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vegetable
Sweet corn – Zea Maya
and choose a sunny, open spot where the soil has been manured beforehand. Because sweet corn is a member of the grass family and is wind pollinated, it must be planted in blocks to be sure that the female flowers are fertilised. The individual plants should be set out at 45cm/18ins spacings and may still need protection against cold weather or late frosts.
Keep the developing plants well- watered and hoe regularly to keep the soil between the plants free of weeds. The plants will need the support of
a stake to prevent wind rock blowing the plants over. Draw soil up around the base of the sweet corn plants to increase the root system. Thankfully sweet corn is trouble free in the UK apart from being attacked by badgers or rats, who can devastate a block overnight.
Harvest from late August onwards when the tassels at the ends of the cobs have turned black. At this stage gently peel back a small part of the husk coating
to reveal a few of the seeds. Press your thumbnail into a plump corn seed and, if a milky substance squirts out, the
cob is ready for harvesting. If the juice is not milky, wait a few more days and re-try the test. Harvest the cob by gently easing it downwards until it snaps cleanly away. The cob can be stored in the refrigerator for three or four days before using.
Harvesting the sweet corn is the highlight of my allotment year and, since I discovered the joys of gnawing it raw off the cob, very little makes it back to the kitchen. The cobs that do arrive home usually end up in a double corn chowder; the stripped cobs are boiled to add extra flavour to the broth. It grows well on my plot, probably one of the
few advantages of having a very windy aspect – sweet corn is wind pollinated.
Corn, or more accurately maize, has been in cultivation for thousands of years. Sweet corn itself is a much more recent introduction and has now become established as an allotment crop. The earliest written record of maize (corn) is in the Popol Vuh, the creation story of the Quiche Maya people of Guatemala. Their maize god, Hun Hunahpu, was one of the most important owing to his connection with this vital staple crop. He is shown here as a youthful, handsome man. His headdress is a stylised ear of corn and his hair is the silk of the corn.
The Popol Vuh describes how the
gods formed the first humans from a dough made out of yellow and white maize after their attempts to use clay and wood had failed. The maize god was believed to be decapitated once harvesting began and then reborn at the
Image credit ©Trustees of the British Museum
start of the new growing season. The god was therefore not just associated with maize itself, but also with the cycle of rebirth, the cycle of seasons and the associated growth of crops.
It is likely the interest in eating sweet corn or corn on the cob arrived in the UK with American G.I.s during WW2. The earlier varieties of sweet corn grown in the UK had a reputation
for losing their flavour very quickly – literally within hours; but the more recently introduced super-sweet varieties of sweet corn are able to keep their flavour for several weeks. Never grow super-sweet and non-super- sweet cultivars together because they will cross pollinate and the pollen from the non-super-sweet will damage the quality of the super-sweet cultivars.
Sweet corn is best grown from seed that is sown during April-May under glass or outdoors in the warmer parts of the country. Two seeds are sown 2.5cm/1ins. deep in 10cm/4ins. pots containing fresh seed compost. After germination, the weaker of the seedlings is cut out.
As soon as the roots begin to reach the bottom of the pot, the plant is ready for transplanting into the open ground. Harden them off for a couple of weeks
It is likely the interest in eating sweet corn or corn on the cob arrived in the UK with American G.I.s during WW2
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Allotment and Leisure Gardener 29