Sweet Corn growing with Squash and Pumpkins – Conclusion

Ok, so a conclusion on the Sweet Corn Growing with Squash and Pumpkins experiment. This I really liked. The end result effect of the corn spiking up through a carpet of leaves is really great. I had a few other random plants growing in there, like pickling cucumbers and lovage from last year and I don’t think that is a good idea. They become swamped and unreachable. I also think the courgettes being in the middle were a bad idea too. They don’t trail and are picked earlier and more often, meaning they should be on the outside edge at most. The corn seems to have grown well and protected against strong winds. The overall effect is great. I noticed a few other allotments doing smaller versions of the same thing. Whether this practice is more wide spread than I thought, I thought I had never heard or see it before, or if they like my idea or had the same one, I don’t know.

Overall I would definitely do this again, with maybe a little better planning at most. Better richer soil and cleared of all other plants. The pumpkins and squash are still very small, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when they get bigger. The pumpkins and squash have trailed all over the bed, intertwining and mixing up together. I can’t be sure which plant is which any more and whether I can see all the fruit that is growing.

The corn I am pretty sure has come to the same crappy end as I always get. Earwigs. I’ve see a few hiding in the ears already and I’m getting the impression that they are just not growing, which would indicate earwig damage. I just don’t understand why I get this problem everytime I grow sweetcorn, yet I don’t see anyone else’s suffering. I need to do some more investigation.

Squash, Pumpkins and Corn 20th June

Another update on the squash, pumpkins and corn. Things appear to be growing fast. the squash and pumpkins (I can remember which is which!) are starting to create the ground cover that I was hoping. The corn needs to grow on a little more to clear their leaves. I think I can assume the corn is going to grow tall enough, some have started getting their top ‘flowers’ already, but in general are looking really health and green. The squash and pumpkin should be acting as a decent wind break and hopefully mulch soon.

Here is the patch from another angle.

A lot of the pumpkin and squash have the first signs of flowers coming. I wonder how long it will be before they bloom?

Squash and Corn Bed Growth Comparison

It only been a few days since I last reported on this bed of the squash, pumpkins and corn together, but the growth is still noticeable! Some squash on the far side are growing really well, much better than those on the near side. I don’t know if this is due to different squash types or maybe the fact the beans were on that side last year? If you’re wondering, the front left hand corner is a sunflower, getting pretty big too!

Squash/Pumpkin Sweetcorn update

Just to give a visual update of the squash and pumpkins growing with sweetcorn experiment. As you can see, things are growing on nicely. There is a few other things added to the bed, some lovage that grew back from last year, a row of brussels on the right, some herbs and a few spare sunflowers. The main leaves on the giant pumpkin died and it seems to have settled into growing at a more modest pace. It is certainly being out done by a couple of others on the far side, which I think could be giant pink banana squash, but there is plenty of time, and hopefully sun, to come for all these to grow. The sweetcorn seems to be growing ok too. I’ll have to compare past photos to see, but I think they seem quite healthy and well established, they just need to get tall now!

The Giant Pumpkin Lives!

After all the problems I’ve had with rotting seed, frost, mice(!) and slugs, I’ve got one.. just one.. giant pumpkin plant left, but its a big one! This is by far the biggest of all the different giant pumpkin seeds that I got to germinate. The starting leaves are massive, let alone the main leaves! I left it in a pot growing in the box for as long as I dared, but the other day, I finally bit the bullet and I have planted it out now. So far it looks really happy, but I’ll report back in a few more days and show it properly in its new bed. We’ll be watching this one’s progress closely, I’m now mostly worried about the space it might need, considering it’s size! Where ever it decided to start it’s pumpkin, the other plants better make way!

So here is the squash, pumpkin and sweetcorn bed. The dug ground and fatter stick in the forground is where the giant pumpkin is now planted. In here are also the pickling cumbers, about 3 or 4 plants. These are going to be trained up poles, coming out of the squash/pumpkin ground cover much like the sweet corn. I have no idea how much space everything is going to need in this arrangement, there isn’t any known rules to speak of, so a guess and wait see. No doubt it is going to be crowded, but how much and what an effect that has on everything, we will find out. I can’t wait!