We moved Last October to our new home. There’s a spot in the front yard where we had to have a well drilled. That spot is now a new garden plot. It’s basically an area that was back filled and smoothed over with different types clay from the drilling process, and the natural sandy soil.
I figured going into this growing season there wouldn’t be much hope of growing anything worthwhile. However, growing something is always better than growing nothing. Without a lot of hope, I still put seeds in the ground for a 3 sisters garden just to see if anything would grow. So I planted Silver Queen Corn, Jumbo Pink Banana Squash, and Blue Lake 264 bush type green beans.
THE CORN
As you can see from the picture below, my plot produced small ears.( 5 inch long, as opposed to 9 inch):
What Happened?
We had a LOT of rain during the stages of growth when corn wants to draw Nitrogen. Too much rain or poorly draining soil can hamper this stage of corn development. The soil in my plot is not right, it’s hard packed sandy clay. So I figure the corn had a rough time with the double whammy of too much rain, and the unavailability of nutrients due to poor root growth and heavy wet soil. This fall I will be working to improve my soil with a layer of compost, followed by a layer of grass clippings and wood chips. Just that step will make my plot far more fertile for next spring.
I believe this link describes my problem this year with the corn.
http://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=6114
What I learned is that corn (and probably every other plant) is finicky about when it wants nutrients. The growth stages of corn are observable. This knowledge can give you a good idea about whether or not you’re going to have a decent yield. Those nutrients have to be there at very specific times of growth.
For the Record. The first ears of corn pollinated well. The 5-7 inch ears we harvested are still better than having not grown corn! It tasted fine.
As far as the beans and squash. I managed to harvest about 20 beans, then the Deer ate the plants. The squash grew too slow and were ruined after the first frost on November 7th.