Did Noelle’s March post about Growing Corn in a Container inspire you? Personally, I couldn’t wait to order a packet of Burpee’s new On Deck sweet corn. Imagine, you’re sitting on your deck, picking an ear of sweet corn, then turning and putting it on the grill next to you. Now that’s fresh!

But about the time my seeds arrived, I’d pored over enough catalogs in the meantime to realize that—like sweet corn—you can grow popcorn! It comes up just like any other corn, but the ears sport hard little nuggets that can be shucked, popped, topped and chomped down during a screening of your favorite film. Too fun!

Sadly, just as I’d fallen in love, I also learned that growing sweet corn and popcorn within 100 feet of each other is a no-no. Cross-pollination occurs.

Oh well. Goodbye sweet corn, hello popcorn!

The big-name companies sell few cultivars, mainly ornament corn, strawberry popcorn and a Tom Thumb variety, also known as Japanese White Hull-less, which is inexpensive and a good confidence builder for the not-quite-ready-for-gourmet gardeners. “Dwarf plants” sounds promising for container gardening.

And as you can see, it’s all containers, all the time on my packed little patio space. With high hopes, I planted about a dozen seeds in each of the two 24″ planters (front, center.) Roughly a week later …

… and a popcorn sprout is popping up! Since this photo was taken, May 9, my containers are dotted with green—both popcorn and kohrabi (which I sprinkled in between) are coming up quickly. Hooray!

I’ll check back in with brief progress reports as we “grow” along. In the meantime, share your adventures with new, or new-to-you, plants that you’re trying this year. And good luck to us all!

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