Rest of popcorn devoured by birds/animals -- so my timing was good for the harvests I did in recent weeks

The popcorn I harvested on Sep 20th and 23rd, when the ears were full and in some cases the covering was still quite green (dried tassels though) and in other cases the covering had started to yellow (but nowhere near completely dry on the plant) are all looking very promising -- they're still nice and plump and golden, ie they haven't shrivelled into nothingness the way the ones I harvested on August 20th did.

And ALL of the remaining ears still at the garden have now been finished off by birds and/or other animals.

So, in future, as long as the harvested kernels will be poppable (I'm hopeful but won't try any for at least another month), definitely harvest around Sep 20th in future years to beat the birds/animals -- DON'T wait until end of September / end of October.

Oh -- and this timing was based on my popcorn sowing dates starting on May 20th 2026 (with subsequent rounds as needed to fill in gaps).

GA: FOY sweet corn harvested; but a bunch of them have zero corns forming

Ooooh YUMMMMM the sweet corn is delicious!  So crispy and perfect!  

BUT a whole bunch of the sweet corn patch has stalks with nothing growing -- the tassels thing at the top yes, but no hint of any cobs whatsoever.  Seems to be a lot of the earlier round of sowing -- maybe too shaded???

GA: Sweet corn Peaches and Cream started developing ears 1-2 weeks ago; Golden Bantam not yet; Popcorn just now starting to develop

Probably eating corn within a week!  Peaches and Cream ears definitely starting to fill in!

GA: Harvested all the rest of the sweet corn regardless of size, because (a) critters have eaten a few cobs and (b) they're getting pasty

Quite a lot of cobs, though most at this point are quite small -- it will take 4 or 5 to make a portion, but that's fine.

GA: The corn is now past its prime -- getting pasty, but still edible and enjoyable (just not the OMG delish that it was a few weeks ago)

 ^^^

GA: First sweet corn harvested! Deeeeeeeelicious!

Harvested the first two ears of sweet corn from the NW bed's first round.  The cobs were on the skinnier side, but they were DELICIOUS!!!  So crunchy and sweet!  YUM.  As delicious as they were, I wish I could have shared them with Scooter.

GA: Tons of aphids at top of the youngest sweet corn!!

Noticed it the other day but had a closer look today and sure enough, lady bugs around to eat them.  SO many aphids all clustered up at the base of the tassel things at the top.  

The older sweet corn immediately to their west don't seem to have them, or at least not many.

GA: More sweet corn started in PTs (for succession), and more beans started in PTs (to fill in gaps)

^^^

GA: Sweet corn soaked in bowl for ~ an hour, now into PT. Once germinated, will sow.

Also I'm doing a first half now then a second half a week or two later to spread it out a bit.

GA: PT-started popcorn seeds have now been transplanted

The R2 popcorn seeds that this time I started in paper towels sprouted great in a couple of days and have now been transplanted to fill in the gaps.  This time I put them on and under the GA compost rather than vermiculite.

GA: Carrots, beets, and popcorn update

Will preface this by saying there has been tons of rain/showers, and when there hasn't been I've gone to water, so I'm pretty sure no seeds have dried out.

Carrots:  See earlier post for sowing method.  Have been under burlap until today.  Today I fully removed the burlap because I think I see some carrot seedlings.  However, I'm not seeing a lot of carrot seedlings......  So I'll probably have to go back and fill in gaps.  My theory is that the corn starch gel was too thick and they got stuck inside.

Beets:  Quite a few have appeared, so removed the burlap.  Hopeful it will be a good showing.

Corn:  No sign of the popcorn yet.  (Haven't sowed the sweet corn yet.)

GA: Popcorn planted

First time trying to grow popcorn!

This variety is called "Robust" (the package says it's a popcorn variety), by OSC, bought from Ritchie's.

Here's the method I used:

Forked the bed.

Used hand to create planting holes every 8" in all directions.

Put sprinkling of this mixture (roughly):  3 parts kelp, 2 parts mrp, 2 parts az, and a scattering of alfalfa pellets.  (No leaves yet -- will add those later on top after they germinate.)

Half-filled holes with vermiculite.

Placed one to two seeds per hole, ~2" deep.  (The north-most three rows have one per hole; then the south-most two rows have mix of one to two seeds per hole.)

Filled up the holes with vermiculite.

Covered with frost cover -- just to block the seeds from birds.

Watered over the frost cover (the water seeped nicely through the cover).  Used the frost cover instead of burlap because I think it would be easy for birds to peck through burlap to get the seeds.

Later on, when I plant the sweet corn, I'll try an experiment so that some will use less or no vermiculite -- because it's a lot of vermiculite otherwise!

GA: Caterpillar at top of an corn ear

A plump beige/grey caterpillar was at the top of one of the ears of corn I harvested today.  The rest of the ear was perfectly fine though, so just removed the damaged part and ate the rest.

GA: FOY corn harvest!!!! --- DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!

Woooo!!!!!  Harvested my first ever corn today!  2 cobs!  One was a bit smaller than the other and had some -- unpollinated kernels?

But both were spectacular!  The texture was so juicy and crispy -- not at all dry or pasty -- and so tender and sweet.  I mean it probably could have been sweeter, but no complaints here at all!  At first I had them with the usual margarine, salt, and pepper, but the last quarter I didn't put anything on it and it was perfection all on its own!  That's the one I gave the last half of (eight of) to Scooter, so cute -- he loved it too.

GA: Finished transplanting -- including leeks!; almost finished sowing -- including corn!!

The last several days have been BUSY!  Busy busy BUSY!  Got so much done.

In terms of sowing seeds, here's what I sowed today -- all of them straight out of the packet, not soaked, not pre-sprouted:

- A block of corn!  Peaches and cream.  6" apart.  Mixed in lots of the condo soil, plus my usual four things (alfalfa, kelp, mrp, and az).  Didn't pre-soak them or anything.  Plopped them in about 2" deep.  Covered the bed with a piece of tulle laid on the ground, as a bit of a deterrent to birds etc. (hopefully).  The block is -- I can't remember -- something like 4 by 5?

- Watermelon -- because all of the ones I had started inside died in the pots.  A scattering of them in one area, covered with tulle for now.

- Dill -- in a couple of spots.

Transplanted leeks gifted by a plot neighbour.  They are small and the roots were mega-jumbled together, we'll see how they do.  They're sort of covered with tulle -- "sort of" because there are several holes but I clothespinned the biggest ones.

Anyway lots, lots, lots has been done.  I'm not documenting everything because it's just too much.