Home-grown Sweetcorn cooked within minutes of picking – or even eaten raw – is simply the sweetest and juiciest sweetcorn you’ll ever taste. A favourite allotment crop, its statuesque, leafy structure and easy-to-grow nature make it great to plant in bold blocks in your borders, or as a productive screen to divide up areas of your vegetable plot.

I would urge gardeners not to rush to sow their seeds in the February-March peak seed sowing sessions; with early sowings you risk failure with low temperatures.

Sow sweetcorn seeds from April to May in 9cm pots of free draining seed compost at a depth of 2cm. Place in a propagator or seal inside a polythene bag until after germination. After germination, grow sweetcorn plants on in cooler conditions for 10 - 14 days. For an extended harvest sow seeds three times, three weeks apart.

When all risk of frost is passed, transplant into fertile, well drained soil in full sun, with shelter from winds. The tassels at the top of the plant and laden with pollen and are wind pollinated and should therefore be planted in blocks rather than rows to ensure good pollination. Plant 40cm between each plant.

Direct sow sweetcorn seeds outdoors in blocks, not rows in May once the soil has warmed, 2cm deep and a distance of 40cm apart. Sow 2 seeds per station and thin out the weakest seedling after germination.