Corn

I have attempted to grow corn in my home garden, with mixed results. Corn thrives best planted in quantity due to the manner in which the plants pollinate. That's why you typically see vast fields of corn, like the acres on the cover of my cozy mystery novel, The Body in the Cornfield. In the home garden, most of us don't have enough space to plant a large enough block to be successful.

In wind pollination, tassels at the top of the plant are male, and release pollen. The female silk on top of the ear of corn captures the pollen. If the silk doesn't receive enough pollen, you get ears of corn missing kernels.

You've probably peeled back the husk on corn from a farmer's market or grocery store, and noticed some undeveloped places on the cob. A few missing kernels, usually at the top of the ear. Now imagine the disappointment of a mostly undeveloped ear of corn with a few kernels here and there.

Home gardeners can hand pollinate their corn crop by removing the tassel and shaking the pollen directly onto the corn silk. I'm not sure I'm ready for that level of commitment, but I might try planting a patch of corn next year. Sweet or ornamental, not the feed corn shown in this photo.

​But for now, I'll have to content myself with dreaming over seed catalogs. There is snow on the ground, and planting corn is many, many months away.

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