SWEETCORN is, famously, one of the most rewarding vegetables to grow in the garden. Because some of its sugars turn to starches so quickly after picking, its full flavour can only ever be experienced by cooking it within minutes of taking the cob from the plant.

It is also, just as famously, difficult to grow well in the British climate, except in parts of south-east England and the Isle of Wight. 

Modern “super-sweet” cultivars are much more reliable than the old varieties and stay tastier for longer, but even so, it’s always going to be a crop that requires a good amount of luck to succeed.

It also needs the right kind of summer. Above all, there must be plenty of sunshine to ensure its narrow leaves can photosynthesise sufficiently and to help with ripening the cobs. 

Sweetcorn is wind-pollinated, so light winds are essential, but heavy winds might damage the plant and scatter the pollen. Finally, heavy rain interferes with pollination and lowers light levels.

There’s not much the gardener can do about any of that, of course. But there are variables which we can influence.

It’s common to start the seeds off in small pots, under cover, in April or May, but there are two problems with this approach. 

First, the large seeds are quite prone to rotting in pots if they’re even slightly overwatered. Second, corn is one of those vegetables known for “sulking” — that is, pausing in its growth, as if feeling sorry for itself — when transplanted. Plants won’t always recover fully from such a check to their progress.

I think it's better to sow the seeds directly into the ground in about mid-May. If you’ve got a soil thermometer, wait until it shows a temperature of 50°F (10°C). 

Put two or three seeds together, half an inch deep, and cover them with a jam jar. This will warm the ground, and protect the young seedlings against birds and, to some extent, slugs.

When the seedlings are tall enough that the jar has to be taken off, remove extra seedlings so that just one remains at each station, 18 inches apart from its neighbours. 

They need plenty of space so that each plant receives enough light, but they must also be sufficiently close together that they can pollinate each other. 

Grow them in blocks, on a square formation, rather than in lines — this also helps with pollination. Inefficient pollination results in gaps in the rows of kernels on the ripe cobs.

The soil must be rich and well-drained and the site sunny and preferably sheltered from strong winds. In a dry summer sweetcorn will need a lot of watering. This is especially important once the plants produce their tassels, which are the male flowers.

Even in a perfect summer, you’ll be lucky to get two good cobs to eat per plant, but they’ll be better than any shop-bought sweetcorn you ever tasted.

Mat Coward’s new book, Eat Your Front Garden, is currently crowdfunding at unbound.com/books/eat-your-front-garden.