Getting Started In late spring or early summer buy inexpensive popcorn seeds from a gardening company or use grocery-store kernels. (Hint: Don't try planting old maids or microwav e popcorn; those won't work!) Gather cotton balls large, clear plastic cups soil popcorn seeds water rubber bands plastic sandwich bags

1. Place two cotton balls into a plastic cup. Add soil until cup is 3/4 full.
2. Bury seeds about 1/2 inch into soil. Water well.
3. Put a rubber band around the top of the cup. Open a plastic sandwich bag over the cup like a balloon. Seal the bag to the cup by tucking the edges under the rubber band. Ta-da! You've made a mini-greenhouse to keep your seeds warm and moist!
4. Water your seeds about once a week or whenever the soil gets dry.
5. Watch carefully, and you might even see the roots as the plants begin to grow. It takes about a week for baby plants to appear above the soil.
6. You can plant a few cups of seeds to make more popcorn.

Transplanting Tips

• Popcorn plants grow to 8 or 9 feet tall. They can't stay in that little cup forever. Plant them outside after the last frost.
• Be careful with the seedlings when you replant them, because their roots break easily.
• Don't plant popcorn near other corn. Air carries the powdery, yellow pollen from one corn plant to another. When popcorn pollen gets on sweet corn, it grows tough.
• Don't let your plants get thirsty. Water them often during their 90- to 100-day growing season.

Harvesting (late summer or early fall):

• Be patient and let your popcorn dry on the plant. The kernels will get hard, and the papery husks will turn brown. That's when it's time to pick them!
• Gather the dry corn and peel away the brown husks. But wait-they're not ready yet! They still need to dry a little longer, so they'll have the perfect amount of water inside the hull. While they dry, store the ears in an old pillowcase or other breathable bag, so they don't get moldy. Every week, try popping a couple of kernels.
• When the kernels pop perfectly, pluck all the kernels off the cobs. They'll stay fresh for years in an airtight container. Remember to save a handful of kernels to plant next year's popcorn patch!

—Jodie Knepper