Sweet Corn – a Taste of Summer

One of life’s great pleasures is picking Sweet Corn, cooking it and then eating it with gusto.  You know summer has arrived when you are savoring Sweet Corn lathered in butter and sprinkled with salt…….Oh yea!

If you want some, get it in the ground now.    I sow four separate plantings of Sweet Corn in a year to get a continuous supply for months.  The first of September is batch one, followed by three more sowings a month apart.

Sweet Corn - some EASY Rules!

Sweet corn requires rich soil with plenty of nitrogen and moisture. Even good garden soils may need some fertiliser to produce a top-quality crop. Aged manure and/or compost, mixed well into the soil, will do the trick. Growing corn in an area that had healthy beans or peas the previous year is a good thing to do because these legumes contribute more nitrogen to the soil. Cornstalks growing with ample moisture and in well-prepared, fertile soil can be expected to produce two ears per stalk and reach 2 meters in height.

Sow two or three seeds 30-35 cm apart, in rows 30-36 cm apart.  Sow the 3-4 cm deep.  Because corn is wind-pollinated, plant it in blocks rather than in a long single row, which would result in poor pollen distribution on the silks.   I plant 15 plants in a space 1.2 m x 1 m.  You can buy plants if you prefer but make sure they are young, growing lushly and not stressed in then punnet.

  

Three reasons for a poor Sweet Corn crop!

Lack of water is number one. Water it well after planting or sowing. Good soil moisture is critical for the germination. As plants grow and weather becomes warmer, watering frequency must increase.

I soak seeds overnight before planting.

Lack of nutrients is number two. Fertilise when plants are 30-40cm high with a high nitrogen fertiliser. Keep soil moist because it is critical for plants to form tassels and silks and to develop ears. Ears should be ready to harvest about 3 weeks after silk emergence. Harvest sweet corn when kernels are well-filled, tightly packed and when a thumbnail puncture produces a milky substance.

Mixing varieties.  Don’t make the mistake of mixing varieties.  Pollination with other types can result in tough, starchy kernels and they are rather tasteless.

Peat pot seedling after 10 days. Ready to plant!

So that's it.  Now get on with it!  Plant your Sweet Corn.

Oh yeah, I can taste them right now.

Square Metre Salad - Week one Progress Report

The Square Metre Salad Plot - Week 1

The first week has passed and it's time to give the report on how the Square Metre Salad Plot has been going. Refresh your memory, if you need to, by taking a look at what was planted.

It took just 3 days to see the first green shoots of the Watercress arrive.   I did sow it thick and it seems every seed decided to germinate.   Day 5 the Radish and Rocket appeared and day 7 the English Spinach and Beetroot are just emerging.  The Basil, Spring Onions and Lettuce have become established and have started to grow. 

Rocket - day 5

What I did this week:  Other than check on progress often I did absolutely nothing. Yep that's right!  I just watched and waited. It stayed moist because I have my water system set with an automatic timer to give it a light misting every day for 10 minutes. 

What needs to happen this week:  The Radish will need to be thinned so that plants are spaced at about 4 cm.  Then I will remove the weaker Rocket seedlings so that each spot has 3 plants.  If the weather stays warm I may even thin the English Spinach and Beetroot seedlings.  The whole bed will also be given a dose of liquid fertiliser.  For such small seedlings I will halve the recommended dosage so that I do not over do it.  The other thing to do  is to spread some snail bait.  Nothing more tasty to a snail that young seedlings! I expect to see the Mini Carrots germinate in a couple of days.

Watercress - day 3

Radish  -  day 5

So, have you planted a plot yet?   
Here is the link to easily do it.

How to stop your Coriander from bolting to seed!

Coriander can be frustrating to grow. It can easily 'bolt' to seed and discourage the best intentions of any veggie grower.

There are many reasons they bolt. Some of them are because:

• the stress of transplanting seedlings,
• they dried out at some stage,
• they have not been fed properly,
• the pot they came in has been too warm,
• the plants you bought were too old, or 
• a combination of the above.  

They can be fussy! But do not despair, they are well worth the effort.  So be persistent is my advice.  Coriander is one of my favorite herbs.  We use it all year round and I will be in serious trouble if I don’t have a steady supply of fresh coriander growing in the garden. 

Ideal conditions: best times to grow are in spring, summer and autumn.  Coriander likes a sunny spot, well-drained soil and a steady supply of both water and fertiliser. In summer, I grow it under shade and it does ok.  To have a continuous supply sow a batch every 4-5 weeks from Nov-Mar and every 6 weeks for other months.  Rows that are 50-75 cm in length should be enough if you are as keen on coriander as I am.

Sowing seed: the single most important thing you can do is to sow fresh seed.  It will always give the best results. Sow seed 5 mm deep in rows which are spaced at 20 cm.  I sow the seed rather thickly, around 5-10 mm apart.  They tend to be quite crowded when they come up, so when the seedlings have 1 - 2  leaves I pull excess plants out until they are spaced about 5-10 cm apart.  Don’t waste these seedlings; use the ones you pull out on your salad.  For the best germination results, keep the surface moist but not too wet.  It will take around 10-14 days before you see the tender green shoots emerge.

Planting seedlings: if you want to grow seedlings bought from your local garden centre, carefully separate the little seedlings from each other and transplant 10 cm apart.  Try to buy the smallest and healthiest looking seedlings rather than big ones.  The big ones are more likely to bolt to seed.  

Fertilising/watering: plant coriander in good quality soil with plenty of organic matter and keep the soil lightly moist. Fertilise monthly with a liquid or soluble plant food and you will be richly rewarded. 

Harvesting/cooking: you can snip off as many leaves as you need, and more will grow back, but you can also pull up the whole plant if you like. I tend to start using the plants when they are quite young by pulling out every second plant in the row.  If using the whole plant, use it all - the leaves, stems and roots. Stems and roots have the strongest flavour and, if crushed, chopped and cooked, add a lot of flavour to dishes.   I store cut coriander stems in the freezer for stir-fry cooking but the best way to keep it is by making curry paste.  Check out what I did a couple of weeks ago making curry paste.

  

If you want to grow coriander for the seed, to use as a spice in cooking, or to keep for sowing, I'll write about that soon. 

Good luck and get sowing!

The Recipe for a Square Metre Salad in 8 Weeks

Repeat the recipe below every 4 weeks if you have the space and you will enjoy healthy salads for months and months.  I will report on this plot I planted today every week to let you know what needs to be done to keep it healthy and vigorous.

Ingredients:

1 bag of Cow Manure or aged Compost,

1 generous handful of Blood and Bone,

1 handful of all purpose Veggie Fertiliser,

Sugar Cane mulch, and

Water.

4 seedlings from a punnet of Lettuce,

1 packet of Rocket seed,

1 punnet of Coriander seedlings,

1 packet of Watercress seed,

1 packet of Radish seed,

1 packet of English Spinach seed,

1 seedling of Basil,

1 packet of Beetroot seed,

20 seedlings of Spring Onions, and

1 packet of Mini Carrots seed.

  

Soil Preperation Method:

Spread over your chosen plot the manure, blood and bone and all purpose fertiliser.  Dig it into the soil to a depth of around 30cm.  Grab a rake and level the plot and ensure the surface has fine soil for you to sow into.  If you have some aged compost available you might choose to substitute the Cow Manure.

Spread a thin layer of Sugar Cane Mulch and lightly water to settle the dust.   On one edge of the plot spread aside the mulch and expose the soil to make four holes about the size of a cup, 25cm apart.  Repeat on the other edge of the plot.   Next is the rows. Make four evenly spaced rows just like the picture below.   This will create four metres in total of rows for sowing.  With a small trowel or even a stick make a furrow 5-10mm deep in each row.    

Preparation is now almost complete, except for the labels to mark your rows.  If you have them, write out labels and stick them into the dirt in the rows at the desired distances apart.

Planting Method:

Plant in four Lettuce seedlings into the holes you made on one of the sides, then on the other side plant the Basil.  In the remaining three spots, sow your Rocket.  Be generous and put 10 seeds in each spot about 5-10mm deep.  Lightly cover the seeds with soil.

In the rows mark out the distances desired for the remaining seeds and seedlings.  This is what I chose to do. Coriander 50cm, Watercress 50, Radish 75, Beetroot 25, Spring Onions 50, English Spinach 50cm and Mini Carrots 1m.  Sow them twice as thick as what they say on the packet.  I’ll tell you why when they all germinate over the coming days.  Cover lightly with soil and water the whole plot well with a low pressure nozzle on your hose or a watering can.

You can if needed substitute seedlings for seed or visa-versa. I could not find any Coriander seedlings so I planted seed and I was also lucky enough to have Spring onions seedlings available that I could transplant.

Feel free to adjust the mix of what you plant according to your personal taste.  You will not use all of your seed so store them in a cool dry place in a container for future use. 

It is very important to keep the whole plot moist so that they germinate evenly.  Water daily if needed and also feel free to spread some snail bait around if you have them around.  They are very hungry at the moment and will clean up the whole lot of your seedlings in one night if you don’t watch the buggers!

In 8 weeks you will Enjoy!   Maybe even earlier if you are lucky!

Weekly progress reports

Week one progress report

Week two progress report

Week three progress report

Only a Ginger can call another Ginger a Ginger.....

Can you handle the heat of fresh Ginger?   The last blog I wrote listed the veggies that I plant in September and October  but I forgot to add Ginger to the list of things that I plant. I have fixed the list and it's time to get ready to plant some.

Plant it in October in a sunny spot in soil that has got a lot of well composted manure in it.  Ginger likes the warmth and humidity of our summers it grows like stink!  In April and May you can start to dig your first fresh Ginger.  Throughout the growing season keep well fed and moist.  I feed with Dynamic Lifter a couple of times in the growing season and also a couple of applications of liquid fertiliser if I think the leaves are yellowing an bit.. 


I started growing Ginger quite by accident.  I left some in the fruit bowl once and I noticed shoots appear because we did not eat it fast enough, so I thought, what the heck and I threw it  into a pot.  It grew without too much effort and I have grown it every year since.  

When harvest time arrives in April/May I dig it and use it fresh.  It is tender so all I do is wash it and use it without peeling it. If there is any still unused in May it gets grated and frozen ready to use any time it's needed.  Great in stir fry, curries, or we have the best Pear and Ginger smoothies money can buy!




A word of warning for the wary - fresh Ginger has twice the kick as supermarket bought stuff!

As to the title of this blog, apologies to Tim Minchin.  Check out his song.