Corn transplant looking likely

There is more corn sprouted in the old spot than in the new. Hmm. We are going out of town this weekend. If we get back on time on Sunday and there aren't many sprouts in the new area, I'll transplant. Then plant the Ruby Queen in the old spot. The old spots total area is larger, so I expect to plant 8 rows, 4 mounds each.

All tomato transplants looking healthy

It been real windy here for the past week. The other day the plants looked really beat up. Drooping is probably the best way to describe them. I fashioned some individual wind blocks around them and they have gotten much better.

I packaged up the remaining plants for coworkers and friends. All should have good homes by the weekend. I had a single 5 gallon bucket and some potting mix left over so I planted one more Celebrity. The tomatoes are all taken care of for this year.

Pam noticed the corn seedlings and wasn't impressed

Pam has informed me that if we decide to move we can't sell the house with all my gardening projects in the backyard. Particularly, the stand of corn which is right outside the back door, near the hottub. I guess they are a bit unsightly. If we decide to sell the house, the gardening projects don't matter anyway, because we'll be too busy to tend to a garden.

It sure got cold here

It's been cloudy and raining here for a couple of days. They are predicting freezing temps and possible snow in the area. Pam and I brought all the plants into the garage. I'll probably keep them close to the house for the time being - even after this cold snap clears out. Too much hassle to haul these EarthTainers around on a dolly.

The Ambrosia has sprouted

The Ambrosia corn has sprouted. Some in the new spot and some in the old. Actually, there are quite a few in the old spot. At this point, it looks like I'll be transplanting some of my Ambrosia seedlings.

It's time, it's time!

I think I'm past any chance of frost, so I planted my containers.



I found a PDF file that describes how to build a few different types of EarthTainers. I wound up with 4 of the 18 gallon tote style (design 3 on page 18) and 3 of the 5 gallon bucket style (design 1 on page 9).

The 2 on the right have Early Girls (indeterminate), the 2 in the middle are Big Boy (indeterminate) and the 3 on the left are Celebrity (determinate). Since the Celebrities are determinate, they should be pretty bush like so I didn't put in the cages.

I made a mistake when I put all 27 seedlings in an 18 gallon tote. I didn't think they would be in there so long, but they were. They grew quite well. Maybe even too well. When I went to transplant them, the roots had spread through the entire container. There were lots of broken roots left in the potting mix. Next year I'll know better and pot up into individual containers.

The Early Girls didn't take to being transplanted very well. Very wilted. They took nearly the whole day to stand back up. Some of the leaves are completely dried out and crispy. I have lots of extra plants, so if any of the plants don't look too good after a couple of days I'll plant a couple of the others.

Had to replant the Ambrosia

Today I unplanted the Ambrosia corn . I decided to move the Ambrosia, because I wasn't making very good use of the space. I dug up as many of the seeds as I could find, but I know I missed some. If they sprout and I don't get enough in the new spot, I'll try the dreaded transplant. If I get good germination in the new spot, I'll just pull the errant sprouts. Good news, the new planting of Ambrosia is 3 feet from the Ruby Queen, so I have increased my separation by 1 foot and decreased the chances of cross polination by 0.00000000001 percent :)

The new planting is 2 rows, 4 mounds plus 2 rows, 3 mounds each.

2008 Corn: First Planting of Ambrosia

Today I planted the Ambrosia corn. 4 rows, 6 mounds, 4 seeds each. I still have a bunch of seeds left.

I think I'll plant some corn too.

I was at the Lowes today for something unrelated and wandered out into the garden center. Seeds intrigue me. Very small seedlings cost a few dollars for a 9 plants. That's not too bad. Larger seedlings cost $3-$10 each. I just can't brig myself to pay that. The whole point of growing your own is to save some money. A package of seeds goes for $1-$2 and there are many (>20) seeds in a package. And there are some plants that just don't transplant well. Corn is one of those plants. If a corn plants root system is damaged, it doesn't recover very well. In addition to the usual roots that grow near the surface, the small plant sends out a tap root shortly after germination. Any roots that are damaged during transplant (including the single tap root) won't grow, so if you are going to transplant you have to do it when the plants are still very small. And besides, corn has a very high germination rate if you wait til the soil is nice and warm.

So I bought two packs of Burpee's sugar enhanced corn. I grew up with Burpee's Silver Queen, but they didn't have any of that. I bought 1 pack of Burpee's Ambrosia, which is an 18 row white/yellow hybrid. The other pack is Burpee's Ruby Queen. It is supposed to be like Silver Queen, except the kernels are a nice ruby red color. Each pack was < $2. Nice.

After I bought my 2 packs of corn, I was investigating when to plant. During this time, the obvious became obvious to me. If you plant to different varieties of corn close to each other (where close is <600 yards), there is a pretty good chance of cross pollination. The closer together the higher the chance. Duh! My two varieties will be about 2 feet apart. Hmm. The solution seems to be to stagger the planting. Corn is generally fertile for about 2 weeks. So if the second planting goes in 3 weeks after the first planting, I won't get any cross pollination. To help my chances, I'll wait til all of my first planting sprouts or June 1st, which ever come first.