Painted Mountain Corn

[journey11]

Focus on the corn -- the corn!

Beautiful ears! :rainbow-sun I like that there are a couple of red stalks in there too. I went on a painted corn streak this year myself. I have rainbow popcorn going right now and a week from now I'll seed some Rainbow dent corn.

Your wife's wreath is very pretty, Steve. Does she make them to sell? It must have taken a lot of patience to work with all those tiny flowers! I see a lot of love-in-the-mist seed pods in there. It's such an unusual flower and one of my favorites, but really we have a love-hate relationship because I have such a hard time keeping it under control. It ends up everywhere if I don't judiciously pull about 90% of what comes up!

 

[Southern Gardener]

Focus on the corn -- the corn!

Send it warm thoughts and happy sunshine vibes! It's got a long way to go. And, grow . . .

I couldn't find my millet seed to plant Saturday and didn't want to pull apart one of the seed heads in the garage. No wheat this year but my naked oats are growing!

Now, keep your minds off those naked oats -- sunshine thoughts!

Steve

I remember the picture of the wreath - very pretty! I'm sending sunshine thoughts your way Steve!

 

[digitS']

. . . Your wife's wreath is very pretty, Steve. Does she make them to sell? It must have taken a lot of patience to work with all those tiny flowers! I see a lot of love-in-the-mist seed pods in there. It's such an unusual flower and one of my favorites, but really we have a love-hate relationship because I have such a hard time keeping it under control. It ends up everywhere if I don't judiciously pull about 90% of what comes up!

She does sell them but didn't make any last year nor wanted to grow any "material" this year. I think that they are a bit tiring for her.

The love-in-the-mist isn't one to allow to self-sow, I suppose. Getting all the seed pods before they mature is a way to avoid that. They are hard enuf to weed and thin when planted in rows!

. . . I have rainbow popcorn going right now and a week from now I'll seed some Rainbow dent corn. . .

Will those have enough time to mature, Journey? I'm not entirely sure how viable the Painted Mountain seed was. Supposed to be especially for a short season but it seemed to be mature just about the same time as the 1st frost. I don't know much about growing corn like this . . . well, knowing next to nothing would be a better way to put it. After all, it isn't like sweet corn that we are harvesting "green."

The prediction of 75F for this afternoon is looking like it was too optimistic but . . . the Weather Service is promising us temperatures in the 80's the next 2 days! The corn will love it!

Steve

 

[shadetech]

Sending good energies for your "rock garden corn" :coolsun Steve.

I didn't plant any corn this year . Smut got last years crop and I was kind of dis-heartened. Need to plant some next year, if only for dry corn. Does that Painted Mountain corn make as colorful a flour as it does decoration?

henry

 

[digitS']

Thanks Henry!

I don't know about flour since the ears were only used for decoration.

I've never owned a mill -- however -- Seedcorn has told us (click) about soaking the kernels and using a blender for making cornbread!

That's why I planted 12 acres of it!

No -- just kidding! There's just a little and I hope enuf to pollinate well. But, I enjoy having fresh cornbread. The pole beans I grow every year and this time I'll get a chance to learn how they are as dry beans. The squash & pumpkins I have every year also and maybe they don't have to hog all the space. If this works it will be fun and if it doesn't work, it should still be fun !

Steve

 

[journey11]

. . . I have rainbow popcorn going right now and a week from now I'll seed some Rainbow dent corn. . .

Will those have enough time to mature, Journey? I'm not entirely sure how viable the Painted Mountain seed was. Supposed to be especially for a short season but it seemed to be mature just about the same time as the 1st frost. I don't know much about growing corn like this . . . well, knowing next to nothing would be a better way to put it. After all, it isn't like sweet corn that we are harvesting "green."

I hope so! I had about 129 days until my first frost on the day I planted them. The popcorn needs 110 days to maturity and the dent corn needs 90.

 

[shadetech]

12 acres is a lot of cornbread Steve.

I'm just learning to grow a couple acres on my half acre.

 

[digitS']

Days to maturity of 90 seems really quick but that's what the breeder says Painted Mountain will do also. I think I'd like that guy! On his website he talks about how others can develop their own line of corn, and I suppose any plant. Painted Mountain is popular enuf that it is sold in a whole lot of seed catalogs. He seems to have come up with a winner.

I've grown the Strawberry popcorn before and it is rated at 105 days. It didn't have any trouble in my garden .

Henry, I had fun with this photograph last year:

The fun is that my "wheat field" is taller than it is wide ! I've grown about twice that much but never any more than that. Well, I used to work on a farm where actual acres were grown . . .

Steve

 

[shadetech]

Henry, I had fun with this photograph last year:

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/4989_wheat.jpg

The fun is that my "wheat field" is taller than it is wide ! I've grown about twice that much but never any more than that. Well, I used to work on a farm where actual acres were grown . . .

Steve

How are your oats? You said you planted the hulless? I am trying an experimental 3.5 X10 foot plot and it is as tall as the bed is wide. I never tried grain before, but wheat will follow the oats after I harvest them. Still curious as to how I'm going to thresh it all. The oats don't seem to be filling out the pods as of yet, but.....it's all good.

henry

 

[digitS']

I really haven't done right by the oats, Henry. If I was planting an annual hay crop, I would have planted as early as possible, probably mid-April. Instead, I got them in the ground about 2 weeks ago. Right now they are just inches high.

They were a dryland crop and, of course, the garden is irrigated . . . but, this was just a little packet of seed. If they do okay, and I can figure out how to use the grain, I'll probably save most of the seed and plant more next year,

Yeah, the seed didn't look like something I'd be able to just boil and serve with heavy cream and honey

Wheat is easy to thresh - just lay it out on a tarp and walk on it. You can winnow it by pouring it out of a bucket from the top of a ladder, down onto a clean tarp. How much breeze you have to blow the chaff away determines how high your ladder has to be. The oats will be something new.

Steve