[Goosegirl]

Having had disasters growing sweetcorn the last couple of years I'm thinking of growing mini ones. Has anyone had any success with them and how to start them.

[New shoot]

They are very easy and you start the same as you would for sweetcorn. When planting out you can cram them in at about 1/3 of the usual spacing.

I used to grow them on the plot, but you have to be able to visit daily at harvest time or they get tough and chewy. Just keep them in a plastic bag in the salad drawer of the fridge until you get enough for a meal.

They are not as flavourful as full sized corn. They are hugely better than baby corn you can buy though.

[coldandwindy]

Sounds like something I might try with my short growing season.
Roughly how long do they need until ready?
& how do you tell when to harvest.
Thanks, Windy.

[New shoot]

We had a forum member here a few years ago who was in Argyll and grew them very successfully in a polytunnel, so they may well be worth you giving them a try.

I used to check them as soon as I saw cobs forming at around the 10cm size. If you carefully open the leaves on the first couple while still attached to the plant, you’ll soon get the measure of them.  Then it is a matter of being vigilant with them as they produce several cobs per plant if you keep picking them off.

Here in the south east of England I used to be harvesting in early August and that was outdoor growing.  The real sweetcorn would be 4-6 weeks later.  They take very little room and don’t need pollination, so can be planted in a row or a block in whatever space you have.

[coldandwindy]

Thanks for the reply New shoot.
Think I'll give that a go. 
I used to grow for full cobs but gave up because it wasn't worth the space for the useable crop when the summer was better than normal every 5 or 6 years.