Sweetcorn in the garden

lucym

When should we harvest our sweetcorn? They are about 7in. long now…how can we tell if they are ready?

squeaky

I'm getting sweetcorn in my local veg box right now, and since this is one of the main UK areas for it I'd reckon on you being able to harvest any time from, well, today really. If you're much north of Sunny Suffolk I'd give it an extra week or perhaps two and, having seen the way some of the local fields get cropped you should be able to hang on until warning of serious frosts. In any event they keep pretty well if you leave them intact and don't strip the leaves off.

culpepper

They'll be ready when the cornsilk goes brown.You can see if the cobs are ripe by pushing a kernel with your fingernail and slightly milky juice should come out.
Dont keep them too long before freezing or eating as the sugar turns to starch so they wont stay sweet.