[Angelah]

We had 10 sweetcorn planted in a block, approx 6 x 4 feet, and interplanted with butternut squash. With french beans at the edge - but didn't realise they were dwarf beans when they were planted!!! Beans were eaten almost immediately by slugs - leaving 2 plants which did phenominally (sp?) well.

The sweetcorn were out of this world - tasted amazing, 2-3 cobs per plant, no idea what type, as they were bought from the garden club sale. The squash went mad! From 3 plants we had 12 enormous squashes, which also tasted fab - 7 remain and are storing well.

I did fork over a bag of manure. The bed had had black plastic on it for a few months, but still quite weedy, so after forking the manure over the top, the sweetcorn were planted through black membrane - the bed wasn't dug over at all, so I was really pleased with how well they all grew. The weeds - couch grass and bindweed kept trying to grow but were easily pulled up. Apart from watering when it was really dry they had little attention. I think they may have been fed once, if that.

Beginners luck? Who knows, but I'll be doing a similar thing next year, but with far more sweetcorn!!!! Can't wait to get started!