[Kristen]

Well .. you're only going to get one cob from Swift (might get a bit more ... perhaps ... ) and I don't suppose they are going to grow much fatter / thinner from being a foot apart, rather than 15", and you'll get 25% more plant into the patch ... I think I would go with more plants too

I wonder if the spacing instructions are "left over" from the old types of Maize-style Sweetcorn when the plants were an awful lot bigger?

Swift is pretty titchy by comparison (although still quite wide, but its lack of height means less shading for its neighbours?)

I plant 3 across my 4' beds, I think I'll try 4 this year and keep to about 15" spacing down the rows ... successional blocks of 12 instead of 9 then

[DD.]

Well .. you're only going to get one cob from Swift (might get a bit more ... perhaps ... ) and I don't suppose they are going to grow much fatter / thinner from being a foot apart, rather than 15", and you'll get 25% more plant into the patch

More than that, actually.

Going from corner to corner in a 5' block, you have a grid of 5 x 5 = 25 at 15" spacing.

At 12" spacing it's 6 x 6 = 36, 44% more.

[mumofstig]

I'm trying Lark F1 this year as it promises "improved germination"and the planting distances are..........................9inches apart in rows 18in apart  :blink:

so I'll be cramming in planting a few more than I thought I would  

[JayG]

I'm trying Lark F1 this year as it promises "improved germination"and the planting distances are..........................9inches apart in rows 18in apart  :blink:

so I'll be cramming in planting a few more than I thought I would 

.......so in a 1m² bed thats, um, er, nearly time for an aspirin! 

My planting area for sweetcorn varies from year to year but is basically as much room as I can pinch  - I am also absolute rubbish at either planting straight or at regular spacings (unless the plants have legs as well as roots!)

Don't think I'll ask whether you're chitting your Lark seeds Mum!