[Aunt Sally]

mine are huge they look ready for planting out already 

Oh dear 

[Spana]

Sowing mine in an unheated greenhouse in the next day or so.  My greenhouse faces south at the top of a slope and I have a struggle keeping them cool enough.

[Y.E.A.H]

i think i will start another load 

[Aunt Sally]

I sowed mine 3 days ago in the unheated greenhouse.

[Digger Tom]

 Mine will be going in the ground in the next couple of weeks. They vary from about 2" > 4" in the propogator at the moment. I am hardening them off to slow the growth rate but once these babies start growing they do go a bit mental.

[JayG]

Mine will be going in the ground in the next couple of weeks. They vary from about 2" > 4" in the propogator at the moment. I am hardening them off to slow the growth rate but once these babies start growing they do go a bit mental.

Don't plant them outside in a cold spell or it's just you that will be going mental!  

[Siouxfly]

Could sweetcorn be planted a wee bit closer than the recommended on packet do you think?
I'm not sure how many I can fit in, or if it is worth it for just a few?

[sunshineband]

Could sweetcorn be planted a wee bit closer than the recommended on packet do you think?
I'm not sure how many I can fit in, or if it is worth it for just a few?

Spacing a bit closer is fine as long as they have rich soil and plenty of water.
(Plant in a block of course ) 
Nothing like fresh corn on the cob, so imho it is worth it just for a few 

[Kristen]

Gardeners World last week was planting 2 seeds per module (I thought they didn't like being transplanted, and use Newspaper Pots for mine ... Ho!Hum!) and said something like "2 seeds per module, but as they are expensive F1 seed and normally give near-100% germination, if 2 come up just leave them as they don't mind growing close together" - that was a new one on me as well ...

This was some new magic-extra-sweet variety - doesn't lose it s sweetness if stored in the fridge for a week ...

... come to think of it I wonder if I saw it on 1st APril? 

The plants I planted out in early May (sown 01-Apr) last year were a nuisance to keep alive with fleece, and had stunted plants, compared to the ones I planted out on 31-May (sown 13-May)

The sowing-to-planting period is only about 3 weeks - so get them out to start hardening off promptly! (that will slow down the growth a bit too)

The harvest period isn't all that long, so I'm planting 9 every fortnight this year, rather than two batches of 21 and 35 that I did last year.

[Carrotcake]

Wish I'd joined this forum BEFORE I sowed my sweetcorn.

I've got 80 little seedlings waiting to go outside. Never even thought about successional sowing for sweetcorn 

[Bluedave]

I was going to put mine straight in the ground at the end of May (seed) - is this not a good idea - should I be chitting and growing on now? I thought sweetcorn didn't like being moved? I love this forum but sometimes it confuses the hell out of me!!!! pmsl.

[JayG]

I shall be sowing mine today; last year's leftover seed 2 to a paper pot (just in case) and the new seed one to a pot. (Same variety, Swift; different varieties should not be grown together.)

I'll sow about 35 altogether, and if previous year's experience is anything to go by I won't have more than 1 or 2 failures.

They will be planted out about 15" apart which seems to work OK for me.

Carrotcake; I think successional sowing is more likely to pay dividends where you are than in somewhere like Sheffield where even the earliest crop can be in a race against time given the sort of summers we have had recently. 

[Kristen]

I was going to put mine straight in the ground at the end of May (seed) - is this not a good idea - should I be chitting and growing on now? I thought sweetcorn didn't like being moved? I love this forum but sometimes it confuses the hell out of me!!!! pmsl.

You can sow direct at end of May, or perhaps a bit earlier.

I don't know whether Sweet Corn likes being moved, or not. I grow mine in newspaper pots which are relatively tall (about 6" tall and only 2.5" diameter) which gives them a deeper root-run than normal pots, and then I plant them "whole" as the paper just rots down (in fact its well on the way by the time I plant them out!). But I read of people successfully growing them who start them off in shallow modules.

Chitting and so on is just to give them a head start, but you need a conservatory or similar so they don't get cold and then will be ready to go out at the end of May (3 weeks before last frost would be early enough to start them I reckon)

But as JayG says, the Summer here is short for sweetcorn - although the new varieties bred for the UK (like Swift, which is what I grow too) produce their cobs at least one leaf, or maybe two, earlier than the old fashioned ones, so we're in with a fighting chance! but an earlier start helps extend the growing season, of course.

[bigben]

JayG you beat me to it. My experience in Sheffield last year was that I planted as early as the packet said and the corn tasted great but while most produced two cobs the second was often not ripe by the time I had to harvest. I could not do a second, later lot of corn and expect it to ripen before I ran out of warm days. Unless this year is going to be really warm of course!

[Kristen]

Hmmm ... my Swift, last year, were 3 weeks from Chit to Plant out, and then 2 months to first cropping - so the ones I planted out at the very end of May were ready for first harvest at end of July, and were all done by the end of August (and I mean tail-end-charlie).

I should expect to be able to carry on ripening until end September, don't you think?

Hence I was planning to sow for crops from end July to end September