Sweet Corn and Tomato Growing Tips, and When to Harvest your Homegrown Veggies
POSTED MAY 16, 2012

Yes, that’s sweet corn growing in my front yard. My warm weather garden just doesn’t seem complete without it somehow. Usually I grow sweet corn in one of my backyard plots. This year, however, the only available space for sweet corn was in my front-yard garden. I can only trust my neighbors understand the importance of crop rotation!

I planted two small rectangular blocks of sweet corn, each block containing 14 plants. I planted one block in early April and the other two weeks later. My blocks are made up of only three rows because that’s the space I had available. Corn pollinates better when planted in blocks of at least four rows, so I’ll probably do a bit of hand-pollinating when the time comes.

I find sweet corn is as much a joy to watch grow as it is to eat on the Fourth of July. Well, almost.

It’s practically care-free when compared to other veggies in the garden. Just water, fertilize regularly and apply a bit of Sevin to the corn silk when it appears and once again about a week later.

To help them better stand up to wind, I hill a bit of dirt around the stalks as they grow beginning when they are about 12 inches tall. I do not remove suckers because doing so only leads to disease.

Most varieties of sweet corn are ready for harvest about 17-21 days after full silking. Harvest your sweet corn when the silks are brown and dry, and the kernels are milky when squeezed (some super-sweet varieties are more clear than milky even when ripe).

Harvest the ears by twisting them down and away from the stalk.

I suspect tomatoes are about the only vegetable more commonly found in Florida gardens than sweet corn. Surprisingly, it is the one vegetable we have the most trouble growing.

That’s especially true when it comes to growing tomatoes with true tomato flavor. Here are a few simple tips that will help increase tomato yield and flavor, and control blossom-end rot.

If you are growing your tomatoes in a container with a good potting mix, you are one step closer to better tasting tomatoes. The potting mixture is nutrient rich and provides an improved environment for roots, including protection from nematodes.

The other key to better tasting tomatoes, whether grown in containers or soil, is a good quality fertilizer. When it comes to tomatoes, look for a fertilizer which contains minor elements, such as magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, zinc, boron — and most importantly, calcium.

Choose a fertilizer that uses a nitrate form of nitrogen to insure your tomato plants can absorb and use the calcium. Ammonium nitrogen should be only a minor component in tomato fertilizer because excess ammonium restricts calcium absorption. Without calcium uptake, the result is blossom-end rot — and poor tasting tomatoes. I’ve had my best success with tomatoes using a fertilizer which lists calcium nitrate as its major source of nitrogen.

Properly fertilizing your tomatoes is a key to better yields. Early on, to produce strong healthy plants, it is best to fertilize normally, following label directions. But once the first flowers open, reduce fertilization by about 50 percent. Cut back the fertilizer a little more when the fruit is about two inches in diameter. If you are growing indeterminate tomatoes, continue cutting back during the harvesting period. With determinate tomato plants, I pretty much eliminate fertilization altogether after the first big harvest.

I had great success last year using a soluble 6-4-4 early on and then switching to a 2-8-4 once the first blooms appeared.

Another key to tomato success is keeping the soil evenly moist. Don’t let it dry out so much that your plants wilt or are stressed in any way. This can be difficult when you grow tomatoes in containers. You may have to water twice each day when it gets hot.

Use a Bt product (such as Thuricide or Dipel) when you see signs of tomato worms. Repeat in 10 days. This natural insecticide is produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (called "Bt") and has been used for decades by organic farmers to control crop-eating insects.

Products using a natural or synthetic form of pyrethrin as the active ingredient are now widely available for controlling many other insects on tomato plants and other vegetables in the home garden. These products work quite well, have very low toxicity, and are less harmful to beneficial insects than many traditional garden insecticides.

Harvest tomatoes when they are full colored but still firm.

Sometimes it can be difficult to tell when vegetables are at their peak and ready for harvest. Here are some tips which may prove helpful:

• Bell pepper: Harvest when peppers are full size and firm.

• Cantaloupe: Harvest when melons can be removed from the vine without pressure.

• Cucumbers: Harvest while seeds are small, flesh if firm and color is green.

• Eggplant: Harvest before color begins to dull, firm to touch.

• Hot peppers: Harvest after peppers reach full size.

• Lima Beans: Harvest when pods are full but seeds are green.

• Okra: Harvest when pods are 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches long.

• Onions: Harvest after tops have died down.

• Snap beans: Harvest while pods still are smooth.

• Southern peas: For fresh or frozen use, harvest when pods shell easily. For drying, harvest after 
pods are dry and brittle.

• Summer squash: Harvest when large end is 1 to 2 1/4 inches in diameter.

• Sweet corn: Harvest when kernel juice is milk-like in color, silk begins to dry and ears are full to end.

• Sweet potatoes: Harvest after reaching desired size but before frost or cold weather, about 120 days from planting to harvest.

• Tomatoes: Harvest when full colored but still firm.

• Winter squash: Harvest when rind is not easily dented by fingernail.

• Watermelon: Harvest when tendrils die, rind on ground becomes yellow and netting thickens.

Grow what you eat!

 

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