Tips to Grow Corn in Your Urban Garden

Corn (and products made from corn) is the 2nd most consumed grain in America. There are so many uses for this versatile grain that it can be overwhelming for a new gardener to figure out how they can successfully add corn to their backyard or urban garden. Corn is a fantastic crop to grow and fresh sweet corn on the table is a wonderful addition to any meal!
In this video, I offer three tips that will help improve corn production for an urban, suburban or backyard gardener. Watch until the very end to catch two bonus tips or hacks to help your corn even more.
Tip 1: plant your corn in BLOCKS or BUNCHES. Do not plant your corn in single long rows, the kernels will not germinate properly. Every strand of silk on an ear of corn needs to be pollinated in order for an ear to grow all the kernels fully. Corn depends on the wind for this to occur. If the stalks are not in blocks or bunches, most of the pollen will miss the silk and the ears will not develop properly.
Tip 2: suburban neighborhoods often have a lot of squirrels and birds. These can present real challenges to direct sowing seeds in the garden. The solution, start your corn seed in seed trays or cups that can be protected. Once the corn has grown to several inches tall, transplant it out into your garden. The only thing you’ll have to do then is to protect the ears once they develop from squirrels and often times ants. If you have squirrels and/or rats they will find your developing ears and devour them!
Tip 3: if you are going to grow different types of corn (sweet corn, dent corn, ornamental corn, popcorn) you must separate the different types by a significant distance to prevent cross pollination. 200’ is generally accepted as the minimum distance. This is especially important if you are growing sweet corn and another type (like I am)!
You’ll need to watch the video to get the bonus tips!
I would love it too if you would share any of your corn growing experiences and wisdom in the comments. I’ve had decent success with sweet corn, but this is the first time trying gem corn (ornamental). I would welcome any advice or tips that may help me produce a few beautiful ears of that colorful corn!
Please consider subscribing to my channel. I am not a master gardener or anything like that. I just really enjoy trying to grow a little of the food we consume. I am constantly amazed at how such little seeds can produce such large plants that yield so much food in such a short period of time!

[@fletchybabe6172]

Great video Scott, I'm growing Ambrosia F1 and Fiesta F1 this year, can you get those varieties in the States??😁🌱☀️

[@greyghostgardening5353]

Yes, the Ambrosia is a sweet corn and the Fiesta is an ornamental, correct?

[@fletchybabe6172]

@@greyghostgardening5353 yes, but the fiesta can also be eaten but is not as sweet as the usual yellow corns 😁🌱☀️