Sweetcorn

Went out into the garden and looked at all the veg I'm growing - it's not that much but it's the first time I've grown veg from seed in the garden. I've got 5 Sweetcorn plants in there and on 3 of them I can see in the middle the flower / cob formation developing (being new to all this I'm not sure what it's called)



I've looked today and they grown some more. I know it may seem silly that I'm getting excited about this but I am, like with all the firsts I've had in my little veg plot. I couldn't believe it so I thought I'd share. Theres 3 cabbage at the other side and one of them looks like a baby cabbage in the middle, theres something new to see almost everyday. My neighbours think I'm a little strange when I say 'come and look at this' as none of them are growing any veg (most only grow their grass on the lawns).

Is there anything I should be doing once these have formed a little more?

 

It's been a learning curve definately. I've had my garden for 7 years and actually haven't really done anything with it, the last couple of years I've been getting more and more into it though. My grandad used to grow his own veg in the garden and when I was a kiddy I used to help him with it all (even though I don't like worms - it's a bit like the reaction to mice that people have if I touch one, lol, if I see one on the path it gets lifted up with care on a spoon and put back onto the soil, and I hate dirty hands but I'm starting to slowly get used to the fact that my hands aren't going to be clean when I'm messing with soil). Somethings like watering the beans leaves, my grandad used to get me to do this even though they'd been watered underneath - now I understand why he did this as my beans are setting wonderfully. The things that I am suddenly remembering is amazing. When I first started to plant my little seedlings out into the garden there was all this space inbetween it all, I thought gosh theres so much room left (but I'd only got a few seeds so couldn't go mad anyway) and now it feels like I need a machete to get in there. I've got carrots, beetroot, sweetcorn, lettuce, peas (supposed to only grow to 24" but they're 4' tall in my garden and normal sized in my mums) courgettes (but they're not doing well all small ones and don't seem to be growing as much as my mums) and runner beans, tomatoes - normals ones, a cherry one and a beefsteak one (all outside), and strawberries.

I'll tap the plants gently when the tassels open, and also get some canes to help them. I'm quite lucky really as my neighbour has done his garden (although he's paved it all) and put up a 6' fence and suddenly instead of galeforce winds I get a nice gentle breeze through the garden (it gets too hot some days in there). I never know if I'm watering too much or not enough (I push my finger into the soil, like I would a pot is this a good way of telling?) but everything is still alive!

 

Katherna
They're looking good! As the others have said, your photo is of a sweet corn tassle. The cobs themselves will form lower down the plant, on its sides. The first you'll see of the cobs will be silky threads coming out of the end of swellings that grow into the cobs. The threads will be sticky, in order to catch the pollen which will fall from the tassle which by then, should be very tall.

The trick with sweet corn is to decide when the cob is ripe. To do this, you have to gently unwrap the end of a cob and test a single grain of corn with your thumbnail. If the juice is clear, it's not ripe. If it's milky, it's just right. If it's starchy and rubbery, it's overripe. But that's quite a way off - here in southern Hampshire, I used to pick my sweetcorn in late August.

 

Hi folks. Another sign of ripeness is when the tassels have turned brown (as I remember). Cheers...freddy.

 

Hi Katherna

Enjoy your garden. My grandad used to grow all his veg in the flower borders...ok, not spuds and big crops like that, but anything he could.

He didn't have a veg plot as such...but had lots of fresh veg and salad crops throughout the growing seasons. He was the man responsible for my future in growing plants and veg. Gawd Bless Him. :thumb:

 

Hi Katherna, it is really exciting growing veg, I screeched at the top of my voice yesterday when I found a broccoli head LOL

 

Hi Katherna,

You clever so and so-they look really good. I don`t do veggies-yet, and am extremely impressed.

Grandads eh! Their the best. Mine used to take me a walks and tell me about wildflowers and such-I rememebr when we found wild garlic in the park, and he ate it right there and then! But then he also ate a beetle once in front of me, and took his teeth out and pretended to talk with them. Still worshipped him though.

 

That is hilarious LOL

 

Hilarious now, but at five or six yrs old it was horrendous!

 

LOL i suppose it would be! :D

 

LOL.

I get excited about everything when it's growing, flowering etc; generally ring my mum up to tell her. The sweetcorn tassels are coming along nicely now, when theres more I'll post another pic of them.

 

Claire, you need to bite the bullet next year, and GROW VEG.:D With us lot behind you, you cannot go wrong.:thumb::D Katherna, when the time comes, you will need to fertilise your sweetcorn. The cobs grow in the leaf axis, so when the male flower is ready, give it a tap everyday, particles will fall from it into the leaf axis, pollinating the female flowers.:thumb:

 

Silly question - when will I know when it's ready? The main tall one is further up out into the air when I look down into it all theres several smaller looking ones down there as well. I was given the seeds so I don't even know which variety it is, lol.