how to tell if sweetcorn is ready

souter

any suggestions? A couple of years ago I let several ears go woody on the stem, completely missing the point of growing them. This year I've picked a couple that seemed a bit undersized.

Irish Gardener

souter, the corns should be ready for harvesting about three weeks after flowering finishes.
There is a discussion on the topic here CORN HARVESTING

looksee

I doubt the corn will get very big this year, the weather has been too poor. Look for when the tassle turns brownish then peel back the covering a bit and press your nail into a kernel. If it is ripe milky fluid will come out, if its not milky - watery - its not ready and if its thickish or there is no fluid then its gone over.

souter

I guess I'll err on the side of freshness and look to harvest a few now. Miserable summer for them alright.

Mellor

how easy is it to grow corn in ireland, what size area is required for a small batch? How much care?

souter

Hi Mellor, I'm far from an expert, but from my limited experience:

easy to grow.
Can grow from the seed straight in the ground once frosts are well gone - maybe half a plastic bottle for slug protection as well heat. They are fast out of the blocks due to the energy store in the kernel, so they soon grow beyond the slug danger zone.
You need around a m^2 in area because they need to cross-polinate.
Lots of water (no problem).
Lots of sun, or at least a sunny aspect (not so easy).

There's an old native american system of growing corn + beans + squash on the same patch (can't remember the name). The beans provides nitrogen for the corn, the corn provides support for the beans. The squash suppresses the weeds and provides a crop after the corn. Looks fairly ramshackle but is low maintenance and fine for Irish climate ( maybe squash -> courgette)

luckat

Three Sisters. Dig a hole and put in a fish and three seeds of corn. When the corn's about a foot high, take out the two weaker ones and put in three seeds each of climbing beans and squash. When the beans and squash are up, take out the two weaker of each one.

The corn supports the beans, the hairy leaves of the squash keep away mice, the beans fix nitrogen in the soil to nourish the corn and squash, and the fish feeds the lot.

As for corn ripeness, you can kind of peek in through the silk. When it is ready, put a pot of salted water on to boil, go down the garden and cut your heads, and bring them straight back up to put into the boiling water. Fresh! Tasty!

souter

Thanks for the info luckat. I've harvested most of the ears now and they were nice and tasty. Only problem once stripping off the leaves of apparently heavy cobs there were a fairly small number of kernels at the base. I'm guessing the majority didn't get fertilised. I should probably have planted more together (only had 6 plants), or done some assisted reproduction.