TINY TUESDAY - GUESS WHAT THIS IS!

I’m not aware of any particular theme for today but I had set my mind on taking a photograph of these sweetcorn flowers after Mr. HCB told me about them yesterday.  We are quite excited as he has never grown sweetcorn before, so watch this space to see how they do.  The variety is Lark F1 and he purchased the seeds from Seed Parade.

I have Googled sweetcorn - of course - and apparently, “the sex life of corn involves getting pollen from a male flower to land on a female flower, which leads to development of ears full of kernels.  Corn is a monoecious plant, meaning that it grows its male and female flowers on the same plant. The male flower of a corn plant is called the tassel, while the ear with its corn silk is the female flower.”

We cannot see any tassels at present, but of course, will keep watching the plants to see if their sex life is active (just hope I am allowed to say that on Blip!)  However,  sometimes pollination needs a helping hand and this is where bees can help, as can the wind but if all else fails, then hand pollination is the answer either just by shaking the male tassel or using a paintbrush.  I have found a website all about this, which I have emailed to Mr. HCB - now it’s up to him!

With all that faffing around, I wonder if buying a tin of Jolly Green Giant might not be easier, but of course, I haven’t dared mention that to Mr. HCB - you know what he’s like about his garden - and now you can perhaps see why he’s not keen to go on holiday during the growing season!

“....pray what more can a reasonable man desire, 
     in peaceful times, 
          in ordinary noons, 
               than a sufficient number of ears of 
                    green sweet-corn boiled, 
                         with the addition of salt?”
Henry David Thoreau - 1817-1862
’Walden' (1854)