Growing Corn at Home In Connecticut
Growing corn at home is fun and will impress your friends when the plants are 10 feet high! You will need a sunny area for planting – I recommend 4 feet wide and 10 feet long. Follow these guidelines for the best success:
- Start your corn plants indoors. Buy a plastic seed starting kit at Home Depot, fill with wet potting soil, and put one corn seed in each area. I would plant about 60 seeds. Place the seedlings in a sunny area of your home, and/or you can also buy an LED light and hang it above your seedlings. We start our seedlings in early March.
- By May, your seedlings will be 6-9 inches tall and ready to start having fresh air and sun. For the first couple of weeks don’t leave them outside all day and night. They need to acclimate. We have a greenhouse on our sunny deck for this transition period.
- Plant your corn in the ground around Mother’s Day. Importantly, space your corn plants so that they are 12 inches from each other on all sides. In our garden we planted 40 seedlings, four rows deep and 10 rows long.
- Companion planting with corn. Companion planting allows you to use your garden space for a variety of plants that grow well together. In our corn garden we have butternut squash growing along the ground to keep the soil moist with less weeds and we have sunflowers and zinnias to attract bees.
- Your corn will be ready to harvest in August. The corn stalks are beautiful and you can keep them for decorative purposes through the Fall.
DORI-ELLEN’S FRESH CORN SALAD RECIPE:
- 5 ears fresh corn, kernels scraped off
- Cherry tomatoes, halved
- Olive oil
- Feta cheese
- Fresh basil, salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together and serve!
Have fun and please reach out to me with any of your gardening questions and pictures!