Whoops! Ha! I had been planning the rows to go east-west then switched to the grid idea and didn’t even think about it.
If I widen the rows out I’ll run them east-west. I like the double rows… Hmm…
Found this online. Using this double row system makes the most of space. And works great in my garden drawing plan without having to jostle things again.
7 double rows. 11" seed spacing in rows. Works out almost spot on for the number of seed for the main corn grex.
The neighboring rows to the corn will be the watermelons on one side and lemon summer squash on the other side.
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I’m growing the going to seed corn landrace. I’ve noticed quite a bit of purple/blue color in the leaves so far. I planted mine in tight rows with close spacing. I need to squeeze in as many as I can with my limited space, and I have plenty of chickenshit to fertilize with.
the only
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Looks great! A little chicken shit and water goes a long way with corn.
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Thanks! I might hold back on fertlizing one row and doing my normal routine with the other. Would probably be a good idea to compare. Have you seen any changes in your corn yet to adapt to close spacing?
Not really, I’ve always grown corn pretty crowded and purchased seed or my own seed it is all about the same. My climate is pretty friendly for corn, a bit of fertilizer like you mentioned and plenty of water when it’s hot is about all it needs. Sometimes when it gets very hot, secondary ears are puny, but I don’t think wider spacing would help with that.
Your corn is actually more spaced than mine usually is and it looks absolutely beautiful. I bet you get at least two nice ears per stalk, maybe more. I’m jealous, mine won’t even be planted for another week or so.
In the ‘twin’ row system on the left what is the in-row spacing along each of the effectively four rows?
I drop the seed by eye, but aim for 10 to 12 inches apart.
I planted mine a little early, but I figured it would be fine. Should have enough good genetics to take a few cool nights.
I’m not sure if this is one of the traits of the GTS corn, but most of my ears have at least two tillers.
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I went way loosey goosey this year with my miplas/three sisters. BUT, alas, I don’t have the time to get all orderly. I went with a 5-7 flour corn blend. 5-7 mixed high altitude tepary and NM Pueblo beans. And then the F2 of my C. pepos with three added pepo spp. in the mix. I sheet mulched two largeish beds in a high sun part of my garden on a gentle low slope. These cardboard bases were topped with a 6-7 month of pre-inoculated (basalt dust, Azomite, and BioChar with wheat straw bedding) mass from my chicken coop (37 hens and 3 roosters). Making it even easier on my old man back; solo time to do this; I mainly surface sowed the beans and squashies. The corn I quick grid planted in a rough estimation of spacing - I go tighter here as we can get fairly heavy winds. And, then I finished them off by top dressing with three year aged compost I make with a combination of wood chips, rabbit bedding, and various other waste byproducts. We shall see how it all fares. Regardless, recycling animal wastes and food wastes and forestry ‘wastes’ is a massively important part of my gardening experience. Always in the long game garden marathon.
Although my garden this year is my largest yet by a wide margin and feels like a world of possibility, I’m still an urban gardener and space is always a limiting factor.
I tend towards planning everything in blocks along my (miniature market grower style) beds. Reality ends up being sort of squishy organic sided blocks as i dont do straight lines well, and then adjust around volunteers, etc.
This year I’m planting 4 varieties of sweet corn in a three sisters style polyculture. Each one will be planted in two hill/block configurations on opposite sides of one of the paths. The corn will be planted in a grid with only 8-10" between plants, but because they’re in <4ft beds with a path in the middle, and theres an opening in the middle of each grid for a squash plant, most if not all the stalks will have a lot more room on at least one side.
I had great success planting this dense way in a much smaller community garden plot a few years ago, had a bumper harvest from a 6ftx6ft block in a 100 sq. Ft community garden, so I’m fairly confident. Im not growing any giant varieties, and i do shake my stalks to ensure good pollination at the edge of the blocks, though.
In general I tend to space things quite closely and love getting creative about interplanting. Helps with water management, keeps weeds from filling in the gaps. Might get lower yields from individual plants in some cases but so what?
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