How to Grow Sweet Corn

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“Greens!” provides step-by-step principles of organic gardening along with instructive and beautiful photographs. Experienced and budding gardeners alike will find a source for inspiration in this handy guide.
“Greens!” provides step-by-step principles of organic gardening along with instructive and beautiful photographs. Experienced and budding gardeners alike will find a source for inspiration in this handy guide.
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To sow the best corn possible, you should keep to one variety at a time.
To sow the best corn possible, you should keep to one variety at a time.

You can grow your own vegetables whether you own your own home or live in an apartment. Author Karin Eliasson gives advice on growing over 100 vegetables as well as how to use them in the kitchen. In this excerpt taken from Greens! (Skyhorse Publishing, 2013) learn how to grow sweet corn, from cultivating corn to harvesting it.

You can purchase this book at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Greens!.

Corn brings us to warmer shores and Mexican hats. But it is very possible to grow corn in colder climates as well. It is even pretty easy, as long as you keep in mind that corn needs a little extra warmth and shelter from the wind to feel at home. In southern and middle Sweden they cultivate a lot of sweet corn (Zea mays var. saccharata), which is the most common corn to cultivate in the garden, but it’s also a food source for animals. Self-picking is also common. Even though I’ve started to grow my own corn to secure a few well-filled plastic bags in the freezer, I can still find charm in the large corn fields. I gladly take a stroll among the tall plants now and then to experience the sensation of being lost. As a child, I would keep an eye on my mother’s legs on the row next to mine, so that the fear that I would never get out would decrease. The fields are intriguing.

Corn is definitely one of the growths I often place in the children’s garden corner. Most children like corn, no matter if they’re large corn cobs or cute mini kernels. Furthermore, the seeds are large and even small children’s hands manage to stick them in the right place. Since the corn preferably grows in large groups, you can play with the shapes when you set them out and make wavy roads between the groups. The corn (Zea mays everta) used for popcorn is especially exciting. Imagine growing your own popcorn! It is a somewhat different corn cob than the ones we are used to eating, a smaller and tightknit cob with tiny kernels. It needs a little more time to mature, so if you don’t live in a more temperate climate you should grow them in a greenhouse or start pre-cultivating early.

Since corn is one of the world’s most cultivated seeds, there is obviously a whole sea of varieties. Cultivating in the North does, however, set certain requirements that the corn cannot be too sensitive to cold and that the fruit grow early and ripen fast. It is therefore best to keep to the varieties that are already tested in your climate.

  • Published on May 31, 2013
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