sweet corn advice for the spring.

[wargarden2023]

I found this bit of info while reorganizing my
vegetable gardening research folders on my
computer. please enjoy. ps the plant hole diagram
makes thing better then the old school rotting fish.
might post a few more from same folder tommarow.

[smallblueplanet]

The only advice I can add is watch out for badgers! Sweetcorn is like dope to them, they can sniff out when it is ripe and scoff your crop before you can pick it. Yes dear reader this happened to me!

[greenishfing]

I always start mine indoors, in pots, on the windowsill. I move them to the greenhouse when they're a couple of inches tall, and only plant out, in blocks, when the risk of frost is over. I always give them plenty room.

[Snoop Puss]

Interesting picture, wargarden2023. That's a lot of sweetcorn plants. I grow around 24 in total. Thinking of growing more this year if I can fit them in.

I used to start mine off direct in the ground, one lot mid-May and a second lot mid-June. But having lost seeds to wee timorous beasties and the like, I now start them off in modules outside, first lot late May and the second lot mid to late June. Although we have a short season, I find late June to be OK for early varieties (Lark and Swift, for example).

Not sure I'd ever use rotting fish as a fertiliser. Even buried deep, they'd draw more than wee timorous beasties.

[wargarden2023]

Snoop Puss how close are spacing the corn and what spacing method.?

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop Puss how close are spacing the corn and what spacing method.?

In two rows, 45 cm apart each way. Pollination isn't a problem (I live in a windy valley).

[wargarden2023]

wow no one here plants corn that far apart.
we plant different spacing depending the type of sweet corn.
early, mid and late season are spaced differently.
early 6 in, 8 in and 12 in apart respectively.

as for sweet corn color there have been wars fought over which is better white or yellow. . .

[greenishfing]

I plant mine about the same distance apart as Snoop. I plant Lark and usually get 2 cobs per plant.

[wargarden2023]

i follow the best selling vegetable planning book author's
advice mel bartholomew. in the 1996 article. on sweet corn planting
spacing and how to protect them from creatures with a sweet tooth.

[Snoop Puss]

Few years since I last grew Lark. It's my favourite sweetcorn but I can't buy it in the EU. But if I recall rightly, the instructions on the packet were 15 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart. greenishfing, might you be able to confirm that?

Not sure if it's partly variety or partly spacing, but at these wider spacings I get two cobs per plant. Looks like in that regime in the article, wargarden2023, they're aiming for one per plant. So the wider spacing is still quite productive.

smallblueplanet, might this kind of fencing keep the badgers at bay? I'm guessing not, though it might help with other pests. But it would make it a bit difficult to pick individual cobs that ripened earlier than others, I guess.

[greenishfing]

Few years since I last grew Lark. It's my favourite sweetcorn but I can't buy it in the EU. But if I recall rightly, the instructions on the packet were 15 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart. greenishfing, might you be able to confirm that?

Not sure if it's partly variety or partly spacing, but at these wider spacings I get two cobs per plant. Looks like in that regime in the article, wargarden2023, they're aiming for one per plant. So the wider spacing is still quite productive.

smallblueplanet, might this kind of fencing keep the badgers at bay? I'm guessing not, though it might help with other pests. But it would make it a bit difficult to pick individual cobs that ripened earlier than others, I guess.

Just looked online where it says 14" apart in a block. I usually plant them with the aid of six foot garden canes marking out a square so they usually end up 5 seedlings to a cane, roughly 18 inches apart. I'm not the neatest or most exact gardener. I usually plant the weakest in the middle and tell the others to protect and look after them. Yes, my husband says I'm crackers.

I nearly always get 2 cobs, occasionally 3 but the third tends to be a bit sparse which isn't a problem if I take the kernels off to freeze.

[smallblueplanet]

...
smallblueplanet, might this kind of fencing keep the badgers at bay? I'm guessing not, though it might help with other pests. But it would make it a bit difficult to pick individual cobs that ripened earlier than others, I guess.

Wouldn't think so, but don't really know. We didn't grow sweetcorn again. Mostly because we didn't want to encourage badgers into the garden in case they went for more than the sweetcorn.

[wargarden2023]

seem to me you guys as girls are the victim of metric conversion mistranslation
since 15cm = 6 in
mr digwell a uk vegetable garden advice icon say 9in=22com

[Snoop Puss]

seem to me you guys as girls are the victim of metric conversion mistranslation
since 15cm = 6 in
mr digwell a uk vegetable garden advice icon say 9in=22com

Maybe varieties have changed and need more room, WG. Here's the RHS and they say 45 cm/18 inches too.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/sw.../grow-your-own

[greenishfing]

I also find that I can carefully ease my not so slim body between the plants when they are planted at 18" apart to pick the ripest cobs. At 6 or 12 inches apart ...... what can I say!

I am equally happy with imperial measurements (taught in school) or metric (spending time in Europe and adapting to modern life) and can swap between them with ease.....so no problems there.