How to Grow Corn Successfully in Small Garden Spaces: All the Details!

Corn is one of my favorite crops to grow. I even enjoy eating it raw, right off the plants before the raccoons get it. A post for another day. The two biggest mistakes people make are; planting their corn in straight rows (side by side) instead of a square or rectangle and not watering nearly enough. Fertilizing is important but not the reason gardeners have trouble successfully growing corn.

Corn Planted in a Square for Small Garden Spaces

Let's start with understanding how corn pollinates the female silks. The tassels on top of the cornstalks are the male flowers and source of pollen. The silks, that protrude out of the stem and leaf joints, along the cornstalk, are the female fruit, your future ears of corn. Each silk is attached to only 1 potential kernel of corn. Every silk must be pollinated for the ear to be fully loaded with corn kernels. Pollination failure means missing kernels of corn.

Corn Tassels Produce Pollen (Male)

Corn Silks Create Corn Kernels (Female)

The wind is what disperses the pollen across the corn plants and onto the corn silks. If you plant your corn in single, double, or even triple rows, you will end up with poorly formed ears of corn. As the wind blows through the tassels of row planted corn, all the pollen will blow away to settle elsewhere in the garden. Here is my YouTube Channel video that supports this blog post. Plant your corn in blocks, like a square or a rectangle. It is the pollen from several cornstalks over that typically pollinates the silks of other cornstalks. Row planting corn defeats this mechanism of pollination.

I recommend the minimum block of corn have at least 10 plants growing along each of the 4 sides. The spacing for each seed should be 6 to 8 inches. Anything greater than that, is a waste of garden space. Plant each seed 1 inch deep. By creating a block of cornstalks, such as planting in a 4 foot by 4 foot space, you create a dense block of tassels and pollen. The wind will now distribute pollen across the cornstalks and not to irrelevant space in your garden.
Corn plants loves water and we tend to underwater them greatly. When temperatures are in the 90's, I recommend watering corn, that is knee high and larger, every other day with a good 1-2 inches of water across the entire block planting. 

Block Planted Corn

I typically fertilizer my corn with a water-soluble fertilizer at seeding, around waste high, and maybe again with the tassels are forming. Corn is a heavy feeder. The garden beds can be prepped with compost and organic granular fertilizer. However you amend the beds, as it will vary based on what is available to each gardener, mix the amendments well (4-6 inches deep) into the planting area. I also recommend planting corn that matures in around 65 days. Shorter to harvest corn varieties will allow you to plant corn twice in most gardens.

"A Garden Wants to Give"Cheers!
Gary

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