I wish I lived next door to Sora.
Everything I know about gardening I learned from a book - not that I'm knocking book-learning, it's just that some things are, I think, best learned from a real live person who can answer questions and point out problems, and trial-and-error is such an inefficient way to learn anything.

The plastic row cover backfired - evidently I didn't take it off often enough to keep it from getting too hot underneath it, and the corn and squash seeds were steamed to death. Of course that means that any weed seeds were steamed to death, too, so it wasn't a total loss. :-D

We replanted the corn, and this time we covered each little hill with a cloche made from a plactic one gallon milk jug with the bottom cut off. We left the lids off the jugs and the corn came up within a couple of days. It's about 6" tall now, so it's time to replant the squash seeds, then in another week or so, the beans. I hope it's not too late. Really it shouldn't be - we don't have frost here until well into November.