This is the way my Grandpa (1/2
Cherokee, 1/4 Norsk, 1/4 Svensk) said to, and I grow corn this way
without a plough, tilling machine, or shovel.
In the fall, pile leaves and pine needles 6-8 inches deep over corn patch. Introduce worms if there aren't any that you can find. Night-crawlers dig deep burrows and drag decaying leaves into them. Red Worms tend to do their munching right at ground level. Compost worms tend to stay in the general root zone. Worms don't eat dirt; they eat the fungi and bacteria from decaying stuff. The leaves decay over the winter providing the worms with an above-freezing haven and food. Decay produces just enough heat to keep the ground workable for them. The worms make paths in the soil for roots, improve drainage, and tend to make nutrients more available to plants through the digested bacteria in their castings (poop).
In the spring when you are ready to plant the corn, remove the leaves and pile them up for composting elsewhere or use them as mulch elsewhere. Corn buttress roots can't go through them.
As soon as the leaves are removed, make a planting stick of good hardwood such as locust or hickory. It should be about 3/4 to an inch thick and long enough so you don't have to bend over to stab the ground with it. It should have a gently tapered point at one end and a peg through it about 2x the length of the kernels being planted from the tip. Go about stabbing the ground at a measured distance of about 10-14 inches apart. The peg stops the planting stick from going too deep. Corn grows best in blocks rather than rows. Rows of corn tend to have pollination issues if there aren't enough adjacent rows.
Take your corn gathered up in a pouch at the waist or slung over the shoulder, and take a length of pipe or hollowed out cane and you can use this tube by sticking it in the holes, dropping in 1 kernel of corn, and moving on to the next hole as you kick a bit of soil over the hole with your shoe or if barefoot, can pinch the hole shut with your toes.
I prefer the latter, I do most tasks in the field barefoot. Only time I don't is when around the squash. Been doing it since I was a kid. Only ever did it with shoes in school. I try to avoid stepping on frogs and if I accidentally do, I can feel them and stop myself from putting weight on them. Frogs are a farmer's best friend. They can easily rid the field of most unwanted 6-legged guests that get within a foot of the ground. I've seen at least 4 species of amphibians in my field. Other beneficials are non-poisonous snakes, lizards, wasps, ladybugs, mayflies, spiders, mantids, and assassin bugs. You can add chicken manure if you need more nitrogen; I like to add rockdust and ashes as well, but in the winter so it doesn't harm spiders.
When the corn is 1 ft tall, plant the pole beans between the corn stalks. My family's pole beans are little speckled brown things with no wrinkles and our corn is blue and white with a dent in the end. If you plant squashes or melons around the corn and beans, the four-legged visitors tend to stay out because of the prickles. I've never used a plough or turned soil for corn and beans. My corn is regularly 10-12 ft tall with sturdy stalks and a good yield of large and full cobs. They don't fall down as often as the farm next door that ploughs. I think it might be because the soil is still firm instead of loose.
In the fall, pile leaves and pine needles 6-8 inches deep over corn patch. Introduce worms if there aren't any that you can find. Night-crawlers dig deep burrows and drag decaying leaves into them. Red Worms tend to do their munching right at ground level. Compost worms tend to stay in the general root zone. Worms don't eat dirt; they eat the fungi and bacteria from decaying stuff. The leaves decay over the winter providing the worms with an above-freezing haven and food. Decay produces just enough heat to keep the ground workable for them. The worms make paths in the soil for roots, improve drainage, and tend to make nutrients more available to plants through the digested bacteria in their castings (poop).
In the spring when you are ready to plant the corn, remove the leaves and pile them up for composting elsewhere or use them as mulch elsewhere. Corn buttress roots can't go through them.
As soon as the leaves are removed, make a planting stick of good hardwood such as locust or hickory. It should be about 3/4 to an inch thick and long enough so you don't have to bend over to stab the ground with it. It should have a gently tapered point at one end and a peg through it about 2x the length of the kernels being planted from the tip. Go about stabbing the ground at a measured distance of about 10-14 inches apart. The peg stops the planting stick from going too deep. Corn grows best in blocks rather than rows. Rows of corn tend to have pollination issues if there aren't enough adjacent rows.
Take your corn gathered up in a pouch at the waist or slung over the shoulder, and take a length of pipe or hollowed out cane and you can use this tube by sticking it in the holes, dropping in 1 kernel of corn, and moving on to the next hole as you kick a bit of soil over the hole with your shoe or if barefoot, can pinch the hole shut with your toes.
I prefer the latter, I do most tasks in the field barefoot. Only time I don't is when around the squash. Been doing it since I was a kid. Only ever did it with shoes in school. I try to avoid stepping on frogs and if I accidentally do, I can feel them and stop myself from putting weight on them. Frogs are a farmer's best friend. They can easily rid the field of most unwanted 6-legged guests that get within a foot of the ground. I've seen at least 4 species of amphibians in my field. Other beneficials are non-poisonous snakes, lizards, wasps, ladybugs, mayflies, spiders, mantids, and assassin bugs. You can add chicken manure if you need more nitrogen; I like to add rockdust and ashes as well, but in the winter so it doesn't harm spiders.
When the corn is 1 ft tall, plant the pole beans between the corn stalks. My family's pole beans are little speckled brown things with no wrinkles and our corn is blue and white with a dent in the end. If you plant squashes or melons around the corn and beans, the four-legged visitors tend to stay out because of the prickles. I've never used a plough or turned soil for corn and beans. My corn is regularly 10-12 ft tall with sturdy stalks and a good yield of large and full cobs. They don't fall down as often as the farm next door that ploughs. I think it might be because the soil is still firm instead of loose.
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