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.
