Sweet Corn Golden Bantam - Zea Mays

Sowing sweet corn

Soak the seeds in warm water for 12 hours. Sow in full sun. In the garden, sow from April to June in warm soil (at least 12°C (53.6°F)). You can place a tunnel over early sowings until the temperatures warm up enough. You can start sowing in pots indoors as early as March, and plant them in May-June in the garden. Stagger your sowings to spread out the production period. Only sow one variety at a time, or two varieties with staggered flowering: sweet corn easily hybridises. This means you won't harvest the variety you sowed! If your garden is less than 200m (656ft) from a cornfield, you will need to protect your crop during flowering.

To sow in rows, dig furrows 3cm (1in) deep, spaced 70cm (28in) apart. Sow thinly. After germination, thin to 25 to 30cm (10 to 12in) along the row. If you are only sowing a few plants, sow them in a square rather than one or two long rows to ensure better pollination.

To sow indoors, place 2 to 3 seeds per pot in seed compost, mixed with a little compost. Then plant the best-developed seedling.

Cultivating sweet corn

Sweet corn likes rich soils. During the previous autumn, add manure or compost to the soil to enrich the area intended for sowing. The roots are shallow, so hoeing should be very superficial. To help root establishment, mound up the corn when it reaches 20cm (8in), then 40cm (16in) in height. Water regularly if it doesn't rain (once a week), and cover the soil with mulch to retain moisture (grass clippings, straw).

To facilitate pollination, shake the plant when the female flowers (located two-thirds up the stalk) turn beige. This way, the pollen from the male flower (located at the top of the stalk) will fall onto the female flowers.

The corn borer caterpillar, a destructive moth of corn, sometimes burrows into the stalks, causing them to break. As a preventive measure, shred the crop residues before using them (for compost or mulch). Practice good crop rotation by not growing corn in the same plot for 3 or 4 years. In case of a severe infestation, you can spray a solution of Bacillus thuringiensis.