Sowing sweetcorn.

[bobbin]

Hi All.
Did anyone watch gardeners world Friday June 3rd?
I was surprised to see Monty Don sowing sweetcorn ( into modules ) so late into the year. I always sow into pots in early to mid May.
Mine will be ready to go into the ground in a week or so. I am in Sussex and like most places it could be warmer here. So I can see the reasoning but I am stil surprised.
What say you??

[ameno]

I sowed some around 3rd June last year. Sprouted them on damp tissue first, then sowed the sprouted seeds direct in the ground.
Emergence wasn't as good as i'd have liked, considering the seeds were pre-sprouted, but the ones that came up grew and cropped well, and only about 3 weeks later than the first pot-sown batch I sowed in early May.
I'd say that in the South of the country you'd probably be fine with sowing up until mid-June as long as you choose an early (and therefore fast maturing) variety and plant them somewhere with plenty of sun.

[quanglewangle]

Sweetcorn germinates quickly and catches up fast.

[Mr Bones]

A few years ago we put sweetcorn out in early May, the weather turned cold and the corn yellowed - looked like a complete fail. Sown afresh on June 1st and it just had time to make a successful crop before the season turned in Autumn.
The first lot picked up too so that year we had something of a glut..

[Snoop Puss]

In part it depends on the variety. Some grow much quicker than others. I always used to grow Lark when I could buy it. A very quick-grower. One year I sowed some late June thinking it was a bit optimistic, but we were picking cobs weeks before the first frosts arrived.

[annie8]

I was a bit surprised to see that too, but judging by the comments above maybe it is an option to go later in the south. I start mine early may here as further north and planted out a couple of weeks ago.