Corn is available in many different varieties, ‘Sweet corn’ being the most popular among home kitchen gardeners. It should be grown in your veggie garden if you are a tender, sweet corn fan. It is an unrivaled delicacy when freshly plucked & roasted as ‘Bhutta’ in Indian style. Corn cob starts losing sweetness after 24 hours when sugar gets converted to starch. There are hundreds of popular corn recipes here in India & all over the world.
Corn is a primary source of carbohydrates & proteins. Apart from many other vitamin & minerals, corn is a vital source of Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B 6.
Growing instructions:
- Corn is a sun loving plant. It can be grown in raised beds as well as in containers kept under open sunlight.
- Corn is grown by direct seed sowing in containers or beds. No transplantation is needed.
- Corn can be grown with 2 x 2 ft spacing between plants on raised beds. You can grow a bunch of plants in regular 14-16 inch pot.
- Sow Corn seeds in well-drained soil rich in added organic manure like bio-compost or vermicompost.
- Water your potted corn plant every day in summer & every other day in winter. Water at the soil near the plant. Use a watering can make sure plants get water in the form of the shower & not by a single flow. You can also make provision for watering by drip irrigation system on your raised beds.
- Add good quality organic manure in the soil with 2:1 ratio before sowing seeds. Organic manure can be well rotten cow dung manure, farmyard manure, Compost or Vermicompost.
- Sweet corn plant will start flowering on of 3rd month; Sweet corn cobs can be harvested after 80-90 days of seed sowing.
- Corn cob should be harvested when seeds are well formed, but its skin can be punctured with a fingernail. A downward twisting jerk will usually snap the ear from the stalk.
Check out the seeds: Sweet Corn