Michigan Corn Crops Ahead of Schedule

"Knee high by the fourth of July." That's an old saying my father repeated to me around the end of June. My father had stopped in for a visit and I discussing life, children, the (expletive) dog, my wife and various other things sons and fathers sometimes discuss. After some minutes of chatting the conversation turned to the little patch of ground I had haphazardly flung seed at in my side yard.

The problem I face is I am farmer wannabe type rather than an actual farmer. I have a bit of knowledge about agriculture. Such as the little seed thingy goes in the dirt and you water it after that. I had no idea that I needed to start tomatoes indoors over a month before I had actually planted them or that peas would collapse under their own weight if you use smooth metal tubes rather than something rougher and smaller around that they could hold on to.

Realizing my skills were not what I thought them to be, this is when I asked my father for a little advice and in regards to the corn, the aforementioned quote was what I got back. My corn was almost to the middle of my thigh and I'm over 6' tall myself. Lucky for me all the green of the weeds made the rest of my garden look lush. It was that or the fact that the corn hid the rest from view that my dad didn't laugh at my pitiful attempt. Then again it might be that he was just being supportive, unlike the tubes I had used for my pea plants, which weren't.

I was thrilled at the time that something other than the two by two foot patch of lettuce was doing well. I had planted the lettuce way too dense and we got several salads out of it before too close of a trim and a lack of watering on my part killed half of it off for three weeks. There was a week of very hot sun in our area at least, who knows if some clouds saved everyone else or not. The salvation for my lettuce also seemed to be a magical motivator for the corn. I wasn't sure why anything in the garden had even survived let alone started to thrive under my care.

Right around the fourth of July I went around to check my garden again and found myself looking a Japanese beetle in the eyes. The little bugger was on the top leaf of one of my corn stalks and the beetle didn't add much height to the stare-down. I was actually concerned at this point. Not so much about the beetles which didn't really seem interested in the corn at all for more than a perch. What bothered me is I wasn't sure what might have been used on the section of ground before we had moved in three years ago. I knew there was something up with a nearly 6 foot cornstalk popping up around the time it should have been only three or four feet tall.

Having been licensed as a pesticide applicator for ornamentals in the past I was aware that turf specific fertilizer is a pretty big no no for crops. I was pretty sure that three years of not applying any and the state of the yard when we moved in meant there probably wasn't anything to worry about. My yard is made up of every imaginable weed for our climate and a nice multi-cultural mix of grasses from God knows where. I am fairly certain it has never seen the business end of a lawn sprayer but for a minute I was worried I might have found a spot that had.

Doing a little quick research and checking around I was interested to find out that everyone was experiencing the same windfall growth. It seems the wet and warm spring and summer have been a boon to local farmers advancing their crop development a full 2 weeks worth. Shortly after wondering whether I had a toxic fertilizer problem or a dead gopher family under my corn patch, I was pleased to find that the mainstream media had also taken note of the issue.

It was reported on NPR that crops all over the region are two weeks ahead on growth and already tasseling out. With my fears laid to rest and my grass turning brown I set about watering my weeds again. Just three days ago we had a pretty big downpour that actually knocked my knee high pumpkin vines over on their sides and flattened one of my middle sized corn stalks. I immediately and gently set the pumpkin vines back up as close to right as I could and that's when I noticed we already have a fist sized watermelon on the next set of vines over. It really is looking like it's going to be a good growing year. That is, If the wind will stop knocking my plants over.