Allotments 4 All

I am so pleased... I have never planted these before and ate my first one today!Apparently I planted them wrong, should have been quite close together and I left about 2' between. I waited till the feathery bits (not very technical) that hang out of the top turned brown then picked one.

The seeds were Bodacious F1 and the one I had today was the absolute best, sweetest corn I have ever, ever tasted, so these go on the "grow every year" list from now on. And I shall be watching the others to pounce when the hairy bits go brown!!
Lin

Awww well done! I'm growing sweetcorns as well. I tried last year and failed dismally but this year they are looking good. Hopefully I will be tasting my first home-grown sweetcorns soon. Can't wait to harvest them! ;D

Nothing beats it... fresh corn... MMMMMMMMMMm
;D

We're getting a lot of 'false cobs' this year.

Quote from: tim on August 27, 2007, 10:29:28
We're getting a lot of 'false cobs' this year.

How so, Tim? 

Well done!

We've eaten all our sweet corn already, so I'm very envious to hear some people are only starting as I miss it now it's all eaten! lol ;)

Just dug the plants out this morning actualy, think I'll be replacing it with some spinich tomorrow :)

Tim you must tell  - what is a false cob??

This is the first time I have grow sweetcorn

I still have lots to come and yes, there is nothing quite as sweet and juicy as those freshly picked cobs.  Number one son can't get enough of them.  I don't think I will have any to freeze this year as he will eat 2 at each sitting!

Mine no good this year :( they are too small for this time of the year.

Mine are nonexistent; the floods did for them.

I am waiting of mine to ripen,  I have a mixture of I think ovation F1 and a local seed given to me by a fellow allotmenter. they have growen to about 5' ans seem to have fairly fat cobe , The locals told me the trick was to have a good mix of rotted manure when planting and during the growing season keep them well watered when they get to about  3' and give them a boost by topping the soile with more manure. Cobb tails havent turned brown yet but I will let you know how they turn out. Weather here in Belfast has been rotten and most of my other crops have rotted or shot but the corn has seemed to thrive in the wet conditions. just need to get a few weeks of sun to fatten them out (HOPE)!

yes tim i thought it was funny so many cobs were forming got tassles all over the place but they are not swelling however the top ones are and most of mine have bottles on them have picked one and altho not quite ripe was delicious the others are ok in their bottles not mouldy not covered in earwigs and unlike the plot next to me not ate by anon nibblers
marg teeny bit smug but this could change

I have some in the garden and some in the lottie. The garden ones are about 5 ft tall, with 2 cobs per plant, not yet ripe. On the lottie, the plants are still about 1 ft tall, but have flower things at the top. No cobs though, and I am not expecting much. I wondered if the difference could be that the 6 ft fence around the garden sheltered those plants from the worse of the cold weather?

I will be happy just to get a few cobs, as it wasnt looking good for any of the plants a month ago!

cj :)

I've got decent sized cobs, and well pollinated, just not ripe yet.

Maybe this is worth more investigation but  talking to the more seasoned allotmenters the mild winter and the amount of rain we have had over here has helped develop the corn. There are different parts of the plant growth cycle which require  certain conditions .  Early  development requires the  warmth to grow, I  had grown mine  in plastic bottles until they were 12" high ( pending on bottle height used ).  after that they need warmth until 3' and then lots of water  until they get to full height. Again they need warmth and lots of water to fill out the corn. the season has done this for us up to now but need the sun to fill out the cobs. Phantom cobs  they reckon is due to lack of water at the right part of the growth cycle .Don't want to start an east / west rift but has any one got any thoughts on this!

Lin mentioned that she left too large a gap between the plants, and I left about 18 inches or so with mine. How close *should* they be when planting out?

Also, I intend putting just about all my stuff in 4 foot squares with a 2 foot gap between the squares. That will leave stacks of room for getting in amongst the stalks rather than trying to squeeze between rows. Good/Bad idea? Vote now  ;D

I have 16-18" inbetween- book says 18". Mine and many others on plot have been devastated by badgers. When neighbours whoose sweetcorn were ahead of mine were eaten I should have put chicken wire around area, didn't get around to it and did not believe they would do so much damage - last year only a couple were eaten and two plants trampled on.

I planted mine about 16" apart. I started then in the shed in Feb and when there were 5 leafs on them planted them out with plastic bottles over them and fleece for the first few weeks. Removed the bottles  in May, by then the plants were the full height of a 2 ltr bottle. Used lots of manure to start and gave them a second feed with manure in July. Guy next to me planted his in late Jan using the bottles and fleece and his are far more advanced, his thinking that if it goes wrong that you still have time to replant. By July his  plants were full height and cobs were well advanced. No Badgers only the 2 legged rodents to worry about here!

here is the result of putting a slit bottle over the swollen cobbs to protect them from anon nibblers (prob 4 legged) have just eaten the untouched cobb 10/10
marg

far too awful a summer for any sweetcorn for me this year. Hugely dissapointing.