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By Robert Laurence
Be sure a pot of water is boiling furiously on the stove before picking
the first succulent corn
 you grow this season." Old timers followed this a
rule of thumb whenever they ate corn to be certain they captured every bit
of its fresh, sweet flavor. This rule is just as true today. If you've
never grown corn before, you'll discover that no other homegrown
vegetable tastes so much better than its supermarket counterpart.
In fact, the difference is so pronounced
that the two taste like entirely different
 vegetables. The reason being
that corn can lose up to 90 percent its flavor and hour after its picked. That's how long it takes for corn's sugar content to change to starch
(except in the long lasting varieties described later) and this process
begins about 30 seconds after an ear is picked. Not even the most
conscientious dealer can obtain fresh ears for sale in so short time. Your
nearest farmstand will never equal the flavor of corn grown in your own
garden.
Farmstand corn costs some 35 cents an ear,
too, making it all more logical to try this easy to grow vegetable. A mere
100 plants grown in a small patch and yielding 200 ears would save you
$70.
The aristocrat of the garden, corn
has been grown in America since long before the Aztecs and was in fact the
grain that built the Mayan and Incan empires. Man has raised corn so long
that fossil evidence of it has been found in Peru. But while corn is the
most valuable food plant native to the New World and has manifested uses
in industry, it is still relatively little known in Europe, where it is
more properly called "maize" after its botanical name Zea Maya rugosa,
which in turn is based on the ancient Incan word for "life." This is
because up until relatively recent times, corn couldn"t survive a
transatlantic voyage without losing practically all its good taste.
Most of us are familiar with how Squanto taught the starving Pilgrims in Massachusetts to grow corn, but
few are aware that for 40 days after corn planting, every dog in the
colony was made to hop about with one forepaw tied to its neck. This
prevented dogs from digging up the fish fertilizer Squanto taught the
settlers to plant between their hills of corn. Even fewer know that the
Aztecs had a highly civilized law permitting starving people or hungry
travelers to pick ears from the first four rows of corn bordering any
road. There has been no similar law in all of America since then.
Some botanist believe that Native Americans
learned to hybridize corn and they certainly did have numerous varieties
of their own, though nowhere near the hundreds of modern varieties that
have made the American Midwest the producer of more that one quarter of
the worlds corn-close to two billion bushels a year. Many tribes claim
that their gods gave the world corn as a gift, but no one knows exactly
where in America corn originated. You can imagine it was somewhere near
your own little cornfield, where you'll be able to sit quietly on a still
August evening and actually "hear the corn growing" softly in the dark.
Variety Selections
Although corn is easy to grow, it is
not easy to grow well. That is, you can't just effortlessly drop a few
seeds in a few seeds in a hole in the ground and reap miracles a` la Jack
Beanstalk. Some time and care must be given to this wonderful vegetable.
If the correct procedures are followed, however-and they aren"t difficult-
the average homeowner can harvest enough to provide his or her family of
four a taste treat at least 10 times during the season from 10 X 15 feet
in size.
First, choose the early and late varieties
you like best from the hundreds available from the catalogue or seed rack,
making sure to plant varieties that mature at different times to extend
the growing season (which can also be done by staggering the plantings of
one variety every 10 days or so).
Old Favorite Burpee Heirlooms like
"Golden bantam" (80 days form planting to harvest), introduced in 1902 by
Burpee; "Country Gentleman" or 'shoe Peg" (92 days), a while late variety
with irregularly arranged kernels dating to about 1890; and "Black
Mexican" (75 days), a white sweet corn that dries black, are all excellent
choices. Other traditional American favorites include 'silver Queen" (92
days) and the bicolor - Honey and Cream" (78 days).
All of these types are sweet and tender if
eaten soon after picking, but if you want a corn that tastes just as good,
is a bit sweeter and keeps its flavor longer (from 10 to 14 days) try one
of the Sugary enhancer (SE) hybrids, which do not have to be isolated from
other varieties. "Breeder's Choice" Bicolor" (73 days), 'silver Choice"
(75 days) and the yellow "Breeders Choice" (73 days) are all excellent. So
are the yellows "Early Choice" (66 days) and 'sweet "n Slim" (74 days), a
brand-new almost cobless variety developed for roasting on a grill.
If your taste runs to the Super Sweet, try the Sh2 varieties, which are
about twice as sweet as other hybrids and also hold their flavor as well.
These include "Illini Xtra-Sweet" (71 days), and the bicolor "Honey n"
Pearl" (78 days).
Planting Techniques
If crows and other birds pose a problem in
your locality by scratching out seed, try erecting a scarecrow or planting
the corn seed treated with pest retardants offered by some nurserymen.
Most growers never find this necessary, but it is a problem for a minority
of gardeners, some of whom go so far as to transplant large corn seedlings
grown in pear pots to their small corn patches.
In choosing the location for corn in your
garden, be certain not to plant where the corn will shade other crops.
Also remember that because it is wind pollinated, corn is best grown in
compact blocks of at least four rows rather long rows. Needless to say,
corn is a sun-loving vegetable and you should choose location that gets at
least six hours of sun a day. The location should be well drained with a
pH of about 5.7 to 6.8 (slightly acid), but any good garden loam will do.
If the only site you have is poorly drained, try planting the seed in
raised beds.
Sweet corn is what used to be called a "gross feeder" and needs rich soil,
the richer the better, so build up the planting area with plenty of
compost and dry manure if possible. An application of about 40 pounds of
dry manure or compost per 100 square feet is beneficial and can be made
any time prior to planting, for it will not burn or injure the seed.
Corn should be planted after all danger of
frost has passed and the soil is thoroughly warm (at least 55 degrees F.).
Over the years I have heard several country maxims instructing when to
plant corn: When the leaves on oak trees are "as big as a crow's beak;"
and just when the common lilac has definitely passed out of bloom.
About two weeks before sowing corn seed, fertilize the planting area with
3-5-7, 4-8-4, or 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer, at a rate of about three
pounds to a 25 foot row (in addition to the compost or dry manure already
mentioned). It is important not to work in the commercial fertilizer while
you are planting, as it might come in contact with and injure the seed no
matter how careful you are.
If rows are used, the seed should ideally be sown on e to two inches deep
and three inches apart in rows two to three feet apart. When the seeds
germinate, thin the plants to 6-12 inches apart in the rows.
For planting in what are called
"hills"- a hill here meaning not a mound of dirt but simply a grouping of
seeds on flat land "plant the seeds at the same depth, five or six seeds
to a hill, later thinning the seedlings to three or four to each hill. The
hills should be about three feet apart.
Fortunately, these distances given between rows and hills are ideal ones.
Many gardeners raise corn as close as one foot apart in all directions,
an intensive method which proves successful when a heavy mulch of hay or a
similar material is used to keep down weeds or the gardener does not mind
being crowded while cultivating.
Cultivating Corn
There is a definite advantage in using the hill method when late, tall
corn varieties are plant because the hills, easily converted to
real dirt mounds by hoeing soil up around the stalks, provide the plant
roots with more support against winds.
Regardless of which method is used, unless well mulched corn must be
cultivated throughout its growing period. The plants should receive about
an inch of water a week and weeds cannot be permitted to rob them of their
food. Use either deep mulching or hoe or hand cultivation. Aside form this
sweet corn needs very little attention.
Research has proved that it is not necessary to remove the suckers that
arise at the base of each plant, an issue that was long a source of
controversy among gardeners.
Some gardeners emulate Squanto and bury several dead fish in every corn
row or hill, while others fertilize a second time with fish emulsion or
similar liquid fertilizer to 25 feet of row, carefully raking the
fertilizer into the soil when the corn stalks are about 6 to 12 inches
high. Fertilize generously and you should get two or three ears form each
plant, with the ears generally all well formed. Under less than ideal
fertilizing and cultivating conditions, you'll often get only one good ear
from each plant.
The corn will be perfectly ripe and ready to eat when the silks are rusty
brown and dry. To be absolutely sure, until you get the feel of harvesting
corn, carefully strip back an ear and press your thumbnail into a plump
kernel. If it spurts forth a whitish "milky" liquid, the ear is ready to
cook (in fact, it is sweet enough to eat raw!).
Fodder Corn
Corn that is raised as feed for livestock
is called "field corn," even though all corn is, of course, grown in
fields. Before the nineteenth century, when sweet corn was developed what
is now called field corn served as both fodder for animals and human
consumption (when the ears were picked young and tender). As the poet John
Ciardi pointed out, "fodder corn" would be a less absurd name for field
corn, but language is not always a matter of logic. Interestingly, sweet
corn was also commonly called 'sugar corn - in the past to differentiate
it from field corn, long before the new sugar enhanced types were
developed.
Growing Tips
Before you put that pot on the stove,
however, here are a few more tips that will help you fill the pot to
overflowing:
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Except where birds
are a problem, or when you"re trying for the earliest corn in your
neighborhood, don't bother transplanting corn seedlings to the garden.
During the proper planting season, seed grows just as fast as
transplanted corn.
-
Another way to get
extra-early corn is to use early varieties and cover the soil with black
plastic early in the spring, removing it and planting when soil
temperature reaches 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Transplants into such
"preheated" soil can be protected with hotkaps or row covers for a
while. This method also works well where growing seasons are short.
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As a space-saver,
try growing pole beans or climbing lima beans on your cornstalks as many
American Indian Tribes did. Squash can be grown in spaces between
plants, too.
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Help pollination
along by shaking pollen from a few mature tassels over young silks.
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Try mulching with
aluminum foil, which reflects heat as well as keeping down weeds.
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If you do cultivate
instead of using mulch, cultivate shallowly, taking care not to disturb
roots.
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After you pick all
corn from a plant, uproot and remove the stalk from the garden in order
to conserve nutrients for the remaining plants.
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Remove and carefully
discard any plant stricken with the fungus disease corn smut, or
bacterial wilt. Smut is characterized by large white galls that form on
a plant and release masses of black fungus spores, while bacterial wilt
wilts and dwarfs plants. There are resistant varieties for these and
other diseases.
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Eliminate earworms
by pulling back the husk and cutting them out of the ear with a
penknife; or by dripping mineral oil into the tips of ears with an
eyedropper when the silk dries. There are also several commercial
preparations on the market to combat earworms and corn borers, as well
as bird and animal pests that might plague the cornfield. Granular BTK,
for example, can be used to control corn borers.
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Where birds are a
problem try covering each ear of corn with a paper bag when its silk
begins to turn brown.
-
Some gardeners foil
raccoons by taping the tip ends of maturing corn ears to their stalks
with strong plastic wrapping tape.
Dessert corn
Corn was served at the first Thanksgiving
feast in 1621 when Chief Massasoit and his braves were invited to the
harvest celebration. But it was served at the end of the feast as a new
treat for the colonists. The chief's brother, Quodequina, slipped into the
woods after dinner and brought back a bushel of popcorn. No doubt the corn
popped was an ancestor of popping corn
varieties like "Tom Thumb" (a Burpee Heirloom variety), 'strawberry
Popcorn", and Japanese White Hull-less available to the home gardener
today.
Kissing Corn
In a "cornhusking bee" or "husking
bee", the terms used in America since at least 1693, neighbors got
together to help husk corn. A young man who found an ear of red corn got a
kiss from the girl of his choice, a custom that originated from an
Iroquois Indian fertility rite. Today seedsmen offer many decorative
ornamental corns ranging from deep blues and reds to oranges and creams,
even rainbow corns with four or five colors on an ear.
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