This year is my first with a patch of corn. I have a raised bed (4 x
16) devoted to corn and probably planted the corn too close together,
but, what the heck. The corn started to tassle and I had small
silkies coming from the stalk - life was good. Monday night, though,
we were hit by a massive severe thunderstorm which flattened about
seven-eighths of my crop. What left standing just depresses me. Now,
my neighbors with acre-big crops of corn don't seem to have suffered
much at all.

What gives? Is it something about the closeness of planting? (The
stalks bent at the soil, the plant did stay in the ground.)
Or the smallish patch didn't afford as much protection to the interior
as a huge planting?
What do I do now? So far, I've done nothing and the stalks are still
green and don't seem too dead.
And finally, how do I prevent this in the future?

Thanks,
Chris