Monday, October 8, 2007

Acting corny

For the 2007 season, I grew Stowell's (a.k.a Stowell's Evergreen), which is/was a fine corn and all, but perhaps as a friend of mine said, it is one of those heirloom corns that you'd better already have the water boiling before you even pick it. I only grew about 200 stalks of it, so it wasn't too much of a waste of space or time.

So, I of course would pick it a few hours before I cooked and ate it, and wasn't very impressed by its taste. I did save some of the seed (about a quart canning jar's worth), however, just in case I feel compelled to plant it again next year. I also saved a sack of it for chicken feed, as I'm getting a few Dominiques for 2008. Much of the corn was eaten up by worms at the last minute, just before I picked it (it's my own fault really, as I didn't take the necessary precautions).

I may bring it into the twentieth century with corn, however, and plant either Hasting's Prolific or something similar (as a sweet corn) ... but I also may go the other way and plant either Tuscarora (a.k.a Iroquios) White or Gourdseed, both at least eighteenth-century corns (and probably earlier).

By the way, if anyone knows where to obtain some Hasting's Prolific seed, please let me know; I may need to write Don Hastings (no, not the actor; the guy whose grandfather originated the corn type, and who is the writer of several modern gardening books) and ask him about it.

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