Hi Sarah,
Growing corn isn't too difficult. I did it when I was fairly new gardener. It needs full sun, well amended soil(corn likes a lot of fertilizer,) and regular watering. There can be pest(animal or bug) problems, but it is hard to tell you what yours might be where you live. After gardening for awhile, you will know what your major problems will be and what to do to prevent them. Of course no matter how much you know, something can go wrong, believe me : )
Corn doesn't need another type of corn for pollination. You can plant one variety. You need to make sure you plant corn fairly close together in blocks so that the plants can pollinate each other or no corn will develop. So planting a few in a row isn't ideal to get corn.
I hope that made sense,
Remy

Thanks! I was thinking of planting the corn in a childrens garden i made a couple years ago. I wanted to use the corn as an outside border to the circular garden. Do you think this will work? It would be a single row, but it would be in an almost complete circle.

Pollination will be a problem with a single row even if it is in a circle. I am presuming the circle would have a diameter of more than 25 feet. Can you plant the corn in two or three side by side rows instead of one and maybe only go half way around?

DarJones

Thats an idea! The circle is somewhere between 30 and 40 ft in diameter. I will the way you suggested, thanks!!!

I have a new question now. I was looking at my new seed catalogs and I saw seeds for broom corn, does this have to be planted the same way, in multiple rows?

Broom corn is a type of sorghum, not a corn at all. Since the seedhead contains both male and female parts, pollination is rarely a problem. Some cultivars can be quite tall however.

Here is a link that might be useful: Broomcorn

Oh, I didn't even realize that. The broom corn looked interesting to me because it will make a neat fall decoration too. Thanks!
Sarah

For a childs garden you could put a large block or clump of corn in the center of the circle, like the center of a flower, then plant pole beans around the corn to trail up the corn. Leave a wide ring of several feet diameter of shorter plants around that so sun can get in to the corn and beans, and if you must have a tall "fence" to encircle it, plant sunflowers around the outside border. The shape of the garden can repeat the shape of the sunflower, with paths going to and around the center and triangular or pie wedge shaped beds like petals. Plant whatever else you like in the petals.

You will want the corn center at least 6' to 8' in diameter so you can space the plants at least 16" to 20" inches apart. They need the room to mature and also kids will be able to crawl in there and use it like a teepee or hiding place.

Have fun.