It must be the stubbornness of the Taurus astrological sign under which I was born because even though I've frequently said I'll never plant corn again until we have a weather and wind protected structure over it, I can't seem to stop myself from a little corn growing experimentation 'bout every other year.
This spring I found myself with an empty 8' x 4' raised bed. I wasn't able to resist. I used it to plant a small patch of corn mainly to see if we could find a way of keeping the stalks from being blown flat by our frequent high winds. Maybe we'd even have enough heat this summer to encourage it to grow. And, boy howdy, have we ever.
With Papa Pea's help, I surrounded the corn planting with sections of cattle panel (on all four sides) to find out if the panels would "hold it up." So far, so good.
As far as the growth of the stalks go, they say you have a good crop of corn going if the plants are knee-high by the 4th of July. Well, ours were nearly waist-high to my long-legged husband at that time and much taller now as you can see by the above picture taken today. (Yes, we're still existing in a smokey haze from the fires in Canada. Cough-cough.)
Truth to tell, I'm kinda amazed at how good the corn presently looks. Mother Nature has provided the heat needed even though she's been severely negligent in sending enough rainfall. Maybe I will be able to successfully grow corn. Albeit on a very small scale!
21 comments:
Wow, your smoke haze looks like ours did last summer! Good for you on that lovely-looking corn; I hope you get to enjoy some sweet, succulent ears.
I have no doubt that you will have corn soon. Looks like it's progressing nicely!
Your corn looks great! Perseverance may pay off yet! Good idea about the cattle panel support fence for it; I'll have to remember that.
I didn't realize you were in the smoke drift from wildfires. That's no fun. Dry conditions are always worrisome.
Michelle - I know folks are really being affected by the poor air quality. It doesn't seem to bother me but my poor husband has been walking around with swollen and burning eyes. I suggested (almost seriously) he needs to get some swimmers goggles to try to protect them.
DFW - I can hardly believe the corn. We've never seen it looking so good at this point in the growing season. Fingers crossed. Our nearest neighbors have grown a good crop for a couple of years but their garden location is just that much higher than ours and more protected from winds which always provides them with just that little bit more warmth than we get.
Leigh - We'll have to remember this corn if we actually get a harvest because we are having very unusual hot weather this year. Doesn't happen every growing season!
Fortunately, we have no fires in the close vicinity. It's remarkable how the air quality can be affected hundreds of miles away from a fire source. Scary, too.
Well your corn really does look great! I've tried growing a little bit here but it's just too dry and hot. Maybe if I moved it to another location but for me or not big corn fans anyway. We're getting some really terrible smoke from Oregon right now too!
Nancy - It's fun to try to grow corn but let's face it. You have to grow a lot of corn to have a winter's quantity put by by cutting the kernels off the cob and freezing (or canning) it. To my mind, it's not at all practical to try to preserve the whole ears as it takes too much space. At the same time, fresh corn is soooo good!
Hope Mother Nature continues to be kind to you so your corn crop can be the best ever!
Thanks so much, Vera!
That looks great! My oldest son loves fresh corn, and I really do try to grow it every year. He eats it just like that, fresh, unboiled. I'm havong much better corn year this summer, last year I got four plants from 60+ seeds! Now with the very same seeds I got 25 plants!
Your smoke comes from Canada, ours from Siberia. Blame the neighbours!
Ulvmor - Fresh ears of corn without butter slathered on it? Whadda kid! The weather is certainly going crazy these days, isn't it? I really feel badly for those who are obviously suffering much more than we are.
Lovely patch, Mama Pea1 What a good idea to use the panels. So sorry about the smoke. Sure wish some of the deluges we have been getting could have been sent elsewhere! Our rain is riding the jet stream up from the south apparently. This is our fifth growing season here, and we've never had this much rain in July before. The locals say it is unusual as well. I'd love to grow corn, but there are too many raccoons around here who would beat me to it when it ripened.
Rosalea - Happily (for us), we don't have very many raccoons in our area but there are a few. I've actually never seen one but our daughter who has a little cabin in the woods frequently has her garbage can investigated by one or two of the rascals.
Feel free to send your excess moisture our way. The trees in the forest are starting to suffer.
Your corn is looking good. We (actually I did) gave up on corn a long time ago. Takes so much space (and weeding of which I got zero help with), no matter what the package said and how I spaced the planting times it always seemed to get ready at the same time, the work to can or freeze, not getting the electric fence up soon enoug to keep out the raccoons, combined with the job... enough was enough.
I envy that you don't have many raccoons, we have to be careful feeding the outside cats, pick it up when they are done, etc. This spring hungry nursing momma raccoon was pretty bold and begging when I go out to pick it up. A few days ago, she had her 4 littles with her showing them were food can be found :-O Fortunately I was late to feed the cats that day. Worse is I found out there's someone about a mile away that does wildlife rehab for orphan raccoons. I really hope she takes them far away to the river area to let them go, not in our neighborhood.
JustGail - I understand completely what you say about corn. The growing, the weeding, the harvesting, the preserving. Just wish the darn stuff didn't taste so good. Especially that which is picked and served within the hour!
I do know raccoons can be destructive (and mean) so feel for your dilemma. We do have trouble with (what seems like) great hordes of both our small red squirrels and chipmunks. We can't put bird seed out in the summer because those two rodents will sit and scarf every single seed while keeping the birds away. They, too, can be destructive!
The corn looks so healthy. You must have the right formula to grow it! The fence around it was a great idea. xo
linnellnickerson - We haven't had one of our wind storms yet so the fencing around the corn patch hasn't really been given The Test yet. But we sure are happy with the way the corn looks so far. It's only because of the (not too welcomed) heat we've had this summer. Phew!
Sounds like me and cantaloupe. Some years we get the weather and some years we don't. You just don't know ahead of time. I've seen people run the cattle panels horizontally on T-posts so the corn or tomatoes grow up through.
Your corn looks great. Always nice to get help with your crop. Fresh corn is the best.
We stopped growing corn because we decided didn't want grow enough to share with the raccoons, groundhogs, and deer, and have enough left for us! We might be able to keep the deer out, but a raccoon-proof fence is a pretty tall order!
Proud of that beautiful corn crop! Envious perhaps! I have decided to purchase my ears this year, as this year it’s all about the water trough beds. Have a perfect week, and stay hydrated!
SmartAlex - I've seen the horizontal cattle panels, too, but it seems it would be a pain to anchor them to the t-posts. (Am I lazy?)
Lisa K - Yes, really fresh corn says SUMMER to me!
Mark - Yep, it's just too enticing to too many critters. Sounds as though you have your share of raccoons as others do. Please keep them.
wyomingheart - I have been very conscious of keeping those glasses of water going through me! (Which is a big bother, but necessary.) I keep checking the corn for formation of ears, but so far none to be seen.
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