Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don has debunked the 'perfect gardener' myth after his sweetcorn crop failed to germinate despite decades of successful growing experience09:36, 16 Jul 2026Gardening icon Monty Don is one of the UK's most prolific and popular gardeners, one who has been entertaining and informing Britons about gardeners for decades.‌However Monty, 71, has recently spoken about one thing that he thinks many people get wrong about him – that he never makes mistakes. In a recent interview he admitted having no idea why one thing he was doing in his garden was going wrong.‌Speaking to the i, the Gardener's World icon said he makes mistakes "literally every day" and pointed to his struggles with growing sweetcorn.‌He explained: "I know how to do it – I've done it hundreds of times with success. Last year, they were fantastic. This year, they've not germinated. I don't know why, because they were perfectly good seeds. But something has gone wrong."How to grow the best sweetcornWhile Monty was open with his struggles about growing sweetcorn, there is one "golden rule" to remember.‌The RHS say you must plant it in "blocks" rather than single rows, to avoid wind blowing the pollen away.Following this there are six steps:Wait for warm soil (consistently at least 15C)Prepare the site by digging a generous amount of compost or manure in a spot that gets full direct sunlightSow seeds about 1 to 1.5 inches deep, spacing the seeds about 12 to 15 inches apart in a grid formationWater and weedTop the plants up with high-nitrogen organic fertiliser once they reach 12-18 inches tallTest for ripenes‌Gardening tips for July and further afieldOn what to do in July, he added: "Early flowering perennials such as oriental poppies, delphiniums and hardy geraniums such as G. phaeum, should all be cut back to the ground to encourage fresh regrowth and repeat flowering in a couple of months' time."As well as speaking about mistakes he’s made, Monty has spoken about mistakes others shouldn’t make this year.‌He wrote on his blog: "The days are long and there is none of the slight weariness in the garden that can shadow August. It is the month of school holidays, and the garden flows and swells with both floral and edible harvests."Roses are still looking good at the beginning of the month and the clematis switch from the big blooms of the early summer types (group II) to the more abundant, albeit smaller flowers of the viticella and other late-flowering (group III) ones."Tender annuals such as cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers and tithonias hit their strife and crocosmia, agapanthus, lilies and dahlias are all summer-flowering bulbs that enrich the borders."‌On what to do in July, he added: "Early flowering perennials such as oriental poppies, delphiniums and hardy geraniums such as G. phaeum, should all be cut back to the ground to encourage fresh regrowth and repeat flowering in a couple of months' time."Monty's discovery when speaking to other gardenersMonty then revealed how he had spoken to head gardeners for a book he wrote 45 years ago and made a fascinating discovery during his investigation and research about how they had become such great gardenersHe said: "I interviewed around 20 of them around the country, all in their eights, and they all said the same thing: they didn't really begin to get good at gardening until they'd had some serious failures.Article continues below"Because if you succeed at something, you stop working out how you do it. Whereas if you fail, you really have to think: what am I doing wrong?".