, just that warm glow you will feel after participating in this important research project.

[Small pumpkin]

I've added my confusing answers to the poll.
First year growing it and was quite pleased with it.
Never growing again though. Takes up to much space for the return.
And I don't really like the stuff.

[Jay-ell]

It does OK. This year was the best so far. Previously tried the sfg spacing of 4 per square foot. This year went 1 per square foot and I think that helped.

I usually ate it as corn on the cob but this year I've cut it off as sweetcorn kernels. The cobs would sometimes be forgotten on the bench for a couple of days but as a batch I can shuck, blanch, strip and freeze them in one go.

Next year will be an heirloom variety called Bantam and I'll see if I can save seed from it.

I'm also going to try underplanting it with oca to make the bed more productive (an 8x4 bed for a few corn plants isn't best use, although there were some strawberries in it this year. And onions. And volunteer oca)

Might try a few in the greenhouse underplanted with sweet potato.

So it's the last option for me - none of your business (but I'll tell you anyways)

[cheops]

I don’t grow it as I don’t really have the space. However all around where I live there are huge fields of it being grown every year.

[kitty12345]

I only grew sweetcorn once many years ago but it didn't do well. Was not planning to grow them again, but tempted to try again next year with a packet of free seed that I received.

Has anyone tried the three sisters method growing sweetcorn with beans and squash to increase productivity? Or just squash and pumpkins for ground cover?

[Martin H]

I'm in Essex. Sweetcorn grows great down here as long as it's kept watered.

[Thelma Sanders]

Here, in Kent, I grow mine in a block, planted through black weed fabric, with scrambling squashes/courgettes around the outside, free to scramble as they want.
Works well for me and not much effort involved

[bramble]

I am in Dublin, Ireland.
While I got some big cobs from the plants they only manage to produce 2 or 3 on each.
Would like more so will try harder next year.

[burnie]

As you may know, my corn grows much better in my greenhouse up here in NE Scotland, I have twice grown it outside in 15 years and failed miserably in our "normal" summers.

[1Bee]

I'm not sure what answers to give on the poll!

I don't grow sweetcorn well, but I've managed okay the two years I've tried - better this year, with Swift. I had enough to eat a few meals with corn on the cob, cook with some, and freeze some whole cobs. I really like it, and I'm oop north.

I follow John Harrison's instructions. Growing Sweetcorn - How to Grow Sweetcorn - Allotment & Gardens

[Lumpy]

I feel that the problems with my dainty, teeny, weeny feet are none of anybodies business.

On a serious point I did have a go at it on and off over the years but found that weather, earwigs and birds put paid to any juciness.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

I live in Thurnham, south of Morecambe and grow my sweetcorn in the greenhouse because it can get very windy here. It's been really successful except for this year when I only had one cob per plant and they weren't fully pollinated despite the canes being tapped with a stick to release the pollen onto the cob leaves.

[Scarlet]

I’m in the south west....every time I’ve grown it, deer are encouraged into my garden. So it’s a crop I won’t try again.

[SelkirkAlex]

my sister grows the stuff up here but I just shake my head in disbelief, maize needs sun and heat, even growing it in a tunnel in scotland is barely adequate, after a long growing year she is overjoyed to get 3 or 4 ears per plant,to my mind not a return worth the trouble, having lived in south africa in the old transvaal where you can get 10' high maize as far as you can see it is a bit pitiful .

[Jay-ell]

I've never had more than 2 ears per plant - what's the most ears you get per plant?