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Easy to grow and fast growing, corn is rarely grown in our gardens. Garden enthusiasts, learn how to successfully grow sweet corn and the key steps to harvesting it before eating.
Corn is a delicious grain that is a valuable source of essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. How to grow it in the garden?
What are the different varieties of corn?
Corn is part of the grass family, just like other grains. It comes in different variants:
- Sweet corn, such as rainbow sweet corn, Astarac sweet white, or amarillo sweet yellow, is grown for its starchy kernels. It is ideal for human consumption.
- The grain is used as feed for farm animals.
- Popcorn, like Tom Thumb.
- And Indian corn with small, hard and multicolored grains, not very common in Europe.
When to sow corn?
To grow corn, you need well-aerated soil, nutrients (green manure, potting soil) and sufficient irrigation. Then you need to choose the right time to get good sowing results.
Sowing usually takes place from May to June or mid-July depending on the region.
You have to take weather and soil conditions into account. If you sow too early or in cold weather, it can have adverse consequences such as slow germination, delayed emergence, plant weakness, pests (wireworm, scutigerella, beetle), etc. It is therefore recommended to wait until the soil is sufficiently warm, dry and well processed, with an outside temperature of around 8-10°C.
Choose a sunny site protected from the wind and prepare the soil carefully in advance to increase your chances of success in growing corn.
How to sow corn in your garden?
Before sowing in the ground, know that corn prefers deep soil, rich in nutrients and well worked, ideally dug up before winter. Before sowing, plan to prepare the soil several weeks in advance by digging it deeply and adding an adequate amount of compost for optimal nutrition.
For sowing, you can count around 8 plants per square meter when harvesting 800 g of corn per square meter. You can:
- Sow the seeds in rows or squares to ensure good pollination, spacing the plants 20 to 30 cm apart.
- Or plant the seeds directly in place and create pots or pockets with 3 to 4 seeds. Dig furrows 2cm deep, space them 40cm apart and sow the seeds before filling and watering the furrow.
After sowing, lightly tamp the base to strengthen the sown plants and water thoroughly. Remove weeds from your vegetable garden regularly, prefer hand weeding. Emergence will occur in about ten days when the soil is sufficiently warmed. When the seedlings have 4 to 5 leaves, thin them and leave 20 cm between each plant to encourage the growth of the most vigorous plants.
When to harvest corn to eat?
The ideal time to harvest corn is generally from August to October. This is approximately 90 days after sowing for sweet varieties and 150 days for popcorn varieties. Harvesting is done when all the cobs turn brown, which means the corn is ripe. (Editor’s note: Awns are the stems that release pollen at the top of the plant, turning from green to brown when mature).
As a general rule, corn is ready for harvest about three weeks after infestation, when the kernels are well formed. To check if the corn is ready to harvest, lightly crush the kernel between your index finger and thumb. If you see a milky liquid, the plant is ready to harvest. If the beans are not yet ripe, they will be firmer and will not contain the milky liquid. In this case, let them ripen further on the plant.
Nothing beats the taste of fresh corn harvested from your own garden. It is best consumed immediately after harvest to take advantage of its optimal freshness and flavor. If you’re aiming for sweet corn, make sure you don’t delay harvesting it so it doesn’t turn into hard corn. However, if it does, there are always clever ways to use it, whether it’s turning it into flour or reusing it to sow new seeds in the next planting season.