Author Topic: Corn on the cob (Read 3114 times)

Mrs Ava · « **on:** March 16, 2005, 22:44:11 »

Should this be recipes....or shed...who knows or dares to dream...anyhow, number one son wanted corn on the cob for tea, and I forgot to pop to the shops because I was slaving away at the allotment. Raided the chest freezer, and what did I find glowing yellow at the bottom, the last bag of 4 corns from last summers harvest. Delicious, so different from shop bought, but then they were blanched and frozen within an hour of picking, where as shop bought have been hanging around for who knows how long.

Plan to grow a lot more this year!

moonbells · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2005, 09:59:29 »

:-)

I am still finding cobs in the freezer too. Heaps nicer than bought, woody things. I have grown Ovation F1 for the past couple of years (supersweet) but this year I'm trying Lark F1, tendersweet and with very good write-ups. I grow them alongside Minipop F1 baby corns - don't have to worry about the cross pollination problem (where you're not supposed to let supersweets get pollinated by a normal variety or they revert) as minipops don't need pollinating and you can snap their tassels off before they mature.

I've heard some folk say that they take up too much room in a normal lottie but I grow butternut squash underneath so it saves space elsewhere. Haven't tried beans in there too, though!

moonbells

newchangeling · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2005, 10:36:04 »

Courgettes/squash interplanted with corn is supposed to help deter racoons!

funnily enough, I find I never have a racoon problem when I grow them together, so it must be true! ;)

CLare.

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2005, 12:40:03 »

I interplant my corns with squashes and very successful it is to! And agree, not a racoon in sight! ;D

kenkew · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2005, 12:43:18 »

.....and I thought it was my dog that was doing the job!

Moggle · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2005, 12:49:52 »

Too much room!! Never! One of my 4 beds will be the 'sweetcorn' bed, I love the stuff so much. Now I have aquired the other half of the plot, I may have to put some on there as well. ;D

I will be doing 2 blocks and with a gap in the middle, and growing various pumpkins, courgettes and cucumbers through them too. Might leave a bit of space at the end of the bed for a few brassicas.

Like this, where 'x' are the sweetcorns and 'o' are the squashes/cukes:

Path
____________________________________________
o x x x x x o o x x x x x o
x x x x x x x x x x
o x x x x x o o x x x x x o
x x x x x x x x x x
o x x x x x o o x x x x x o
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Path

Derekthefox · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2005, 18:09:03 »

I think my sweetcorn has run out too, but our chest freezer is deep, so who knows?
However, I have been having four corn on my lottie barbeque every weekend since October, so I can't grumble!

cleo · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2005, 20:51:13 »

This is pure sadism,I cleaned out the second shed today,and even gave the BBQ a spring clean-oh happy days of corn freshly picked and grilled over charcoal with a cool glass of something. :P

Stephan

Bramley · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2005, 21:51:02 »

Can you believe, I've never grown corn on the cob, think it's becasue my dad never. You are inspiring me to have a go.
I was wondering if any of you had grown the little cobs that are so expensive in the shops.

moonbells · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2005, 09:08:42 »

Quote from: Bramley on March 17, 2005, 21:51:02

Can you believe, I've never grown corn on the cob, think it's becasue my dad never. You are inspiring me to have a go.
I was wondering if any of you had grown the little cobs that are so expensive in the shops.

I have - those are the Minipops I mentioned in my post above. They grow 3-4 minicorn per plant, so not desperately many, but a packet of seed will cost you much less for 2-3 times as many baby corn as you buy for the same price. The one real danger is to leave them too long and get a woody large baby instead of an mature cob. They are bred to be sweet early on so don't taste nice if they overgrow. You pick them as soon as you see pale tassels sticking out of the top of the husk, when the corn are about 2.5" long. . If the tassels go pink then they are getting ready for pollination and are too big. Pick them anyway, as then more grow. You have to pick them carefully, as you can snap the plant stem off easily and then you don't get the second flush.

Also the plants are definitely NOT mini! They are bigger than the full sized cob plants...

The danger is that you never get the cobs home... :) they freeze well, once you've shelled them.

moonbells

kenkew · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2005, 10:40:13 »

I've no intention of growing baby corn, lots of work for 3 chews. Gimmi the biggies!

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:48:47 »

hahaha Ken! I am with you. What little room I have left will be packed with corns - I now have 6 varities for goodness sakes!!

RichardS · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2005, 13:35:12 »

EJ, Newchangeling...

you're both wrong - it's elephants that are deterred by interplanting squashes or courgettes in sweetcorn.

didn't have a single incident last year.

mind you, could have been the french marigolds that deterred them, or perhaps surruptitiously planting peanut plants and bun trees in neighbour's plots...

RobinOfTheHood · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2005, 14:10:23 »

Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on March 18, 2005, 12:48:47

hahaha Ken! I am with you. What little room I have left will be packed with corns - I now have 6 varities for goodness sakes!!

Emma Jane, do you have any problems with interbreeding of the corns?
I have just read that 'Indian Summer', for example, loses its colour if planted near other varieties.

I'm just interested because I'm trying 2 varieties 'Indian Summer' and 'Two's Sweeter' in the same lottie for the first time this year.

wardy · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2005, 14:15:39 »

Useful to know that Richard as elephants are a real pest in these parts. Their manure comes in handy though ;D

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #15 on:** March 18, 2005, 14:19:00 »

No idea Robin, this will be the first time I have grown more than one variety.....and aren't f1's okay to be planted close by??

Elephants huh...... it is the grizzly bears that do the most damage in Essex, climbing trees for the honey, and I always catch them in the ditch behind my shed looking for any lost salmon!

BAGGY · « **Reply #16 on:** March 19, 2005, 09:33:38 »

I've got early king and lark to do. How far apart do they have to be? I think one's F1 and the other isn't ?

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #17 on:** March 19, 2005, 18:28:38 »

Wide enough for the elephants to pass through easily?

I am very scientific with my spacings and everything tends to be a trowels length, however, because I interplant with squash, I tend to do a couple of trowels......

Debs · « **Reply #18 on:** March 19, 2005, 18:46:06 »

My mouth is positively watering as I picture the scene of me , hubby and kids chomping on sweetcorn with melted butter running down our chins...

How poetic is that ;D ;D ;D

Debs ( novice sweetcorn grower 2005)

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Author Topic: Corn on the cob (Read 3114 times)