Corn

This is what it looks like if you're a squirrel walking through the rows of corn. Big stalks, wide leaves and tasty ears of corn, just waiting to be nibbled on. The gardeners will lose maybe a dozen ears to the squirrels before harvesting the corn. It's really hard to keep the squirrels off the corn because the stalks will easily support a squirrel's weight.

These ears are all intact.

Corn tassels

In the US, we call this corn; my British relatives call it maize (which is what the Native Americans in the SW US call it).

This is in the community garden; several people planted corn. It's customarily planted in rows so it can self-pollinate. The part pictured here are the male 'flowers.' When the wind blows through them on a dry day, it disperses the pollen to the next row (and this one too, for that matter) landing on the silk. One grain of pollen will make one grain of corn.

Tomorrow: the ears of corn.

The corn is as high as...

Well, it's taller than a 6 year old! This is a community garden in the city, in the neighbourhood where I grew up. I normally have a small garden of my own, but I've been tempted to join in with one of several community gardens to help out.

The corn is growing nicely; I'd estimate it's about 8 feet tall.