Corn Checkers(Rant)

[KayLR]

Packy--I agree with you 100%. No need to strip--just feel the end. If it's nice and rounded, full--then choose it and move on.

I have so many corn-growing stories, mostly associated with my Dad. One year he and I painstakingly sprouted our corn seed and planted a dozen or so rows. It had come up, oh, 2-3 inches when one morning I looked out and each and every seedling had been plucked up, snipped and set down in beautiful, perfect herringbone lines, right down the rows. Crows.

[Packy]

I can see how it might be a challenge to grow sweet corn successfully. I have seen it done by backyard gardeners, but it is a field crop that is better suited to large-scale production. You allocate precious space for a bunch of sweet corn, and midseason, it is damaged by wind, bugs, animals whatever. All that garden space--wasted. The height of the plant; space constraints, & its' vulnerability, and other factors would make it problematic. Bad experience with down-home gardens just may be why the provincials tend to instinctively check supermarket Corn. If gardening is your avocation--do it. Otherwise, stick to the other high-value vegetables that are better-suited to the home garden.

[Blackdog Lin]

Otherwise, stick to the other high-value vegetables that are better-suited to the home garden.

I agree. I convinced DH to discontinue corn in our home garden 2 seasons ago. I takes up too much room for the amount of harvest we get from it - and preservation is too labor-intensive for the amount we get for the pantry or freezer.