Maybe the title is not accurate. What I want to say is I enjoy looking at the growing corn crop in our extended garden. The plots were planted last month and every weekend, I would see the corn stalk growing. It's now 4 or 5 weeks, I guess, and the corn as as tall as I. This morning, I noticed one stalk with flowers. I really enjoy looking at the corn crop with the thought that it is easy to grow. By the way, it is already the rainy season and the daily rains made the corns grow fast. I have to admit that I love boiled corn. And from experience, newly-harvested corn when cooked at once will be sweet and tender. My husband said the corn can be harvested in 3 or 4 weeks, depending on the flowers and by that time, the ground may already be flooded by the excessive rains.
Yes, corn grows so fast that it is fun to watch. Others like that are sunflowers and peonies. We have a peony in our front garden that, each year I wonder if it's going to come up again or not because it doesn't begin growing into well into the spring. Once it starts growing though, it grows to full height in an amazingly short amount of time, and blooms shortly thereafter. Corn, unfortunately, doesn't seem to do well when there are only a few corn stalks. They seem to prefer a field of them, or at least a few rows, and the rows in the center do better than the ones on the edges.
Though I've seen vast cornfields on my past travels to the provinces here in the Philippines, I have not noticed the center rows are well grown than the ones on the edges. Most that I noticed were that, there were no corn ears left for every people that visits and pass by those edges have already got those corn as they pass. Thus, only the center rows retains most for the harvest. lols!
I also love the sweet varieties of corn Corie. How I wish we were neighbors so I can just hop in and join you during harvest and eating time!
I've spent plenty of time in cornfields, walking the rows removing volunteer corn and hand picking corn when the corn picker was down. Wish now that I was back in those times.
When I tried to plant corn a number of years ago, we obviously didn't have the right kind of soil, and didn't put any fertilizer on it, which was a big mistake. I think it is nitrogen you need to grow corn. We just ended up with a few shriveled ears. I know better now, should I be tempted to plant corn again. The only things honestly that have ever grown well for me, are tomatoes, leaf lettuce and basil. I can grow the heck out of that stuff!!! lol.
When I was six or seven, I was going to go to my cousin, Calvin's house. He lived across the fields from me, a distance of a little more than a half mile, given that there were my dad's field and my uncle's field to travel. Generally, the crop rotation was such that when one farmer was growing corn, everyone was growing corn, so I had two fields of corn to walk through. Both were planted diagonally so it wasn't as easy as following a row to the end. For some reason, I got lost. Not so lost that my body was discovered a week later but lost enough that I had begun to panic. I don't know why I couldn't have just followed a row -- any row - to its end, and gotten out, if not to my cousin's house but, for some reason, it didn't work out that way. Maybe the corn wasn't planted from one end of the field to another, I don't know now. I had found the fence dividing my dad's field from my uncle's field, and crossed that, so I had gotten lost in my uncle's field. Eventually, I came out, but it was on the far end of the field bordered by the river, not my uncle's house, my dad's house, or the road. By then, I had given up on going to Calvin's for the day. I mostly just remember the panic now, but I was gone long enough that mom was worried. Apparently, there was some communication going on, so that she knew that I hadn't made it to Calvin's.
I think corn needs to cross pollinate, so it grows better in square plots, rather than a few long rows. The crows also like corn. Do you have crows around, @Corie Henson ?
There are no crows here but there was a time that I saw one, I mean it's not natural to see a crow. With the corn plants, there is no problem with predators for there are no big birds here. I had been to the corn plantation this morning and was delighted upon seeing some corn with flowers to which our housemaid said that it already has some little corn budding by the side of the leaves. So maybe in less than a month I would be posting my harvest. I'm quite excited so I bought corn in the market and boiled it for our snack.
Oh, i like watching corn grow as well. It starts out as a tiny plant, yet it grows quite tall. I plant mine close together to aid in the pollination. This has been a tough year for corn as we have had such extreme weather. I went outside to check on my garden this evening and noticed that my corn is beginning to burn up from the heat.
I finally saw the first corn ear coming out of the corn stalk. Although I know that not all the ears that will emerge would have kernels, I am hoping that most of the stalks will bear good ears. One gardener said that young corns with soft kernels are edible even without cooking. But I still prefer boiled corn especially the newly harvested corn which is very sweet. Here is the photo taken yesterday of that first ear of corn in our extended garden.
One morning I took my youngest son, then age 7, squirrel hunting with me. As we walked along the edge of a small corn field, I picked a few ears and shelled the kernels into my pocket, since I hadn't eaten any breakfast. The kernels were hard, ready for harvest field corn. Back then my teeth were better and I could chew up a handful of kernels easily. That staved off hunger while we hunted. Wife and I were divorced then, and when I took my son home, he told his mom that I had no food and was eating field corn. His mom sent him up to my rooms with a bag of groceries.
I was saddened by what I saw the other day in our corn plantation. Almost a third of the corn stalks are on the ground as if hit by a cyclone or tornado. I wonder what happened and no one can explain to me why those corn stalks are resting on the ground. They're still alive, green and looking good with their leaves but I don't think they would continue to be productive. In other words, they wouldn't bear ears anymore. A neighbor opined that it was the rain with strong winds that might have ruined our corn plantation. Rains come at night and we are not aware. So maybe that's a good guess.
Sorry to hear that your corn is "laying down on the job",Corie! Here's a link,that may help. Good Luck!