when do i plant sweet corn?

Got some f1 swift sweetcorn when can I plant them?
any advice on any tips on growing etc apprieciated
thanks

 

Hi PP,

Best wait till early april to start them off indoors. They don't like root disturbance so I grow them in toilet roll tubes that I can plant straight into the ground, the tubes will rot down.

A site with full sun is good, plant in a block pattern to ensure polination.

Protect against Badgers, they will have the lot overnight

 

[size=large]What an ingenious idea you had to use the toilet rolls tubes! They will dissolve in the soil and they are just an ideal size.[/size]

 

Hi Paula,

Not my idea, think I borrowed it from Geoff Hamilton or that hippy gardener with the pony tail:DOH:

Works great though, trick is to catch them before the roots get out the bottom.

Do you have problems with urban "Tasso" in London, or is it just chavs that nick the sweetcorn?

 

Blimey its years since I last grew sweetcorn, I think there are much better varieties around these days, that are quicker maturing and more suitable for UK growing.
Having said that, its still tender and needs to be planted out after the frosts have finished.

I'd still sow in early May in the greenhouse and plant out in early June I think, before the plants get potbound.

 

Yup, Swift is one of those new "super sweet", fast maturing, varieties

3 weeks from sowing to being ready to plant out, so sow it 3 weeks before your last anticipated frost - start of May would be about right (depending on your location).

Plant in a block, not a row. Minimum 3 x 3, but a larger block would be better for pollination. Sow in succession - so maybe 3 crops, depending on how much space you have.

The new varieties, like Swift, can have some difficulty germinating - your seed will probably be coated with fungicide - wash hands after handling, and their efficacy declines after a year or so - so best to use fresh seed.

Oh! and get them in the pan within 10 minutes of picking them. Don't store them in the fridge for days etc ... if you do that you might as well buy them from the Supermarket, because much of the sweetness will have gone - as the Sugar starts turning to Starch from the moment they are harvested

 

Good advice there Kristan A past girlfriend once comented that my sweetcorn was the best she had ever tasted. And before you lot go innuendo, yes, i'm talking about the vegetable :DOH:

Now how many 20 year olds invited their girlfiends back to try their home grown veg ?

 

do i need to soak sweetcorn before planting?

 

I do, but that might just be me

 

I have just sown my Swift sweetcorn. No soaking. They were up within a week. I will sow another batch in a week or two just to be safe, the weather forecast is for cold next week then back to mild. My seedlings are in small pots in the conservatory, too early to plant out.

 

Today sowed sweet corn. No didn't soak them but did see that the seeds did look very dry. Well give it a go as usual and hope that out of the 30 (actually 39) most will germinate.