Top Hat Sweet Corn

Growing corn is pretty easy if you provide your seeds with highly fertile soil. Seed can be sown in early- to mid-May depending on the year (corn likes a slightly-warmed-up soil for germination). For continued harvest all season, sow crops at two-week intervals until mid-summer. Drop seeds into furrows about 1 inch deep. Begin with spacing of three to four inches and thin the plants once up to a spacing of six to eight inches. Rows should be a good 30 or 42 inches apart with this spacing, which matches common widths of garden beds.

Some years corn needs very little attention, but in dry years it will need irrigating. It thrives during the summers when subtropical weather settles in for a couple months. Many critters love to munch on corn, including rodents and, most notoriously, raccoons. Avoid growing corn near chicken coops or pest attractants, and be sure to surround your garden with a good critter fence.

When ears fill out, check regularly for sweetness; open-pollinated corn does not last long in the field at peak ripeness. Peel back the husk and press your thumb into a kernel; if it pops open and yields a sweet milky fluid, pluck a dozen and throw them in a pot. It's hard to beat sweet corn fresh from the garden--even the freshest ears from roadside stands do not compare.