I'm also in squirrel-infested zone 7. I don't think you are insane to try-- especially if you already have the seeds. My suggestion would be putting up a poultry fence around the area you plant (if you decide to try this year) and cover the entire thing with wide netting so the sun still gets through. One of the other things I've done with the squirrels around here is baiting them away from the garden by keeping the birdfeeders full of cheap seed. I use it as a decoy. They play around with the birdfeeders all day. If I didn't live in a restrictive area, I'd shoot the little tree rats.

If you've got the will, then don't let the squirrels or the hard soil deter you. Can you get access to cheap hay or straw? I'm thinking you might not even have to till that soil to plant corn. Start your corn seedlings in flats indoors. In the meantime, cover the area with newspaper and hay/straw or whatever other organic matter you can find. Then transplant out in about 2 weeks.

-Diggity

The previous replies are not discouraging enough. :)

It is hot already and getting quite late this year. That's why the farmers up here have switched over to beans.

The squirrels are just as hungry as ever. The baby birds are almost as big as their parents and your corn seedlings would look irresistable to them too!

You'd be last-minuting it all this year, which leads to overspending in my experience. You should plan a big corn patch (with fenced protection from squirrels) for next year. You know you'll need a garden project in January or so...

Sorry, Dear. :-) While I don't have a pesky-critter problem (except birds, and I've already netted everything that may need it), I can't even begin to discourage you from expanding, 'cause I'm a first-season kitchen gardener this year and I'm ALREADY writing down a list of all the new vegs (and even the cultivars I want to look for!) to add next year to the dozen or so different edibles I'm growing this year. I haven't even harvested anything yet, and I'm already clearing space to expand for next year! :-)

Think we need a 12-step program?

Sorry, and best of luck with the furry monsters.

i say a good pelet gun works good tree rats are great fried then put in gravey over hot buscuits

sorry just my opinion and i would never try to talk you out of a bigger garden my corn is just planted and doing great after about a week about 5 inches tall

I'm also thinking about planting corn next year, and my yard is also infested with tree rats. I don't know about corn, but I've found that Liquid Fence and/or Hot Pepper Wax do a fairly good job of keeping them away.

As for organic material, if you start a compost bin/heap now, you might have some to till in next year.

The problem with squirrels is that no matter how many you kill or haul away, Nature fills a void. Others move in to take their place. But that takes a little while, so you've got what I call a killing window. A good pellet rifle will take care of your squirrel problem as long as you kill them off right when the corn is of interest to them. It will take any newbies a little while to move in to new territory.

I use this killing window to protect my apples. In fact, there are about five squirrels running around right now and eating the spillage from the bird feeder. Good targets. When the apples get about half ripe and interesting to the squirrels, I'll get out the pellet rifle.

This probably sounds cruel to some, but I spend a lot of time and precious money in my garden and I'm not about to let some critter take it away from me, especially now when groceries are so expensive. 12 pumps of the pellet rifle for a squirrel, 9 for a rabbit. I'm thinking of getting a CO2, but I think it has a report, I'm not sure.

Friends of mine in Hawaii own a macadamia orchard. Their problem is rats that get up the trees and eat the nuts. The farmers use a sticky material to wrap the lower tree trunks. The rats get stuck to the material. Recently, the rats have learned to jump over the sticky stuff and farmers are having to increase the wrapped area. Macadamias are a big cash crop in the Islands so you can imagine how costly these rats are.

Well, thanks for everybody's input. I think I will go ahead and till the area, this fall sow crimson clover and till it in next spring and plant a lot of corn next year. A pellet rifle is a bit pricey, I have a BB air pistol, but it just doesn't have enough power to kill unless at very close range. I can't imagine any fence being able to keep squirrels out unless it had netting over the top of it which for corn would mean the fence would have to be at least 6 ft. high. I've already expanded the garden to 3 times the space the original garden was when I moved here but might as well use the whole back yard, less grass to mow anyway. I just don't think it's gonna work this year to try and grow corn, it is getting late even for N.C.

I wouldn't waste your time growing more corn. If you are growing sweet corn, I assume that is what you are talking about, there wouldn't be a big increase in $. What they are talking about in the midwest is field corn. Field corn is used to feed livestock, ethanol, High fructose corn syrup, Corn Flakes and etc.

I love sweet corn as much as the next person, but as someone else stated, you would be last minuting this and chasing your tail the whole year. No pun intended!

Get the spot ready and plant next year.

I suggest a pellet gun in addition to a cat. Get one from a shelter. They are usually death on any rodent. If the adults are too big for the cat, it will still take care of the little ones and next year there will be a lot less or maybe none. Pellet guns are not necessarily expensive. I have 2 around here somewhere I had for my boys to practice on squirrels. I am sure I paid less than $70, although it was some time ago.
JMO,
Tom

Cats are a great at keeping pests away. I wish the neighbor's cat was still around it kept the moles and squirrels from bothering my garden last year.

What about doing a small squarefoot garden of corn? In a 4'x4' space you can plant 64 corn plants. It doesn't have to a raised bed just pile up your organic matter (lasagna bed style seems to work well, newspapers, kitchen and yard scraps) and plant in it. At first I would cover it wil poultry fence till they get a foot or two high. YOu can also buy some early varieties of corn so you have a shorter season.

Then next year you can till it all in and do it they way you want to.

Daphne

The only fence that has worked for me in keeping squirrels out of the garden is an electric fence. I purchased the fence about 6 years ago for raccoon problems. I set the wires set at 6 and 12 inches above ground using short movable poles. For squirrels, I have a 3 to 4 inch plastic flower border just below the lower wire. (Otherwise, the squirrels would just crawl under the lower wire.)

The fence charger is a "Red Snapr" brand. I use an hand-held extension cord spool to "roll up" the wire at tilling time.

I believe the cost of the charger, wire and insulators at the time of purchase was about $40. Not sure what the cost would be today.

This has proven to be one of my better garden investments.

As far as the hard soil area...I'm a believer in the lasagne layering technique. I wouldn't believe it could do what it did If I didn't see it with my own eyes.

I had a big area (red clay, so hard you couldn't get a a shovel in it) last year it was covered with kudzu and then after the kudzu was excavated out, WEEDS everywhere. I started with whatever I could get ahold of...loads of cardboard (about every dollar store in town breaks down their boxes and pays to have them picked up....I found one close to my house and have all the cardboard I could ever desire.

Then bagged grass clippings, leaves (whenever I could get them) pine straw, shredded junk mail, table veggie scraps, and then I got some mildewed hay and toppped it off....

It sat all winter and when I went to plant my tomatoes there, it was like butter...worms, etc. All that was left was about 2 inches of hay and strips of tape that was left on the boxes :)

Tilling the area now is out of the question. I went out a while ago and tried tilling. The ground is so hard that the tiller barely made a dent. I have to go with everyone's suggestion of the lasagna method. I believe in that method, I have a couple beds that I've done that with and I'm convinced it works. I just don't know if I'll be able to gather enough stuff to cover such a large area. I want to grow enough corn to have some for the freezer.

So, this year, it's out of the question. I'll be trying to gather lots of cardboard and leaves etc. all the rest of the summer, fall and winter. Then plant next spring.

I'm going to try to get used electric fencing from Craig's List and freecycle.

If you have pet cats, you may want to think twice about an electric fence. My Father-in-law installed them around his garden with the thought of keeping the cats from using his garden for a sandbox. It worked, but it killed one of the cats. Maybe he put too high a charge on the electric wire? Anyway it was not a pretty site.

You should definitely expand the garden - it gives life meaning. But about the squirrels, a dog will help tremendously.

For grins, I'll add that in my 44 SF raised bed I've planted 200 stalks of corn for intensive gardening. 3 inch spacing with 8 inch rows. So far so good, but I used predator urine pellets to deter my critters (coons). I'd use a pellet gun but it would just make them mad.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

I do not think squirrels are a problem for corn. Squirrels are also super easy to catch. nothing could be easier. get some peanuts in a shell and use them for bait. keep the bag in the refrigerator so they keep a long time.

However, I suspect you have racoon problems. They come in the night. squirrels run around in the daytime. Racoons require a large cage. If the cage is too small you will not catch them. squirrels need a small or medium cage. if too large they might not set off the lever that springs the door.

http://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/Merchant2/4.20/00000002/catalog/c7.html

Put a big sign up on the mirror in you bath room. In big bold letter print out

NO GARDEN IS TOO LARGE
MORE IS BETTER
ORGANIC VEGGIES ARE GOOD

Here is a link that might be useful: traps

You can add me to the twelve step program. I expanded from 20 x 80 ft. to 40 x 80 ft. this year and am thinking about going to 80 x 80 ft. next year. No problem with organic matter (free horse manure and county compost for $24 for 4 tons. And a tiller for the back of my tractor....

Just reading your post makes me exhausted!

Opal, very sorry to hear about the electric fence killing your father-in-law's cat. We also have a pet cat and this was a concern when first setting up our electric fence. I called the toll free number on the fence charger to see if the it would bring harm our cat. The customer service person said that it wouldn't. I know that our cat "tested" the fence because one day I watched him run directly towards a squirrel in the garden on the other side of the electric wire. Then all of a sudden he slammed on the brakes just before he got to the wire. We have had our fence for about 6 years now and the cat is alive and well. On our fence charger you cannot set the charge so it's probably a different type. Nonetheless, I think it would good for all who are thinking about getting an electric fence to make sure that it won't harm their pet cat..

some of those huge rat spring traps (victor classic kind) work well on squirrels... the RAT ones, not large mouse.... peanuts or some sweet feed (or apparently even corn!) is ideal bait.

The spring traps are swift & deadly, even on a tree rat. Just beware of other critters (housecats, etc) as it could easily break a paw or leg. Or your finger, be careful with them.

For organics, I've yet to hear of a horse stable that isn't teaming w/ piles of organics and thrilled to give it away. Many horse owners are tickled when gardeners come knocking.

good luck.