We are still dreaming about growing corn this summer. But so far dreaming is all we’ve done. I made this picture along about the middle of our driveway yesterday.
The clear space between the trees is a trail that leads from our driveway down to Pap’s big garden. Well actually the trail starts at Granny’s front door and goes on through her backyard until it divides into two trails. One leading up towards our house and one down to Paul’s as well as to the trail down the bank to the garden.
This is the same view from several years ago only taken above the trail. If you look closely you can see the garden has been plowed for planting in the spring of the year. The blooming yellow bells also indicate the time of year. Granny helped me plant them back when we first moved into our house.
I see someone walking in the garden but don’t know or remember who it is even though I’m sure I took the picture.
One thing you can see clearly between the two photos is the size of the trees. Seems like only yesterday that side of our driveway was a red clay bank with hardly anything growing on it. Today it’s filled with a forest of trees that grow taller every year.
Even before Pap died the trees had grown tall enough to shade the garden for a good portion of the day.
Taking the trees down is the first step towards our dream of growing corn. I’m hoping that happens by the end of this week.
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It’s hard to tell from the photos, especially how far the patch goes beyond what looks like a tarp-covered car, just how big it is. My guess, based on the photos, is that it’s about a half acre. IIRC, an acre is about 70 yards by 70 yards, ’round about 44,000 square feet so a half acre would about 22,000 square feet.
How close am I?
Robert- it’s about an 1/8 of an acre 🙂
I give up too easily when things go awry. I planted corn a few years, and I was delighted with the results. Then some corn lovin’ critter waited until I had beautiful corn and ravaged my corn in just one day. Never grew it again, because it already was too difficult to get rid of the stalks. I did have a man that would come in and haul off the corn stalks for his cattle, but I still had cut and place where he could load the corn onto his pickup bed. Besides, my neighbor always brought me beautiful corn each year. Glad to say, when he became disabled, I always gave to him from my bounty of tomatoes and cucumbers. The critters always left his corn alone which still baffles me. There was a landfill about a mile away which drew crows, and they usually taunted me from the trees as I worked the garden. Looking forward one day to seeing corn growing in Pap’s big garden, as I am sure you will be taking photos. I have not kept up with my dad’s old homeplace, and only know that the new owners have a small saw mill and have removed many trees, flattened the yard. and placed a pretty fence at the end of the long lane . There is a tendency in our neck of the woods to call a driveway a lane when it is long and possibly tree lined.
Would love to have homegrown corn on the cob and beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and a big garden of green beans. What a meal that would be. We are getting on in age, 70’s and 80’s, so I don’t see a garden such as this. We are going to try a couple of raised gardens beds this year, with maybe the tomatoes, green beans and some peppers, green onions. We also have a garden spot we’ve always had since moving to our current home, mainly okra in it. Oh yes, love my okra. I hope we can bring this all to fruition and hit the fruit stands for some nice corn. Makes my mouth water just thinking of this food. Y’all sure inspire me and keeps me young in spirit. Blessings to y’all. Looking forward to seeing your gardens and the great meals they produce. Jennifer
I can’t wait to see corn growing in your garden! I know y’all are super excited to get the trees down and get to work. Growing corn brings back fond memories of my daddy and his Silver Queen corn. He always planted way too much and what we didn’t eat and freeze, he would give it away to family and friends. Make sure to take some more pictures so we can see it and good luck!!
We planted a small patch of corn a couple of times & the fresh corn was the best I’ve ever tasted. Our problem was that where we lived it was very, very windy every single day as we lived close to the Gulf of Mexico. The winds would blow the corn over because of their shallow roots. We gave up on growing it ourselves & just bought from the store from then on. Wishing you the best of luck with Pap’s property & your corn crop.
Tipper, I hope you get the process of preparing that land for planting started this week. It will take a while to complete preparations before you can safely plant in late April or early May. I look forward to reading or hearing about your progress. This is EXCITING! I know the Lord is watching out for you all.
You’re excitement over corn is actually calming, in these days with of so much worry over so many things out of our control, it seriously brings a smile to my face and calms my heart.
That’s a nice size piece of land and y’all will get lots of delicious corn to eat and put up this summer. Hoping you can get the trees down soon because with as many as there are. It’s going to take a while to get them all cut down, chopped up and cleared off before y’all can work the ground. I tried to grow corn twice, but just don’t have the land for it. Planting three small rows just doesn’t have enough pollination to produce good corn. I did get one little ear of corn the last time I tried. I was excited since it was the first time I worked hard to try to help pollinate them by shaking them everyday to ensure the pollen got on the silks. I had maybe five or six more ears growing, but sadly the deer got to enjoy them. It was so much work to get the one I did get to eat, I’ve decided Id rather buy mine from a local farmer. Y’all have the land and experience growing good corn, so y’all will get plenty!
Clearing new ground is hard work, all right. We cleared a big wildlife food plot for turkeys and Randy’s favorite animal, deer, and planted sawtooth oaks along a terrace. Sawtooths bear loads of acorns in 5 to 7 years. Removing the trees was easy; grubbing the roots was the tough part. That will separate the men from the boys. We finally cut high stumps and hired a man with a Bobcat to do it right.
Gene, I am glad you don’t tell STORIES! I just got back from a short trip, I drove on one of the main highways, I saw three dead deer on the side of the road within a half a mile of one another. Three dead deer equals three tore up cars. Things have changed, very, very seldom do I see a rabbit ran over in the road anymore. If you think oaks are tough try sweet gum, at least the sweet gum stump will rot pretty quick. Gene you know from our emails to one another I am just teasing you back. I saw 10 of your turkeys yesterday near my home.
Seeing yellow bells, crocuses, daffodils and the taste of silver queen corn makes me happy! Spring is right around the corner…but sinus problems please go away!
Have a great day everyone!
Corn was hard to find at roadside sales and even at the grocery store last summer. I don’t grow corn often because the critters get most of it. Since I discovered the nylon deer fencing works so well at keeping critters out, I’m ready to give corn another try this year. My friend raises Bodacious, the heaviest producer I’ve ever seen. Mom raised Kandy Corn that was so sweet every bug and worm around found it. I usually plant Silver Queen.
Ah yes, the recurring problem of clearings in the woods – nature wants them back and will get them if not fought. In addition, it is a real puzzle to work with the changing light conditions through the day and through the season, especially if the opening is small. The shaded ‘rim’ loses productivity but its location and width changes through the day. Working with those kinds of things are what makes gardeners practical ecologists.
In northern Michigan, people have felled trees for centuries to cut gardens out of the forests, both big and small gardens. I think we can grow most of what you grow, which is amazing considering the length of our season and the temperature differences, but God provides no matter. I’ve seen many corn fields cut straight from the woods and surrounded by forests, and I, too, think of all the work it has taken generations of people to feed themselves and how every year so many people simply love and repeat the work. As humanity was born in the first garden, I think we are spiritually compelled to the work.
love how you wrote this..I could see all the pioneers hard work and sweat to taste the fruits of their labors..you right about tending the garden..I live in the desert in California..it’s hard to tend it at times..but worth the effort ..
That IS a big garden! I can just see the corn growing there! I have yellow bells on my property, too, and they’re blooming this week! I know y’all will really have a bounty from that garden! Thanks for sharing it with us. I’m putting my raised beds together today! Kind of slow progress, but progress just the same and we don’t want to plant yet…I know some more cold is coming!
I would be so happy to know I could have a patch of corn. you all grow such beautiful gardens I know the new one will be plentiful
Every time you talk about corn, my mind flies back through the years. My Dad always had a large garden and one of the highlights was the day that the corn was picked. It was a family affair! I had aunts who would come to help. The corn was picked, shucked, washed and then the women would start cutting. Now in our family there was only one acceptable way to cut corn and each woman had their special corn cutting knife that was used to cut corn exclusively. First they would “clip” the kernels then cut then scrape. This went on until the large pans were full. My job was to sit on a tall kitchen stool and stir the corn. Once it was cooked, the pan was placed in a sink of cold water to cool. When cooled it was put in freezer boxes, labeled and put in the freezer. I haven’t seen those freezer boxes in years.
There was always a break for supper….this was my favorite. Big pan of creamed corn, hot biscuits, and my mama could cook a biscuit, cold slices of cucumber, tomato and cantaloupe and jars of pickles.
Those are great memories. I like to think of memories like gifts hidden in our mind and you just never know when one will present itself to be opened and enjoyed. Good luck on your corn growing effort.
I hope you have good luck with your garden this year, especially your corn. My crabapples are blooming pink and my forsythia is blooming yellow now and I look forward to this time of year so much. These blooms along with jonquils herald the soon arrival of spring. Love and prayers to Granny and Little Mamas and all of you too.
Thanks for the update, Tipper. Our family always grew corn when we were growing up.
I fondly remember that corn was one of the easiest crops to harvest. “Roastin’ Ears’ were the best when, wrapped in tin foil and cooked in the campfire outside.
Good luck on your corn adventure.
We’ve tried planting corn but it won’t grow. The garden faces the north. Even the tomatoes don’t do well. We tried planting them up front but between the varmints and pests they didn’t do well there either. Everything else grows well: green beans, peppers, potatoes, etc.
We used to live in Charlottesville, Va but there were so many trees they shaded the yard so we had a very small garden. We’ve live near Lynchburg, Va going on nine years. I see the pretty forsythia are blooming there, ours haven’t yet but I think after this week of warmer weather they will. Our daffodils and hyacinths have been blooming for two weeks now. I love spring and summer.
I certainly think you have a beautiful spot to grow your corn on and please use extreme caution felling trees of any size. I could tell tales of lumber jacks that would curl your toenails, but suffice it to say, tree cutting is extremely dangerous! I will tell of S. Cash of TN- a brutal man he was! He talked to his hired help like dogs and cursed a black streak with terrible violent tendencies. One day he decided to go to the job site alone cause he knew it ALL! A tree rotten at the bottom kicked out from beneath him and He ended up cutting off both legs at the knees and actually drove himself in a pickup truck using a stick to the hospital. Is he alive now? I got no idea but he was one horrible man who got what he had coming! Happy spring and happy planting all!!! Be kind and good to everything and everybody cause it does find you out EVENTUALLY!!!! Blessings to all as we get fired up over spring!!!
You must be so excited with all the new things happening this Spring. A grandbaby, a new garden area filled with corn, and then and second grandbaby.
The different stages of life brings so many different emotions. This one is very exciting!
I’m so excited for you. We had yellow bells growing in our yard growing up. We did not call them yellow bells but forcithia. They ate so pretty.
We planted corn a couple of times. Not many, we just wanted to see if we could. They all had spiders in them. I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of them so I never planted them again. I did get some nice fall decorations with the stalks!
I have never had spiders in my corn, but often have a worm get in my corn. It is similar to a grub worm and will usually be around the silk end of the ear. I just cut that end of the ear it ate off and pay it no attention. I have heard corn planted late is more likely to have these worms, but don’t know if it is true. I intend to plant corn by the middle of March if it stays warm and not too wet. I did have trouble with ants during a dry year. Other than spraying insecticide in the early stage of the ear, I don’t know how to prevent this.
Randy–If you want to take the time (and it’s a lot of trouble), two or three drops of olive oil in the silk of each ear as it starts to develop usually take care of corn ear worms. To me, that’s a much better route that any pesticide or poison.