Growing Fall Decorations in the Garden



Last fall I bought a trio of mini decorative Indian Corn ears at a market in Lancaster, PA.  I saved the ears and planted a row of kernals in the spring.  They grew tall, tassels sprouted, and quite a few ears developed.  Yesterday, the stalks all looked well dried, so I decided to harvest.

One of the reasons I planted the corn was to see what colors I would get in the end.  The corn at the farm stand was very colorful, some ears were short and burgundy while others were long and slender and included different blends of red, maroon, orange, yellow, buff, and even blue tones.  I was curious to see if kernals from a single ear would result in similar looking ears or if they would reflect the chromatic diversity I saw at the stand.

As you can see, I hit the fall decor jackpot.  A little of everything is represented including some that look like raspberries (probably a result of too few rows being planted and poor pollenation) and others that are perfect little mini Indian Corns.  I couldn't be happier with the results.  I'm just not sure what to do with so many!  At the moment, they're arranged in a tall cylindrical vase on our media unit, right next to Pumpkin #1.



Another mini harvest included some carrots, parsley, and tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes are from a volunteer plant in my plot.  It's a sweet variety (maybe Sweet 100 that I planted last season) but only a few ripen each day.  Garden Snack!