Yup. Knee-high it is

Cute mini-farm supporting neighbor behind my corn for scale.

Corn has a special resonance to me.

I often refer to myself as an Indiana farm girl.  And while it’s true that I did live on a farm for many years, we didn’t farm the land.  Other farmers did.  But during many summers as a child, I watched closely the progress of the corn – from tiny seedling to mammoth green towers in our fields.  I loved walking through rows as the corn became really tall and created special green tunnels that were quiet and secret.  I felt transported to another world.

Even as an adult, corn has its held allure.  More than once, while working as a photog, I pitched the idea of shooting fashion images in a corn field.  No one else got it. Maybe it’s a good thing I never shot it.

I’ve grown corn here and there in the past.  I’ve never grown enough quantity of it, really, to have good pollination or harvest more than one meal of corn, but this year, for a couple of reasons, I planted a little more of it.

I planted a good stand of corn and beans and pumpkins at the front of my garden out of rebellion.  Some in my little town are concerned about the increase in home vegetable gardens.  As they put it, “All the mini-farms sprouting-up in the borough.”  The sentiment didn’t sit right with me.   Yes, I felt a little spiteful.  I can admit that.  So, I yanked out some ornamental shrubs at the front of my veggie garden and planted several mounds of corn.

I also did it to try the “Three Sisters” method of growing.  It’s a very old practice but I stumbled on the idea from Renee’s Seed.  They sell packages of seeds specifically for this kind of growing.

Three Sisters planting was practiced by Native Americans.  Basically, it’s growing corn and pole beans and pumpkins or squash in the same mound.  These plants benefit each other as they grow.

The beans fix nitrogen in the soil. Corn sops up a TON of nitrogen. The corn becomes the support for the beans and the rambunctious squash leaves shade the ground and choke out weeds.   Totally brilliant.  It’s really working for me as you see.  Ya, it’s a little bit above knee high for the fourth of July.

Bean runner on the corn.