Keeping it sweet

Bob explains why now is the best time to sow sweetcorn

- Bob Flowerdew

DO you love sweetcorn – and if so, have you tried growing it? Well, right now is your best opportunity for a brilliant crop. You see, we want our cobs to swell and ripen rapidly, becoming plump, succulent and sweet. Such vigorous growth requires strong bright sunshine – something too often in short supply in Blighty, even in the height of summer. So if we want brilliant cobs, they need to ripen during July or August.

Before they can flower, though, sweetcorn plants need to produce a set number of leaves. This used to take much longer with older varieties that would often not ripen until too late. So breeders worked at reducing that time to 90 days or so, which is effectively three months. However, that’s only at best, because in poor sunless summers they can take longer.