It must be the stubbornness of the Taurus astrological sign under which I was born because even though I’ve frequently said I’ll never plant corn again until we have a weather and wind protected structure over it, I can’t seem to stop myself from a little corn growing experimentation ’bout every other year.
This spring I found myself with an empty 8′ x 4′ raised bed. I wasn’t able to resist. I used it to plant a small patch of corn mainly to see if we could find a way of keeping the stalks from being blown flat by our frequent high winds. Maybe we’d even have enough heat this summer to encourage it to grow. And, boy howdy, have we ever.
With Papa Pea’s help, I surrounded the corn planting with sections of cattle panel (on all four sides) to find out if the panels would "hold it up." So far, so good.
As far as the growth of the stalks go, they say you have a good crop of corn going if the plants are knee-high by the 4th of July. Well, ours were nearly waist-high to my long-legged husband at that time and much taller now as you can see by the above picture taken today. (Yes, we’re still existing in a smokey haze from the fires in Canada. Cough-cough.)
Truth to tell, I’m kinda amazed at how good the corn presently looks. Mother Nature has provided the heat needed even though she’s been severely negligent in sending enough rainfall. Maybe I will be able to successfully grow corn. Albeit on a very small scale!