What's Growing?

Corn

Corn was bred by Native Americans thousands of years ago, from a tiny edible weed into the big ear of kernels we know today. It should be planted in mid-May through early June and-- as one local resident put it-- should be "knee high by July."

Corn needs to be pollinated in order to produce: the pollen is released from the weedy-looking tops and settles on the corn silks. Each individual silk is connected to one potential corn kernel so each one needs to be pollinated! To assist this you can use a soft paintbrush to collect the pollen and distribute it onto the silks.

Corn can be grown in rows, as we are this year; or in hills. Either way, you can use the Native American 'three sisters' method. The three sisters are corn, beans and squash. The beans grow up the corn stalks and the squash helps to retain moisture and keep away critters. Two weeks after planting the corn, plant one or two beans near each stalk. One week later, plant a squash seed nearby.

Tomatoes

Although we usually think of Italy when we think of tomatoes, they are actually native to North America and were only brought to Europe in the 1500s. Tomatoes should be planted in mid-May through early June but you can start them indoors before that.

Here's a way to get lots of free tomato plants... We compost our food waste and a lot of tomatoes go into that compost. Then that seedy compost gets spread throughout the garden and tons of tiny, free tomato plants start popping up in mid May. We separate them out to give away and plant in tomato beds!

Companion plants to tomatoes include basil, which repels some pests; borage, which repels pests and provides nutrients to the soil; and beets, which provide ground cover to retain moisture.

Everything else!