Chris and Steve's Weblog - City Chickens » sweetcorn

Sweetcorn – Northern Extra Sweet

Chris — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:34:23 +0000

Following the non-germination of my other sweetcorn I have bought some Sweetcorn Northern Extra Sweet to try again. I shall just germinate the kernels by putting them between two pieces of damp kitchen towel then put them directly into the bed on the allotment. They cost nothing as they were free when I bought five packets of seed from T&M. Germination update – five of 28 through already at 3 days.

A typical sweetcorn cob contains less than 100 calories. Cobs are gluten-free and are a good source of fibre and Vitamin B.

Sweet Corn – Sweet Bounty

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:43:09 +0000

I have been chitting the sweet corn seeds for a few days and have decided to sow a tray of coir pots today so the first twelve seeds are in. Need more pots now or toilet roll tubes for the rest or maybe even sow the others straight into the ground. Germination update – none of these seeds germinated and so I have replaced them.

Sweet Corn Incredible F1

Chris — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:01:31 +0000

I have put 30 seeds of Sweet Corn Incredible in to chit today. The packet cost 19p from Netto and is extra to our planned corn for this season. I couldn’t resist for 19p. It is supposed to be a fast growing sugary enhanced variety producing long sweet cobs. Update on 11th May; corn has chitted well and been tranferred into some compost to grow on.

I have also potted on a mix of new Tomato seedlings and sown seeds of Pumpkin Mammoth, Butternut Squash Avalon and Melon Honeydew. The tomatoes are Moneymaker, Tigerella, Lemon Tree and Alicante.

Sweetcorn Swift

Chris — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:46:39 +0000

I have sown 24 chitted seeds of Sweetcorn Swift today to grow on a little before planting out on the corn bed later at the end of May or early June. They were chitted by laying them on damp kitchen paper with another layer on top, sealed in a plastic sandwich box and left in the airing cupboard for two days. They emerged looking like little devils with two horn like shoots making it difficult to decide which way up to plant them.

This was the first variety of sweetcorn bred with a very thin skin on the kernels that greatly improved the eating qualities. It is well adapted to UK growing conditions and cobs are juicy, sweet and full of flavour.

I have put the box back into the airing cupboard with the last of the baby corn seeds in to chit.

Update on 11th May; young plants are now in their permanent bed on plot 8.

Sweetcorn Two’s Sweeter F1 Hybrid

Chris — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:40:13 +0000

I had fifteen cardboard tubes already half filled with seed compost so this morning I have sown ten Sweetcorn Two’s Sweeter bought from alanromans.com 50p for 25 seeds. I shall sow the other seeds at a later date as I have read that F1 Hybrids will all mature at the same time.

Originally a native of sub-tropical areas, sweet corn is the only vegetable which grows in darkness. Sweet corn freshly picked from the garden is far tastier than those from shops. The reason is that the sugar in sweet corn quickly turns to starch giving a very dull flavour after only a day or so. Freshly picked sweet corn is also very nutritious, each cob giving roughly 22% of the daily requirement for Vitamins A and C, Magnesium and Iron.

In the other tubes I sowed two Courgette Black Beauty and three Pumpkin Mammoth.

Baby Sweetcorn – Zea mays baby corn

Chris — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 08:53:28 +0000

I have sowed a dozen or so baby sweetcorn seeds in cardboard tubes. The big corn is just pushing up now in the greenhouse at home. After today Rob has a week off work so we should be able to get plenty done at the allotment. I am looking forward to having the window ledge clear again as at present it is completely full of seedlings.

Sweetcorn Extra Tender and Sweet

Chris — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:05:55 +0000

Sowed seeds of sweetcorn in cardboard tubes. They should be germinated within two weeks for planting out in June.