[chairmanphil]

going to have the rotovator this weekend and am going to put in about 5, 15 meter beds for red and blue sweetcorn [maize] was wondering what soil improvements are recommended. the normal top soil is a heavy Oxfordshire clay! 

[OhLaLa]

Dig as much well rotted horse muck into the bed a you can get hold of, maize is a very hungry plant.

[deepinthewoods]

and keep chucking it on as they grow, they grow advantageous roots, like tomatoes, which they need for support, to make them keep fruiting.

[chairmanphil]

nice one peeps! i have a pile of about 4 tonnes of horse muck in the nextdoor paddock, looks like i will be using it in the maize beds! 

[deepinthewoods]

sweetcorns a funny one, it really pays to try a few varieties, to find out which best suits your microclimate, they all say to keep each variety seperate to avoid cross pollination, but that only applies if your saving seed for next year. i would plant a few types in blocks rather than rows and see which is the best cropper, thenplant that again next year, then keep the seed.
i did this myself, then promptly forgot the variety, thats why i should keep a sowing diary

[chairmanphil]

sweetcorns a funny one, it really pays to try a few varieties, to find out which best suits your microclimate, they all say to keep each variety seperate to avoid cross pollination, but that only applies if your saving seed for next year. i would plant a few types in blocks rather than rows and see which is the best cropper, thenplant that again next year, then keep the seed.
i did this myself, then promptly forgot the variety, thats why i should keep a sowing diary

the seed i have are the most successful ones from last year

[Hermit]

I grow it in the polytunnel some years, it is right that you have to grow it in blocks not rows and that is because of pollination. Mine grows so high it bends over at the roof, I have now learnt there are dwarf varieties for indoor growing. Sweetcorn is the best veg, you must walk to harvest it but run back to cook it as the saying goes. As soon as it is picked the sugars turn to startch I believe so they loose their sweetness from picking.

[chairmanphil]

we cut the 4 runs into the unproductive far corner of the plot for the corn, cut in with the rotovator and must have been half a tonne of horse muck too............









what do you all think then?

[Hermit]

Well done, get the butter ready! Sweetcorn is so good to grow as it grows so fast. I have to grow mine indoors cause I am so far North, so jealous that you can grow it outdoors in numbers.

[chairmanphil]

yeah, was 22 today when we were working! got a suntan working, been using the hothouse well too.



they went in 5th Feb and have been kept at 10 degrees or higher since.

[Fleecewife]

It would be a good idea to clear the bits between the rows too as otherwise they will just be a source of weeds growing back in amongst your plants - won't take long with that super rotavator.   When you plant out your corn, be careful not to disturb the roots - they don't like that.   This year we are not growing our usual crop of sweetcorn, so I will be very envious when you are tucking in to yours 

[chairmanphil]

It would be a good idea to clear the bits between the rows too as otherwise they will just be a source of weeds growing back in amongst your plants - won't take long with that super rotavator.   When you plant out your corn, be careful not to disturb the roots - they don't like that.   This year we are not growing our usual crop of sweetcorn, so I will be very envious when you are tucking in to yours 

i understand what you are saying, the plan is to put wood chips between them to keep the weeds down. the advantage of this is it keeps the weeds down and improves the soil at the same time. the other reason is that in the kitchen i love to use baby corn especially the red corn. these will be much easier to harvest with a walkway in between. at least that is the plan, but as so much of this goes it will probably go a completely different direction! 

[Sylvia]

Last year my nephew tried the "three sisters" method. Sweetcorn, underplanted with squash and with climbing beans winding up the sweetcorn stems. It worked fairly well but he reckons he'll need loads more manure this year.

[chairmanphil]

Last year my nephew tried the "three sisters" method. Sweetcorn, underplanted with squash and with climbing beans winding up the sweetcorn stems. It worked fairly well but he reckons he'll need loads more manure this year.

never knew it had a name, never tried the beans before but have always done the corn and pumpkins thing! and i have tonnes of horse muck to use so will be putting it on weekly!

[deepinthewoods]

the other tip for sweetcorn is to sow at fortnightly intervals, often the fruit is ready to be fertilised way after the top is spent, planting a slightly later crop amongst them can help fertilise the first sowings.