Picking Sweet Corn

[CADplans]

I give up. My garden never looks as good as those posted here; but now you're telling me you can even grow corn out of fenceposts!?!?!?!

My garden has been so good the last few years, I think the fenceposts could grow ears of corn,,
I have shown these pics before, but, what happened is the county had a tub grinder come in and grind up all of the waste from a really bad storm,,
then, the next year, they loaded it for anyone who wanted it,, for free.
I hauled over 100 loads, at 5,000 pounds per load, (that is a half million pounds!!)
The majority went into my garden,,

Other years, I have hauled dozens of loads of horse manure,,
all of that on a garden that is 40 feet X 100 feet.

I think there is plenty of organic matter in my soil,,,,,,,,

 

[Doughknob]

Took a trip to east central IL over the weekend. Got some sweetcorn from a roadside stand. Best corn i ever had..... or at least that i remember.

 

[Alan W.]

Gettin ready to have some now.

 

[Torvy]

mmmm....leaving tomorrow morning for points north. I'll be in Iowa City on Friday night, y'all better still have some sweet corn!...for my daughter, I swore off carbs

 

[CADplans]

I am mostly off carbs, but, I grow the garden for the extended family,, and I gotta sample a couple ears,,
I had two ears tonight,, WOW!! it is tough stopping at two,,,

 

[CADplans]

One stalk of corn had 7 ears,, yea, I know only one or 2 are worth eating,, but, the birds will pick them ALL before it is over with,,
The corn plants are 10 feet tall to the top of the tassels,, the highest ear on each stalk is right at 6 feet high.

One bell pepper plant has 12 mature full size peppers, and dozens of flowers. My grandson likes to eat them like apples, but, I may have more than he can eat.

This is our 3rd year growing jade green beans,, I guess we are officially converted from blue lake bush beans, the jades just out-produce the blue lakes by three to one.
I believe 4 people would have a hard time eating all the green beans produced by one bean seed,, that is a pretty good return. I have three 40 foot rows of blue lake beans that will go untouched, because we have the jades. there are probably a couple wheelbarrows of beans in those rows.

Our three apple trees have apples hanging like grapes,, there are several bushels on each tree,, The bears will have a field day when they decide it is "harvest time"

 

[Jstpssng]

I had some nice cabbage that I had planned on picking in a few days, and a few broccoli sprouts which were going to be tonight's supper. I usually let my turkeys out of their pen for a few hours at night... an hour later I was going down the field with a bucket of compost for their pen and they were right into the cabbage. It's a good thing my nearest neighbors are 1/2 mile away... they might hear me but they couldn't understand what I said. The turkeys got my broccoli, my cabbage, and rolled in my corn, flattening it.

 

[Alan W.]

One stalk of corn had 7 ears,, yea, I know only one or 2 are worth eating,, but, the birds will pick them ALL before it is over with,,
The corn plants are 10 feet tall to the top of the tassels,, the highest ear on each stalk is right at 6 feet high.

One bell pepper plant has 12 mature full size peppers, and dozens of flowers. My grandson likes to eat them like apples, but, I may have more than he can eat.

This is our 3rd year growing jade green beans,, I guess we are officially converted from blue lake bush beans, the jades just out-produce the blue lakes by three to one.
I believe 4 people would have a hard time eating all the green beans produced by one bean seed,, that is a pretty good return. I have three 40 foot rows of blue lake beans that will go untouched, because we have the jades. there are probably a couple wheelbarrows of beans in those rows.

Our three apple trees have apples hanging like grapes,, there are several bushels on each tree,, The bears will have a field day when they decide it is "harvest time"







We have been growing Jade for a couple of years now. Love to pick them young and stir fry in olive oil, salt and pepper.
Let them dry up and save the seed. Jade is not a hybrid.
We also grow Blue lake and Greasy beans.
For old fashion cook them all day flavor the Greasy string type is the best.

 

[jjp8182]

After harvesting this bucket full and working to process it all I've had just about enough of sweet corn for a while. ..though it will be nice to have it to add to stews come winter.

 

[Jstpssng]

After harvesting this bucket full and working to process it all I've had just about enough of sweet corn for a while. ..though it will be nice to have it to add to stews come winter.
View attachment 707333

That's a nice looking bucketload.

 

[fried1765]

My garden has been so good the last few years, I think the fenceposts could grow ears of corn,,
I have shown these pics before, but, what happened is the county had a tub grinder come in and grind up all of the waste from a really bad storm,,
then, the next year, they loaded it for anyone who wanted it,, for free.
I hauled over 100 loads, at 5,000 pounds per load, (that is a half million pounds!!)
The majority went into my garden,,

Other years, I have hauled dozens of loads of horse manure,,
all of that on a garden that is 40 feet X 100 feet.

I think there is plenty of organic matter in my soil,,,,,,,,

With those "dozens of loads of horse manure" you also brought in hundreds of pounds of weed seeds.
I love cow manure (can't find any), and I hate horse manure!

 

[jjp8182]

That's a nice looking bucketload.

That it is - especially since the ears fully developed this year. We're about half-way through processing and have vacuum bagged ~ 5 gallons for freezing so far.

 

[bigtiller]

With those "dozens of loads of horse manure" you also brought in hundreds of pounds of weed seeds.
I love cow manure (can't find any), and I hate horse manure!

Boy, ain't that the truth.
I got some free horse manure spread around the trees in my windbreak.
Since then, I have invested more labor and money in 2-4D than I would have, if I would have bought commercial fertilizer.

 

[Oaktree]

With those "dozens of loads of horse manure" you also brought in hundreds of pounds of weed seeds.
I love cow manure (can't find any), and I hate horse manure!

Was thinking the same thing. Got a load of it one year, and it was full of weed seeds. Took years to get them down to a reasonable level.

We used to say that in the spring as well as the corn was coming up in May/June.

Knee high by the 4th of July.

Truth is, however, if it's only knee high by the 4th of July, it's gonna be a very bad year.

Must be a New England saying...about right for here. In fact, sometimes not even that high on the 4th, yet we still get corn. Of course, you're a lot further south of us. Typically our corn isn't ready until late August/early Sept.

 

[MossRoad]

What I always found amazing was to take a nice ear of sweet corn and cut all the kernels off onto a plate. You end up with a HUGE pile of corn on your plate from just one ear. You'd never take that much in a serving, yet you can eat two ears on the cob no problem.

 

[Jstpssng]

The first garden I planted here was small; corn, tomatoes, carrots, and a few other things. On July 4th I went out and cut an opening in a patch of 20 foot tall grey birch which was growing in an old field. Then I put the BH on, dug the stumps, worked the soil with the bucket, mixed in some type of manure (I don't remember what, or where it came from) I had a good crop that year, all things considered. One question I had, and even asked the Extension Service; the corn on the west end did well, but I could see a marked difference in height over the length of the rows. It wasn't until later that I realized the east end was shaded by the trees.

 

[jjeff]

Have grown a half acre or more successfully for three years this is the worst year due to lack of rain seems like everyone to the north, south, and east gets rain but me. My evergreens are even turning brown.

 

[fried1765]

Have grown a half acre or more successfully for three years this is the worst year due to lack of rain seems like everyone to the north, south, and east gets rain but me. My evergreens are even turning brown.

Corn does not look good.
The raccoons will be disappointed!

 

[Oaktree]

One question I had, and even asked the Extension Service; the corn on the west end did well, but I could see a marked difference in height over the length of the rows. It wasn't until later that I realized the east end was shaded by the trees.

I've seen that quite a bit, some rows are much taller/healthier looking than others. Must be quite a variance in fertility, definitely not a shade issue in the fields I'm thinking of.

 

[jjeff]

Corn does not look good.
The raccoons will be disappointed!

I have a secret weapon, not involving firearms or poison lol. Probably doesn't matter this year.