A miracle has occurred on the Kansas prairie. I have, at longlast, grown sweet cornin the Flint Hills. Praise God, and pass the butter and salt!
This may not be an earth-shattering accomplishment to many of you from other climes, and perhaps not to any farmerin this area, but I have been completely stymied for years trying to grow ediblesweet corn in my own garden. I have experienced years where I had poor germination (soil too cold?), years where the wind blew the knee-high corn flat before it could tassel, years where the ears didnt fill out (too hot for pollination?), and years where I had decent ear growth, but opened up the shucks to find thatId raised only a superb crop of earworms. Ive haddecent corn stolenat the last minute by raccoons, Ive had seedlings mowed down by deer and rabbits, andIve even caught quailscratching and eating the seed as soon as I planted it. (All minor pests compared to earworms in this area.)
To borrow and modify for gardening aterm currently popular amongteenagers and young adults, I have been corn-blocked for a decade by wind, drought, earworms, raccoons, rabbits,deer, and birds. The worst of all are the earwormsas a species they are completely disgusting. I refuse to just cut off the end of an ear full of worms and worm feces andthen cook and eat the remainder.
As a descendentof several generations of Indiana farmers, my inability to grow edible corniseven more embarrassing. My long-lost Indiana, where the soildrains better, where the wind is gentler, the rains more frequent, and themid-summer heat less searing, is tailor-made for corn. You can toss corn on the surface of the ground in Southern Indiana, and it will grow and produce. Heck, it grows as a volunteer annual fromyear to year if you leave too many kernels in the field.
This year, inexplicably,the Maize God decided to take pity on my efforts and allowed me a decent crop. Not without some effort on my part, however, effort honed by years of hard-won lessons.I selected my corn varietycarefully, choosing Burpees Honey and Cream because the package noted that it had tight silks. I laid down some soaker hose along the rows and religiously deep-watered twice a week after germination.I provided plenty of nitrogen fertilizer as the corn stalks rose. As soon as the silks appeared,I sprayed weekly with cyfluthrin, stopping when the silks were brown,for a total of three applications over late June and early July.Imade sure the electric fence stayed in working order as the ears grew and the signs of deer in the yard became more frequent.
These six ears of merely slightly poisonous corn are just the first of what I hope will be a few nice meals for myself, Mrs. Professor Roush, and her diminutive clone.Idont have any innate desiretoupset all the diehard organic gardeners out there, but I firmly believe thatany residual insecticide that penetrated the husks and survived the printed withdrawal period must surely be less harmful to my health than the earworm poop.Probably tastes better too. Anyway, Im not worried about the insecticide; Ill just feed the first couple of ears to Mrs. Professor Roush and if she doesnt develop tremors,than I can safely dig in.
Remember that scene in Cast Away where Tom Hanks starts his first fire on the island and dances around shouting to the sky,I have made fire? Well, thats me today. I HAVE GROWN CORN!
Via: I have grown corn!
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar