Sinking your teeth into a perfectly ripened ear of sweet corn is one of the finest pleasures of summer, and early-maturing sweet corn varieties like Sugar Buns will offer a harvest sooner than you might think. You will need to wait 3 weeks longer for Silver Queen, but your reward will be kernels packed with sweetness and rich corn flavor.
Corn needs plenty of space for two reasons — it is a heavy feeder, and it is primarily pollinated by wind. As grains of pollen are shed by the tassels that grow from the plants’ tops, they must find their way to the delicate strands of silk that emerge from newly formed ears. To make sure silks are nicely showered with pollen, grow corn in blocks of short rows rather than in a long, single row. In a small garden, 15 plants set 1 foot apart can be grown in a 3 x 5-foot bed. Growing corn on this tiny scale is a good way to introduce yourself to the crop if you’ve never grown it. After the first year you will probably want to increase the size of the planting to at least 4 rows 10 feet long.
Corn plants are not like tomatoes or most other vegetables, which bear over a long period of time. Instead, they form a few ears per stalk and they are finished. Because of this, gardeners who have the space often make 2 or 3 plantings 2 weeks apart to keep the harvest coming.