Growing your own sweetcorn, or maize, as it is also known, gives you a chance to experience it as nature intended: sweet, tender, and oh-so-delicious, especially when consumed right off the cob, just after it’s been picked. To cultivate sweetcorn successfully, you will need a spot that gets ample sun and is shielded from windy conditions. Add to that regular spells of dry weather, and you’re well on your way to growing these golden kernels of goodness in your garden.
Classic and Hybrid Sweetcorn Varieties
While moms sway towards the delightfully sweet-tasting hybrid F1 varieties (source: Royal Horticultural Society), the ‘Early Extra Sweet’ has appropriately become the benchmark. It’s what upcoming variants strive to surpass. That said, ‘Marika’, ‘Sweet Perfection’, and ‘Early Bird’ are indeed commendable contenders that have amassed their own group of devoted growers.
Where recent plant breeding has introduced ‘Swift’ and ‘Butterscotch’ for those seeking to grow even sweeter sweetcorn, for those who favor a less chewy version, the ‘Lark’ and ‘Extra Tender and Sweet’ tender-sweet varieties are worth their salt.
Cultivating Sweetcorn: What You’ll Need
If you’re thinking sextillions of elaborate gardening gear is required to grow sweetcorn, you better think again. Here’s your starter kit:
- Garden fork and spade
- Trowel
- Well-rotted farmyard manure
- General-purpose fertilizer
- Liquid feed
- Sweetcorn seeds
- Cloches or clear plastic covers (one per plant)
If you’re venturing into indoor sowing, then add these to your list:
- 9cm (3.5in) pots
- Seed sowing compost
Step-by-Step Guide on Growing Sweetcorn
Step 1: Cultivation
Choose a sunny spot that is also protected from harsh winds. Sweetcorn can thrive in a majority of soil types, provided they offer good drainage and retain ample moisture. Enhance nutrient content and organic matter in the soil by incorporating well-rotted manure, garden compost, or a soil improver. Follow it up with a high-quality general plant food.
Step 2: Sowing Sweetcorn
Sweetcorn is primarily wind-pollinated, mandating growth in square/rectangular blocks rather than a single line or separately. Seeds can be sown directly in the ground from late May to early June. However, pre-warming the soil for two weeks using cloches or clear plastic covers can significantly intensify the success rate. The covers should remain intact till the plants have matured and brush against the top.
Alternatively, for an early onset of crop, commence seeding in late April or early May in pots or cells filled with seed sowing compost and mature under gentle warmth. Once early June rolls in, your indoor plants will be ready for planting outside. Position either seeds or young plants 45cm (18in) apart within each block.
Step 3: Caring for Your Sweetcorn
Watering your plants regularly becomes crucial during extended dry periods, particularly when your plants are establishing, and when they flower and the cobs swell in size.
Step 4: Harvesting
Sweetcorn is ripe for picking when the silks – the female flowers on top of the cobs – transition to a chocolate-brown color.
Common Sweetcorn Pests and How to Prevent Them
Sweetcorn seedlings might be subject to pest attacks from birds (especially pigeons), slugs, snails, and mice. Protecting the seedlings under netting, preventing slugs or snails with crushed eggshells, and securing the seeds from mice by starting them off in pots are a few precautionary measures that can be undertaken.
Sweetcorn Key features:
Foliage season(s): Spring, Summer
Sunlight: Full sun
Soil type: Chalky, Clay, Loamy, Sandy
Soil pH: Neutral
Soil moisture: Moist but well-drained
Ultimate height: Up to 1.8m (6ft)
Ultimate spread: Up to 90cm (3ft)
Time to ultimate height: 4 months
