Sweet Corn Dreams

On a cold and blindingly bright sunny February day, I woke up from a most delicious nap. I found myself propped back in my recliner with a garden seed catalog spread open on my chest. The last thing I remember before I dozed off was looking at several pages promoting, by seductive word and provocative image, sweet corn varieties. That explained my dream.

My trip back in time as I dreamed was to an FFA project a friend and I had had in high school. Craig and I raised an acre of sweet corn near a busy street on the outskirts of our town. We planted the acre in three separate plots to spread out the harvest. The corn was sold when it was harvested in a crude stand that we cobbled together on the edge of the field.

I dreamt and then thought of that long ago enterprise with much pleasure. It's satisfying working in the bright sun, watching the crop progress by the day, irrigating it, weeding it, putting sulfur dust on the young silks to thwart earworms, and seeing the corn tassel. It was all fun, educational, and rewarding for two teenagers who hardly knew each other. Corn wasn’t the only thing that developed in that field that summer—Craig and I became life-long friends.

We grew a variety of sweet corn that year that I’m pleased to see is still available, such as Golden Bantam. The creative names of sweet corn varieties encourage a gardener to try them all. Who can resist names like Krispy King, Sugar Dots, Triple Play, or Sundance? They all sound scrumptious in February.

As you make plans for your Garden 2018, you might think about adding a garden flag to accentuate your green thumb efforts. They tell the world (or at least your friends and neighbors) that you are a serious gardener.  But be prepared, Flagsrus offers more choices than your seed catalog.