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| Silver Queen corn is a favorite pick among home gardeners. |
I began studying the best way to grow Silver Queen corn, for this year's crop. Like roses, sweet corn has many experts who disagree with each other.
These principles are beyond debate:
- Sweet corn needs warm soil to germinate and does not like transplanting at all.
- The plants are heavy feeders that need plenty of water.
- They need abundant nitrogen and rich soil.
- Wind pollination means planting at least four rows.
- There is but one crop, usually two ears per stalk.
Last year our helper began turning lawn into garden by laying down newspapers and shredded cyprus wood mulch (Jackson Mulch). We started late, and some spinach plants were simply buried under mulch. Spinach was planted too late to taste good. Any covered planted will turn into compost under the shroud of mulch, as soil creatures attack the dead plant and turn it into the components needed for healthy plants.
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| Comfrey - your weed is my soil builder. |
I peeked and found the lawn turned black quickly. Some planting in the vegetable garden showed the tough to penetrate lawn had become soft, moist soil, easily planted (spinach and garlic) in the fall.
When the Three Sisters corn patch is done, the remains will be left to rot into the soil. I may drag an old three-toothed hoe through the patch and plant more beans. The idea is to have another crop if weather permits, green manure if cold comes early. Nothing is better for the soil that a crop of beans and their nitrogen fixing roots wintering over, the beans sacrificing all for the next crop of corn or vegetables.
Just as the rotting grass roots are good for the soil, so are the decomposing corn, bean, and pumpkin roots. Moreover, the complex compounds created by the plants will contribute to the richness of the soil as they are shredded and broken down by earthworms, springtails, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and protozoa. The green leaves created out of soil, water, and sunshine will provide food for these creatures, so more green leaves can be grown again in the enriched soil.
As Shakespeare (Oxford) wrote in Hamlet, "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm."
Disappointed by the Numbers
I am always intrigued by those church people--clergy and laity alike--who talk about the latest program or worship - expressing disappointment with the numbers. "I wish more would have come." (Deep sighs follow)
Any figure above one is good. Paul assumed that the pastor staying a believer was a good goal by itself. Many leave the ministry as atheists.
Suppose only the pastor's family came. Is that not good? The most important training we do is in our own home. Some very busy, extremely important pastors and synod officials have time for everyone except their children. They neglect their most important members, assuming they will never depart from the faith.
In churches with thousands of members, 500 may come. In one with only 100 members, 50 may attend. The small congregation has far greater attendance, as a percentage of members, but the sighs are much deeper. We are not to judge the effect of any given action or service.
The gardener knows that any given project will be a complete or even a partial failure, but there will always be results that outweigh anything disappointing.
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| Can the Word which fashioned our universe be a failure? Isaiah 55 says - No. The Word never returns void. The Word always accomplishes His purpose. The Word always prospers His work. |