My husbands wants to plant a "very large" area to sweet corn! I might try Permaculture with it.

[Kansas Terri]

He says that he does not care what we do with the sweet corn, he just wants to be able to say at the office that we "have x many square feet of sweet corn"! He would like me to decide whether we should raise ornamental corn or sweet corn, and he does not care what we do with it!

I am a gardener: when my husband says "Let's plant more", I find it very hard to resist! So, I think that we will do this. He swears he will help, and if it does not sell at the farmer's market then the Food Pantry might take it! He wants to raise much more than we will be able to eat, especially since too much sweet corn does not agree with me!

A little over a year ago the electric company wanted to change its' right of way in our back yard, and so they took out some fruit trees at the time. I cannot complain as they did pay us for it. They did upgrade the wires and the poles, so they will probably not be back for a few years. We can use the area under the power lines.

So, now I have some plans to make this winter. The variety of corn will be Earlyvee, so that I can get the early sweet corn market, and probably a variety that is slightly later so I can plant both at the same time. It will be more convenient that way. However, I have been reading a good deal about permaculture (www.permies.com) and I might want to try permaculture with the corn. Or, as permaculute as you can get with an annual crop! I might try to seed some clover with the corn, and after the corn has been taken off the area can just be mown until the next spring. After that, I can just plant through the clover. and not weed at all. A simple mowing after the vegetables are taken off should suffice.

That assumes, of course, that I would be able to get a good stand of clover! If I get a poor stand, then weeds would grow up in the corn and it would look pretty bad. That is a second benefit of growing a very early sweet corn: it will be cut down relatively early!

So, this winter I will need to find and speak to the local Market Master for the Farmer's Market, choose a second variety of corn (or possibly a third if I also grow an ornamental), get the tiller fixed, decide if I am goint to try permaculture or not, decide how much land will be broken up, and get the seed order in with my more usual vegetable seed order.

This winter sounds more entertaining than most!

Edited to add:

Oh dear. I just noticed that I said "Husbands" in the title line in stead of "husband"! While I am married, I SWEAR to you that I only have one husband!

Honest!

I would not tell a lie!

 

[headfullofbees]

Why restrict to sweetcorn when you come from the land of the three sisters?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture)

 

[Kansas Terri]

I tried the "Three sisters" once, using sweet corn and green beans, and it was an absolute disaster!

When I tried to see if the sweet corn was ripe I kept tripping over the big vines. I had the same problem when I tried to check the green beans, and also I had trouble seeing the pods until they were over mature because it was an absolute jungle back there! And, finally, I could not see the squash bugs because of the thick vegetation, and squash bugs carry a virus that kills squash plants. And, yes, they did kill the vines.

So, I read up AGAIN on the "Three sisters" gardening. It seems that the Indians harvested most of the corn and beans when they were fully mature, and probably after the squash vines had died back. I can TOTALLY see that: once the squash is finished the dead vines just sort of lie on the ground so they can be easily stepped on, and then the dried beans and corn can be easily picked off. That would be fine for corn and beans for winter storage, but not so good for roasting ears and green beans!

Actually, that might work for the ornamental corn, as it is picked when it is dry. I should think on that some more.

 

[Shellyann36]

I have always been interested in permaculture. Thank you for introducing me to the site. Now as far as the corn goes.... I do not envy you. We don't have room for much corn but the couple of rows we did plant a few years ago was quite a bit of work. I can also remember when I was little and helping my Mama and my aunt in the garden how it was hard to keep up with the corn. Making sure that the raccoons did not get into it at night and then the rest that it all entailed. My uncle always planted lots of corn to dry some for the chickens to last throughout the year. It was a major chore back then but well worth it in the end. I wish you lots of luck.

 

[Kansas Terri]

To reduce the work, I think that I will till it once, let the weeds sprout, and then till it again. THEN I intend to plant it to solid clover, and plant the corn in the clover.

Then, I hope to be done except for watering. As in no hoeing, because if I hoed that much corn I would be more dead than alive! Hopefully, a good stand of clover will shade any young weeds and so suppress them. I would probably have to pull any big weeds by hand until the clover and corn are large enough to compete, but I hope to not have to do that very much.

DH has volenteered to help, but I am pretty sure he has no idea how much work there is in raising corn in a conventional manner! ,He has never been interested in gardening before, though he does help me every few years if I need the help.