Sweet sweet corn...

It may not be top of your crops, but grow this delightful yellow veg yourself and eat freshly picked for a flavour hit that hits shop-bought for six

Whether you’re a veteran of grow-your-own, or you are just starting to get a patch going, there’s one wonderful veggie that may not be at the top of your list as a garden crop – corn on the cob.

But many people in the grow-yourown community are starting to think again about the benefits of those sweet yellow kernels.

Quite simply, there is an incredible difference in both taste and nutrition between home-grown and supermarket corn on the cob.

Freshly picked tastes so much better because the high sugar levels in sweetcorn begin turning to starch within hours, reducing the flavour.

So when it comes straight off the plant – and into the pan – it’s a whole new eating experience.

Sweetcorn really is a wonderful, nutritious crop for your home garden that isn’t too troublesome to grow.

Early or mid-season types are more likely to produce a crop in the Irish climate. Late varieties should manage to crop in milder parts of the country. The earliest you can sow is mid-may, because young seedlings will not handle the frost.

It’s not a fussy crop and any fertile garden soil will be adequate enough, but it really does love the sun.

Strong winds and gales will hurt young plants, so a sheltered position is important.

Time-wise, you’ve missed this year I’m afraid – but there’s nothing to stop you preparing a bed this autumn for optimum growing next season.

Do it in the next couple of months and the soil and manure have the opportunity to rot down and be super nutritious for the seeds by spring.

First off, pull all the weeds and give the site a good going over with a fork or a spade. Add your manure or compost and rake that in.

You’ll also want to rake in around 100g of general purpose fertiliser per square metre of bed.

When the time comes, sow seeds every 35cm in holes that are around 2.5cm wide. A seed “dibber” is really helpful here if you have one.

Replace the soil then water the whole area properly. Because sweetcorn is wind-pollinated, you need to plant it in blocks rather than rows.

That way, the male flowers at the top of the plant will shed pollen on the female tassels below – which is where the cobs will form and grow.

You can give the process a little helping hand by tapping the tops of the plants when the male flower opens.

Keep an eye on the seeds and give

Sow in blocks and give the process a little helping hand by tapping the tops of the plants when the male flower opens

it water regularly, especially during any dry spells, but be sure not to make the ground sodden.

Sweetcorn is a hungry crop, so make sure you apply a general fertiliser regularly once the cobs start to appear. Remove weeds carefully with a hoe – sweetcorn is a shallow-rooted plant so you’re in danger of hurting the roots if you are too gung-ho.

As the plants grow you may want to stake them, especially if the planting area is exposed to wind or rain. Stake each one individually – or you can anchor the plant by adding more soil around the base and banking up.

You will have to keep a close eye out for pests. Mice especially love sweetcorn, as do birds and the usual suspects of slugs and snails.

Netting will keep the birds off, but you will need to think about using mouse traps if you find you have a particular problem with them. If you’ve planted early varieties of sweetcorn, you can expect to see the first cobs in July or August. Late-developing types won’t yield until around October.

After a good summer, you can expect two cobs per plant, but it’s very weather-dependent so don’t be too disappointed if you only get one.

When the tassels turn brown, a cob is usually ripe enough to pick.

You can test the cobs for ripeness by squeezing a grain between your thumb and finger and seeing what liquid comes out.

If it’s a watery, almost see-through liquid, then you are being too eager.

A creamy liquid means a perfectly ripe cob. But if it is pasty, you’re probably too late.

To pick, twist from the stem and they should come off easily.

Once picked, cobs will lose their flavour rapidly, so get them straight in the pan for a sweet and delicious treat.