Painted Mountain Corn

[digitS']

I could have started a new thread with the title: Rockstar Pumpkin Threatens tiny bean seedlings!

The Painted Mountain corn has been doing well. It is several inches taller than an even earlier planting of sweet corn. We have had a little warmer weather - including back-to-back 90F days! All blowing away at the moment . . . .

Getting out there with the Rattlesnake bean seed took me a couple days more than I would have liked! Each group of corn along the south and west sides have little seedling neighbors now! Only problem is that the pumpkin looks like it wants to bully the beans before they have a chance to escape up the corn stalks to safety!

See the little bean seedlings hiding in the morning shade of the corn ?

Steve

 

[shadetech]

I could have started a new thread with the title: Rockstar Pumpkin Threatens tiny bean seedlings!

The Painted Mountain corn has been doing well. It is several inches taller than an even earlier planting of sweet corn. We have had a little warmer weather - including back-to-back 90F days! All blowing away at the moment . . . .

Getting out there with the Rattlesnake bean seed took me a couple days more than I would have liked! Each group of corn along the south and west sides have little seedling neighbors now! Only problem is that the pumpkin looks like it wants to bully the beans before they have a chance to escape up the corn stalks to safety!

Steve

Glad to hear you finally had some warm weather. We know it will return again soon and your rock garden will hold the heat well.

Have faith Steve. The little sister is strong and will rise to the occasion even in the shade of the big sister. Beans are strong! Pumpkins stay low! Besides the three sisters always did fight, Grandmother just taught them how to turn that into something constructive.

henry

 

[digitS']

Well, Brother is going to show up tomorrow morning and twist the ear of that pumpkin a little off to the east so that it can squeeze in between the plants without smothering li'l Sister in the process .

The buttercup squash are further down the line and not quite so robust.

Pumpkins seem to have a better ability than winter squash to grow during cool, spring weather. RockStar has been a good choice for one that can turn orange by Halloween. I guess I should be checking on the festivals of Native Americans down in the Southeast where Dad's family lived before migrating west. Even just decorative purposes could be appropriate. But, it is great that I've got some plant breeding that provides some choices where I now live.

I'm a little concerned about shade. Any growth delay won't be good here near the 49th Parallel! I just might have to take my bag of seeds and migrate back in the other direction if circumstances aren't favorable for the Sisters!

Steve

 

[digitS']

My Sisters garden in the harsh light of a summer afternoon, today.

So much for having the beans climb on the corn :/. You can see that it has begun to tassel and none of the plants are above shoulder height yet.

I will need to make sure the beans do NOT climb on the corn or, at least, rely far more on the poles for support. I just plain don't understand how I got so much height out of Painted Mountain a few years ago. And, I should have read ALL the descriptions of it, including the one in the 2011 Fedco catalog that described it as a 5' corn .

Maybe next year I can grow a half-runner bean with it . . .

Steve

 

[journey11]

I ran into that problem with mine last year too. I guess it takes a pretty tall, sturdy corn to pull it off successfully. My corn got crumpled over by the weight of the beans, but thankfully I had gotten to harvest the ears first. Made a bit of a mess to harvest those beans though. Good idea throwing in some teepees!

 

[thistlebloom]

I took a look at the seed description of my PM corn Steve (High Mowing Seeds is where I ordered it ) and it says 3 to 5 feet tall.
Why would they be saving seed for a shorter corn? Maybe there's some benefit we aren't aware of.....

 

[digitS']

The story with PM is that it is the earliest and most hardy . . . That it is a "gene pool" rather than a single variety . . . And, that plant breeding continues.

A shorter plant should be earlier than a taller, all other things being equal. If the ears are proportionately short, I'm not going to be too happy :/.

I ran into the pole beans smothering the sweet corn scenario when I tried the Sisters 30-odd years ago. Harvesting will be difficult because the pumpkins, in particular, are taking over all the ground space. That is why I wanted flour corn and to use the Rattlesnake beans as a dry bean. Harvest everything in the fall.

I don't really mind putting up the teepees but that kind of defeats one part of this whole idea. Still, I can be happy with it . . . and, truth be known, if I can sneak in there and get some fresh snap beans after several more weeks of growth, I'm going to be happy, too .

Of course, if you don't hear from me after I attempt this, send in the bloodhounds !!

Steve

 

[digitS']

Largest ears are about 8 1/2" long. Not so big but nearly every one is different and the plants really did a fairly good job in production - nearly all had 2 ears.

Now, to finish the harvest out there in the Sisters Garden! It rained again this morning but I need to pick the Cascade Giant beans and put them somewhere they can finish drying. I've already had a winter squash . . . well, the one that hadn't quite matured. Pumpkins have been brought in.

I'll try Seedcorn's cornbread recipe before too long and should be able to have cornbread with a pot of beans and a baked squash .

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Hey Steve! I'm glad I followed your suggestion and planted Painted Mt. this year!
I harvested mine Saturday and like you nearly every stalk had two ears. I got lots that were nice and long and completely pollinated, but some stubby "toothless" ones also. A few were apparently not mature yet as the silks were still green and fresh (the girls and the dog had to arm wrestle over those and the really sparsely kerneled ones ).

The first one I unzipped made me catch my breath it was so beautiful! The sun shining on the burgundy kernels looked like jewels.
I ran and showed it to my hubby and even he thought it was very pretty indeed.

I'll be saving seed from the ones I like most and see what happens next year.
I really loved the stalks that were maroon and bi colored. It's just a very beautiful corn and it now has a permanent place in my garden!

 

[digitS']

Wow, Thistle'!

I was going to say something about them being "colorful" but didn't want to sound boastful. Besides, I tried a couple of shots but the light wasn't good . . . (another way of saying, I don't know what I'm doing with the camera ).

I wish the PM was taller so that it could do its part in holding up the beans in the Sisters garden. Maybe I can set up the teepees first then plant seeds around them . . .

The short stature comes with having such early maturity. They go hand-in-hand, I suppose.

Steve