The current state of our little corn “plantation”. I’m a little disappointed that they’re not towering over me, but am grateful that they’re being fruitful. Can you spot any of the cobs?

The Red Aztec corn plants are really showing off their cobs. The cobs started appearing as gradual swells between one leaf and the next along the plant stems, which was quite exciting to observe because of the anticipation of the cobs to come. As the cobs grew, they eventually detached themselves from the stem, leaning out at an angle and looking more corn-like.

One of our more stubborn cobs. It began growing ahead of most of the others but is still not showing any silks. I’ve nicknamed it the Stubborn Child…

Of course, the important thing was to make sure the cobs got pollinated. After all, I had diligently collected and stored pollen from the tassels as they provided it. What got me concerned was that only one cob had silks showing! The others kept growing in length and girth, and I watched anxiously for silks as I hoped that the pollen kept in the fridge would not lose its viability.

I’ve never been so pleased to see such a tangle! We hope that all the cobs sprout such healthy silks!

Finally, though, most of the cobs began to sprout silks, to my relief. I was afraid that we’d be left with empty cobs that we would end up having to use boiled in soup to get the corn flavour. No doubt, our success with the corn will depend on how well I’ve managed to pollinate the silks. The weather is still very rainy, so I hope that the pollen doesn’t get washed off before it gets a chance to work. I think it takes 3 weeks for the corn to reach harvestable stage after being pollinated, so 2013 may begin with more corn news.

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