This year I planted Black Aztec corn. It is an heirloom variety that is certified non GMO. You can eat it in the milk stage like corn on the cob, can it, or freeze it. You can also let it dry and grind it for cornmeal. I planted five rows of about 20 stalks per row. This is my entire harvest. It's been a learning year, to say the least! First of all, I planted WAY too late. I didn't plant my corn until the first week of June. On top of that, the weather has been unusually cool, rainy, and therefore cloudy. Nobody's crops did particularly well, and everyone I have talked to mentions how late their plants were in being ready to harvest. To make things even worse, the chickens discovered the delightful contents of those ears, and ate more than their fair share. I am going to save all this for seed, and next year I'll be planting much earlier, and I will also fertilize a WHOLE lot more! (Not to mention the fence that will appear around the perimeter of the garden!)
Monday, September 14, 2009
A whole summer's work!
This year I planted Black Aztec corn. It is an heirloom variety that is certified non GMO. You can eat it in the milk stage like corn on the cob, can it, or freeze it. You can also let it dry and grind it for cornmeal. I planted five rows of about 20 stalks per row. This is my entire harvest. It's been a learning year, to say the least! First of all, I planted WAY too late. I didn't plant my corn until the first week of June. On top of that, the weather has been unusually cool, rainy, and therefore cloudy. Nobody's crops did particularly well, and everyone I have talked to mentions how late their plants were in being ready to harvest. To make things even worse, the chickens discovered the delightful contents of those ears, and ate more than their fair share. I am going to save all this for seed, and next year I'll be planting much earlier, and I will also fertilize a WHOLE lot more! (Not to mention the fence that will appear around the perimeter of the garden!)
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4 comments:
Hey, I planted the same corn! I was hoping for blue tortillas, but I got even less of a crop than you did. :( Plus you're the one with the tortilla press! haha!
That's a real bummer! Did you plant as many seeds? I'm wondering if it was my fault, the weather, or if this variety just doesn't produce very well.
Seeing how its heirloom corn, it's probably not a big producer in general. I thought your crop was quite a bit! You probably already know I only planted 5 seeds. I used one 4x8 box for corn, so I only could squeeze in 3 rows of 5 and two of the rows were sweet corn.
IMO it's very important to get corn planted in a square, unless you are making a very large rectangle. A long, narrow plot of it won't polinate nearly as well and therefore, won't produce. I understand that heirloom corn isn't going to produce as much as frankencorn, but I expect at least two ears per stalk. Actually, the plants produced close to that, but they didn't mature. The stalks were dried out and the ears were only about three inches long and the grains were not filled out. I only photographed what was remotely viable. I think next year, with an earlier planting date and more organic matter in the soil, will show great improvement.
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