Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: Sweetcorn, now is the time to get planting

Corn, sweetcorn, corn cob. Photo / Pexels / NEOSiAM 2024+

Kem Ormond is a features writer for NZME community newspapers and The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s getting ready to plant out her sweetcorn come Labour weekend.

OPINION

When I think of summer, I think of sweetcorn.

It is such a great crop to grow, and nothing is nicer than picking fresh cobs straight out of your vegetable garden.

I love the cobs smothered in butter with a little salt... okay, well, maybe more than a little salt.

I also love taking the kernels off fresh cobs and adding them to some flour, milk, baking powder, a little chopped-up chilli, some chopped coriander, salt and pepper and making fresh sweetcorn fritters.

To finish off the fritters, I like to add some sour cream, a little sweet chilli sauce, a few sprigs of coriander and a rasher of bacon popped on top.

Pure indulgence I know but I just tell myself, I so deserve it!

If you have not got your plants ready to be planted out, you can either plant seeds straight into the ground or quickly get some planted in trays now!

I noticed that at my local garden centre, there are plenty of sweetcorn seedlings all ready to be planted out, but remember they don’t like frost so if down south, wait until November before planting out.

I often put mine under cloches for a week or so — make sure you use plenty of slug bait as the sails and slugs adore sweetcorn seedlings!

If planted directly into the ground, sow two seeds into one hole and space 30-40cm apart.

Growing sweetcorn

Sweetcorn growing off Pakipaki Rd near Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

Sweetcorn likes sunshine and warmth, as well as being in a sheltered position and planted in well-drained soil.

It needs to be well watered in the heat of summer, and you are looking at about 120 days from seed to maturity.

So many people plant their sweetcorn in rows, but planting in a block is much better for pollination.

I was talking to someone in Europe who has just harvested his corn due to it being summer over there.

He wasn’t very thrilled with his crop and said that his cobs were small.

Pollination was his problem, he really didn’t plant enough plants and getting them pollinated was hit-and-miss, so that is something to consider when planting yours.

The thing is that corn relies on the wind for pollination more than it does the bees.

Have you ever wondered, when you pick your corn, why you find a few empty spaces on your cob where there are no kernels?

That once again is bad pollination.

The tassel on top of your plants is the male and they need to meet with the female silks at the end of the immature cobs so they can get fertilised.

Each silk represents a kernel, so if one silk doesn’t get fertilised, there will be no kernel produced.

When are they ready to pick?

Sweetcorn and pepper relish. Photo / Babiche Martens

The tassels start off golden and as they mature, they go deep brown and shrivelled when ready to pick.

Plus, the cobs start straight up and as they mature, they get angled, which is another sign they are ready to pick.

You should be able to pop your fingernail to a cob and press down, if milky sweetcorn juice squeezes out, they are ready to be cooked and eaten.

Watch out for any problems

Fall armyworm was first detected in New Zealand in February 2022. It is particularly fond of sweetcorn and maize.

While corn is an extremely easy summer crop to grow, problems still can occur and it’s important to understand what is the cause of these.

If the leaves are yellowing, then there is not enough nitrogen in the soil.

The best remedy is to drench the ground with a generous application of liquid fertiliser several times and soak well in with irrigation.

If you find that some insect is eating into the tops of your cobs, check for a corn earworm, or similar, that resembles a brown stripey caterpillar.

It has the habit of burrowing down through the silks and then eating the new kernels as they develop.

Check each cob and squash the offending grub between your fingers or feed to your chooks. They love them.

We sometimes get high winds popping up during summer and it is not unusual for some of your plants to get blown over.

So long as the stalks are not broken, you can stake each end with a string running on either side and they should continue growing!

You may need to put some extra soil at the base.

Rust and fungal diseases happen on the odd occasion, and you need to remove the infected leaves into the rubbish, not your compost as you do not want to transfer any infected spores.

If you think you spot fall armyworm in your corn, or anywhere on your property, the Ministry for Primary Industries advises asking your local gardening supplier for advice.

Finally, try planting some corn this year, the children will love to go and help harvest and it is a healthy option for their plate!