Growing corn in small gardens

The corn is tasseling, and with the tasseling comes the little aphids along the tassel. Last year, these did not cause any. Apparently, these are only a problem if they interfere with pollination. Corn pollinates by banging their tassels against each other, usually in a light breeze, though I do this manually to ensure pollination.

If the problem gets worse, I will start by washing the aphids off with a hose.

Knee high by the 4th of July

In massachusetts the saying for corn is that it should be "knee high by the 4th of July." These stalks, planted May 21st are knee high at 6 weeks. The plentiful rain has been fueling their growth as well as every other week feeding. I've planted pole beans at the base of each stalk.

Three sisters garden (corn, beans, squash)

When the corn was up 4 inches or so (around June 8th), I thinned the corn to about 12" and planted 3-4 pole beans seeds at the base of each stalk (a mix of Kentucky blue and haricot verts). 10 days later, the corn has survived a rabbit attack and the beans are starting to sprout.

I also planted pumpkin at either end of the corn bed. This is the "three sisters garden", a supposedly beneficial planting arrangement where the beans climb the corn stalks and the squash, in this case pumpkins, fill in around the base to form a natural mulch. Greg normally does not go for such promiscuous co-minging of plants, so I've never tried this approach before.

Corn has sprouted!

The second time was a charm! The corn from the second sowing sprouted like clockwork 2 weeks later. The trick this time was keeping the soil very moist and keeping the bed covered so the birds couldn't eat the corn.

This is Silver Queen corn - a silvery white sweet corn. I spent my childhood summers on the Maryland shore, and the road to get there wound through the farm country of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake bay. Farm stands dotted the route where you could buy peaches, watermelons, tomatoes and the unbelievably delicious Silver Queen corn.

Not sure if this southern transplant will succeed in Massachusetts. We tried it last year and, while it grew well, the corn itself was tough and inedible.

Once the corn is an inch or two taller, I will add bean seeds around the base of each stalk.

What's happening in the vegetable garden

After nearly 2 weeks, I resowed the corn last Thursday (May 21), and covered the whole section with clear plastic. I've been taking up the plastic every other day to water. If I leave the plastic up for 5 minutes, the birds get right into the bed.

The peas are doing well. The carrots are doing well. The second seeding is starting to emerge.

A little bit from the second sowing of mache, but not much.

The lettuces are coming in well now. Looking forward to a garden salad one night soon.

The cucumbers are suddenly ailing. The seed leaves have mostly fallen off, and the second leaves are emerging, but the stalks are weak. Several of the plants have fallen over. I think we may have lost about half, and those remaining do not look strong.

The beans are doing a little bit better, but they don't seem to really be thriving. The seedlings haven't grown much since being planted out. Some of the leaves are getting brown and papery. No sign yet of the beans directed sown.

I fed everything this weekend. Did I mention the $40 spent on fish gut fertilizer? It stinks, but I've had success with it in the past. Vegetables need a lot of nutrients, especially in a densly planted urban garden. The leeks, especially, should benefit from some additional nutrients.

Sunlight is looking good this time of year. The tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and basil get 10 hours of sunlight. The lettuces, leeks, carrots and peas get 8 hours. The strawberries and herbs get 8. The cucumbers get 6.

Spring planting

Seedlings from Russells in 4 inch pots: $3.99
Planted 6 tomato seedlings. From east to west: Yellow Pear, Better Boy, Purple Krim, Celebrity, Golden Girl, Smarty (grape).
Planted 3 egglants: 2 Black Beauties and an Ichiban
Planted 3 peppers: jalapeno, cubanelle, red bell
Planted 3 basil from home depot.
Planted red onions from Gus.
Also added Tarragon, Thyme, Parsley and Rosemary to the herb bed. I'll see if I can cage or bottle the rosemary to keep it alive through the winter...
Altogether spent another $57 on seedlings.
I also planted sweet corn in the southeast corner and started kentucky blue beans and french beans on a bean teepee. I've planted them in mounds and covered each mound with a milk jug. We'll see if that keeps the critters out. It was a little too windy today to transplant the bean seedlings from the sun porch, but they are 6 or 8 inches tall and ready to in the garden.