5 Tips for fresh sweet corn in mid-October
Posted on | October 16, 2009 | No Comments
It’s mid-October and, believe it or not, I’ve still got sweet corn growing in the veggie garden. Eggplant, chili peppers, tomatillos and tomatoes too. In fact, we’ll probably be harvesting fresh “summer” produce well into mid-autumn.
Sweet corn still growing in mid-October
It would be easy to dismiss the long harvest as a benefit of living in San Diego, but it’s not as easy as you might think. We get zero rain, temperatures swing 40° or more between day and night, and days can shift from super-dry and 90° to damp and cloudy in the 50’s two or three times a week as our weather influence switches from the southern deserts to the Alaskan-Pacific flow.
The is kind of weather wreaks havoc on all kinds of plants, especially annuals and vegetables. My brother, who lives 300 miles north on California’s central coast, actually has better growing conditions. Still, I’ve managed to master a few techniques that let my summer veggie garden grow for six to eight weeks beyond the end of the season. Here they are:
- Focus on plants that thrive in heat but mature well in cooler soil temps. That means things like corn, tomatoes, eggplant, beans, etc. The real problem for plants in the transition from summer to fall is the lengthening nights give the soil a chance to cool more. For shallow rooted summer crops like squash, melons, and the like that cooling soil is the end of the line. They put their last efforts into ripening the fruit on the vine and die off. For deeper rooted plants like solanums (tomatoes, eggplant, etc.), corn and beans it’s more about the sunlight, so they’ll continue to grow a fruit much later.
- Look for faster growing varieties. If you’re planting from seed, look for varieties that are ready for harvest in 60 to 65 days instead of the usual 75 to 80. That means cherry and pear tomatoes, aubergines, and bush beans. I also happen to like a sweet corn called Incredible (from Pinetree Garden seeds) that produces smaller, but absolutely delicious ears.
- Make sure your beds are well fertilized prior to planting. Till in a healthy dose of compost or manure — about twice as much as you normally would — several days prior to planting. Having lots of food available in the soil encourages the plants to establish strong root systems and grow quickly, so the plants will be well along by the time the sunlight and soil temps have diminished in the autumn.
- Sow directly into the beds a week or two before Labor Day (first week of September). The natural impulse is to plant in early August (60 days out being early October), but you’ll actually have better results if you wait a few more weeks. In early August the soil has been baking for nearly three months, making it far warmer than optimal germination temperatures. This, in turn, will reduce the number of seeds that sprout and you’ll probably just end up doing a second planting a few weeks later anyway. Save yourself the effort and wait.
- Near the end of the growing cycle put down mulch or ground cover. This will help to keep moisture in the soil and keep it warmer longer. Around the first week of October I put down a nice layer of old newspaper. Not only does it make for a nice soil blanket, but it also reflects light back up onto the plant’s leaves providing a little extra “oomph ” at the end of the cycle. Best of all, after harvest, the newspaper breaks down in the soil providing additional mulch for next year’s plantings.
Yeah, I know these tips are a little late now, but file them away for next year. If you do, you might be eating corn on the cob from your own garden next Thanksgiving just like we will be this year.
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