Eight magnificent, stately, sweetcorn plants that we grew in the garden produced 14 sweet, golden cobs of corn. The seedlings came from Ashurst Organics and we planted them out dangerously early but we were lucky as there was no frost. We planted the seedlings down the middle of one of the long straw bale beds. Sweetcorn is wind pollinated and is best planted in blocks rather than rows but I did not know that until afterwards!

Once the cobs started to grow we made sure they were well watered. We harvested them in September as the silky tassels began to go brown. They do not store so we ate them quickly as raw kernels in salads, lightly steamed whole cobs with parsley and walnut pesto as well as creamy soups.

Corn silk

Dry the corn silk to use in herbal tea. The tea is a gentle diuretic and used in inflammatory conditions of the bladder