How to Grow Better Sweet Corn in Poor Soil

Spread one 40-pound bag of compost and one 40-pound bag of manure over your soil. (This is enough for a seven-by-seven-foot area. For a larger area, use more.) Shovel and turn over the soil to a depth of six to eight inches, mixing the compost and manure in as you go. Adding amendments will improve your poor soil and produce better sweet corn.

Plant corn in rows three to four feet apart. Plant seeds at a depth of one to two inches with six to eight inches between seeds. Thin the seeds to one every 12 to 18 inches when the seedlings are about three inches high. Corn pollinates by the wind, so you need to have at least three or four rows of corn for good pollination.

Fertilize your corn two to three times during the growing season. Mix liquid fish emulsion with water according to the package directions. Soak the plants' roots and leaves with the mixture. Native Americans traditionally buried fish heads under the planted corn, according to Trujillo, and the decomposing fish provided a steady supply of nitrogen to the corn.

Interplant the sweet corn with beans and squash between the corn rows. The beans help the corn take nitrogen from the soil and the squash shade the ground, reducing moisture evaporation.

Water the corn when it is dry. Put your finger in the soil. If it is dry two inches under the surface, you need to water. Curling leaves are also a sign that the corn is thirsty. Water for 20 to 30 minutes until the soil is moistened through, but not soaking.