2025 - The Allotment Review

As is customary in my allotment diaries, this is around the time of year where I put together my annual review of my growing year.  Before these online diaries and posts were a thing, I kept all these notes written down in annual diaries, so all told, I think this about my 5th year in review now.  You can see my 2024 review by clicking here.

Back to 2025.  The mad thing is, it's not over yet!  There is still so much left to harvest, and so much still growing, but I have to draw a line in the sand somewhere and pull everything together for the review.  This year has been challenging to say the least.  The Summer in particular has been pretty brutal with prolonged hot and dry spells meaning that watering was single handed the most important and time consuming piece of work of any for many months.  The late Winter and early Spring were what I would describe as average.  Cold at times, wet at others which possibly meant a bit of a delay in getting some crops into the ground but that was quickly forgotten by the time we got stuck into the Summer.

As well as the weather, the other major challenge for us this year has been dealing with Whitefly.  They have been absolutely prolific, and even today when harvesting lettuce, they are still in amongst the crop.  More on those later though.

The plot has seen a big change in the last 12 months.  Late in 2024, we took on an additional half plot, upon which we added several other beds and a polytunnel.  The tunnel alone has made a significant difference and with the added bed space, we managed to increase the total number of varieties of fruit and veg grown from 34 in 2024, to an amazing 43 in 2025.  I didn't even know that there were that many different varieties of anything before starting growing for ourselves.  Like previous reviews, I've marked each crop out of 5 taking into account how they have performed and harvested through the year.  Let's get stuck in.

Outdoor Growing

Garlic - Carcassonne Wight and Provence Wight 4/5

It's been a pretty stunning harvest this year, with plenty of good sized bulbs.  It's certainly one of the more resilient crops to the hot weather that we grew.  From the two varieties, I think it was the Carcassonne Wight which was slightly bigger.  We've managed to store so much of it and we will easily be sufficient in it through well into the Spring.  Our favourite use for the larger bulbs is to put them whole into a roast chicken, with the smaller bulbs either being turned into paste, or used as part of other recipes.  A solid performer that will be making it's way onto the plot for 2026 for sure.

Calabrese - Marathon F1 4/5

This was a crop taken in the early part of the year from an over wintered planting.  It gave a good consistent harvest that gave the season a goo kick start.  The timing of this crop I think was key as we were able to grow and harvest it before the main critters and pests were able to get stuck into it.  Definitely worth growing again.

Broad Bean - Aquadulce 5/5

A big success for 2026 was the broad bean harvest.  The seeds were sown in late 2024 and germinated before the winter temperatures turned them dormant.  A few plants didn't make it, but we were able to re plant a handful of plants in the early Spring, undercover and then fill in the gaps.  In years gone by, I've notices big infestations of black fly on both our own, and on other growers' crops.  This year, I saw none of any numbers,  It was one of the first things to be harvested and the crop was plentiful and stores well.  In fact, we are still enjoying them out of the freezer.

Blackberries - Waldo 5/5 Loch Ness 4/5

For the first time in 2025, we harvested these two varieties of blackberries from our plot.  They have both cropped prolifically.  It's hard to tell what impact the hot and dry Summer has had on these plants as this has been only their first year, but it's safe to say that for a number of weeks, they were being harvested on a daily basis.  We have several bags still left in the freezer which we will use into next year.  I dropped the Loch Ness variety down one mark though, only because I found that unless you picked the fruit at exactly the right time, they would go very squishy if left another 24 hours.  The taste and quantity though were brilliant.

Parsnip - White Gem (From 2024) 5/5

Another top crop that overwintered from the previous year.  There isn't much that can't be said about this variety.  A few other plot holders for some reason have struggled with germination.  We seem to have been all fine though.  I think patience is the key with them.  The roots have been well developed and in some cases almost too big to be able to dig up with damaging them.  After these, we went on and put in the 2025 sowings which are now being harvested, and they look to be the same great results.  More on them in next years review though!

Carrot - Autumn King 5/5 Berlicum 2 4/5

These scores are for the carrot crops grown in the bath tub.  We did two sowings, with Berlicum 2 going first (which is a main crop variety) and then later a sowing of Autumn King.  Straight up, growing these in a bath tub is such a success.  It's a great environment that can be controlled really easily.  It's meant that again, carrot fly has been easily kept at bay, and also with only sieved or fine compost being used as a growing medium, there are no stones to make the roots fork.  In fact, as far as I can recall, we have had two sowings of the Autumn King, and they are still harvesting today!  The roots for both varieties have been well formed across the board.  The only reason the Berlicum get's a 4/5 is because in my opinion, though very tasty, it's not quite as tasty as the Autumn King.

Cauliflower - All Year Round 3/5

Club root is a problem for many on our allotment site, but on the whole, we seem to avoid it.  That might well be down the to way we start off the plants when they get moved outside.  A large hole, much bigger than you think you might need, lined with some shop bough compost and a generous handful or two of lime and then firmed in with more bought compost.  I believe that this gives the roots the best chance of getting started and strong, and then the lime keeps the worst of any club root spores at bay.  But why only 3/5.  Regardless of what time of year we planted these out, the initial growth was fantastic, but the heads when formed stunted quite badly.  Still very edible, but the largest was only the size of a double clenched fist.  I've read that this might be to do with feeding, so we will carry that into next year and see what happens.

Potato - Charlotte (Tubs) 4/5 Sarpo Mira (Ground) 5/5

A great success for the year yet again.  Starting off with the first early Charlottes.  For a number of years, we've grown our potatoes in large tubs.  Come harvest time and looking after them, we've found growing them in tubs is a great way to grow spuds.  This year, we experimented with just using smaller tubs as the larger ones we have are very heavy to lift when filled with compost.  This years early crop was consistently very good and we enjoyed a great early harvest.

For the first time this year, we grew our main crop potatoes in the ground.  The addition of the half plot meant we had a good amount of ground to grow in.  I'd read about Sarpo Mira in a few places and seen a few features on line about them.  They are really resilient to scab and blight, and are also suitable for all the different styles of cooking.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, but come harvest time, I was blown away by the size and quantity of the crop.  Immediately I can see why they are such a hit with other growers around the country.  A well deserved 5/5 and straight on the list for 2026!

Pea - Hurst Greenshaft 4/5

Following on from the success of 2024, we went ahead and planted a crop of this variety for 2025.  This years crop wasn't as big as last years, but the main reason for that was our holidays.  They came into harvest and were starting to be ready for picking literally a couple of days before we went away for a fortnight.  While we were away, our plot was really well looked after, and I told some of our plot neighbours to help themselves, else they were only going to go to waste.  What it did mean though is that for those two weeks when we could have been harvesting almost daily, we weren't and by the time we got back, a significant proportion of the crop was passed it's best.  However, what we did harvest and store was excellent and there is no reason why we shouldn't continue with this variety in 2026.

Onions - Ailsa Craig 4/5 Bedfordshire Champion 5/5

Another big success for 2025. After last years trial at growing onions from sets and getting them in the ground before winter set in turned out to be really poor, for this year, we went back to growing from seeds.  A previous favourite, Ailsa Craig we saw as a reliable and dead cert for a good crop and I'm pleased to say that they once again performed well for us in 2025.  This year, we grew way too many onions and ended up interplanting them all over the place.  This turned out to be a happy accident if you like, because I think they helped keep away some of the pests.  The Ailsa Craig variety got a solid 4/5, marked down only for their bulb size which was a little on the small size.  This may have been down to the weather though.  On the other hand, for the first year, we grew Bedfordshire Champion too.  This was a first attempt after reading excellent reports about them, so we thought they were worth giving a go.  And they didn't disappoint.  The harvest has been exceptional, and the size of the bulbs by far the biggest onions we've ever grown.  They store incredibly well and we still have two sacks of them in storage to see us through well into 2026.  These are a dead cert for coming back again for next season, possibly even exclusively.

Tomato - Steak Sandwich 5/5 Pomodoro Roma 5/5 Red Cherry 3/5

This year, our tomatoes were a right mixed bag.  These scores are for the ones that we grew outside with the undercover grown ones coming later in the review.  A first time variety for us this year, and a huge success was the Steak Sandwich variety.  Not the prettiest of looking tomatoes on the vine, but such a success.  I recall the seeds for these being quite expensive, but such was their success, I've saved a load of seed which I hope will be viable for 2026.  We enjoyed these throughout the Summer on an almost daily basis.  Another success was the Pomodoro Roma variety.  We grew these with the intention of using them for sauces and bases in cooking.  They cropped prolifically and the relishes, chutneys and sauces made from them still fill our cupboards and freezer.  The poorest of the 3 outdoor varieties were the Red Cherry.  What crop we did have from them were nice enough, but we just didn't get that many fruits from them for some reason.

Kale - Nero di Toscana 3/5

Out of all the varieties of Kale, this I think is the most common.  It grows well and tastes great.  This year, we grew 5 plants, although only 4 got through to maturity because of Mr Mole tunnelling under one of the plants and damaging the roots.  Usually, a solid and reliable cropper, but why only 3/5 for this year?  That has to be down to the foe of the year, white fly.  Even being grown under environmesh netting, the smallest gauge netting I can find, white fly got in amongst the plants, and no sooner as they were ready for harvest, the fly got in.  Usually, a small amount of white fly isn't a problem, but the numbers were so serious and the smell and damage they caused was so significant this year that I only managed two pickings off 4 plants before deciding to abandon the crop.  Extremely disappointing for a crop which should have lasted right through to Winter.

Cucumber - La Diva 4/5

Another first for 2025, and thanks to the additional space from the added half plot, we decided to give cucumber a go.  We have a couple of plants given to us last year, but we were unsure what variety.  This year, we gave them a bed and structure to grow.  They cropped really well, resulting in gluts of fruit each harvest.  We ended up giving many away, but we also enjoyed many ourselves.  The only reason for the point deduction was because the fruits were a little smaller than I was lead to believe by the seed packet.  This may have been down to the drought conditions, but when we were taking the cucumber in the numbers we were, it didn't really matter at the end of the day.

Squash - Uchiki Kuri 4/5 Butternut Waltham 5/5

We only grew 3 squash plants this year, knowing how well they have produced in the past.  The old favourite Uchiki Kuri was selected again, but I think struggled with the heat and drought, so only produced 3 fairly small fruits by the end of the season.  By the time they were prepared, there wasn't much left of them.  But what was left tasted lovely and made a great soup.  The Waltham's were another story though.  From only 2 plants, we had crops of different sizes, and lots of them.  They seemed to deal better with the weather this year, and we are still storing them and using them in our cooking.  The next time we grow squash, we'll certainly be considering this variety again.  5/5 well deserved!

Brussels Sprouts - Brilliant F1 0/5

Sadly, not so brilliant.  While there is no doubt that these might be excellent tasting, excellent cropping and the favourite of many, we never had chance to find out.  Just as the buttons were forming and the leaves were large and lush, the cursed white fly came in and took up residence.  Despite trying to spray them, net them and anything else we could think of to salvage the crop, the whole lot eventually succumbed.  The smell was horrid, especially combined with the caterpillar droppings (although the caterpillars were much easier to deal with).  Weeding around the pants was an impossible tasks with clouds of flies appears every time you disturbed a leaf that it made breathing without inhaling clouds of flies impossible.  The whole crop failed so was dug up and disposed of.

Swede - Marian 1/5

This is only the second time I recall that we have tried to grow swede, and while early signs were good with excellent germination and foliage, the roots themselves have stayed stubbornly small with very little to show at harvest time.  I've picked one root which was no bigger than a tennis ball.  The remaining roots are almost all smaller, and so it's probably a bit of a right off in terms of crop.  After giving the sprouts a firm 0 this year, at least the swede have done something albeit very little worthwhile.  It's fair to say we probably won't be trying to grow swede again for a while.

Green Beans - Climbing French Cobra 5/5 Dwarf Amethyst 5/5 Dwarf Annabel 5/5

Very possibly one of the best crops across the board for 2025.  Initially we were only going to grow the climbing variety which was a first for us this year.  But, I had many dwarf seeds from last year, so I also grew those and just found somewhere for them to go in another bed.  All I can say is that when you are visiting your plot several times a week, and each visit you leave with another carrier bag of beans, you know the harvest is plentiful.  We have frozen around 3 carrier bags full of these beans and tuck into them several times a week.  Next year, I think we can probably ease off them a little, and just go with the climbing variety!

Leek - Musselburgh 3/5

Last year we struggled with our leeks.  In fact the harvest was pretty poor because of rust and leaf minor.  This year I was a little more on guard for it.  While the drought type conditions seemed to keep the rust at bay for longer (although it eventually did come with a degree of vengeance), we still got hit by leaf minor too.  When I saw the first signs, we harvested our leeks, but probably several weeks earlier that I would have really wanted too.  However, it did mean that this year, we actually had a leek harvest.  With harvesting so many of them in one go, we froze most of them and they are still in our freezer, although they are very strong tasting, possibly because they were picked too early.

Cabbage - Red Drumhead 3/5 so far...

Why so far?  Well, they are still in the ground.  They too were surrounded by whitefly towards the end of the season, but the drop in temperature seems to have knocked the pest back a little way.  Heads are forming and are currently around the size of a cricket ball each.  We were hoping to have one for Christmas, but alas I think that might be pushing it in terms of size.  It's not the end of it though.  I'm more than happy for them to sit there through the Winter and see what comes of them.

Chard - Swiss Rainbow 4/5

Occasionally, when we have unexcepted beds or half beds available, I'll buy some plug plants from the local nursery.  Back towards the end of the Summer, we had some space and we bought some chard to put in as a late season crop.  It grew exceptionally well, especially in the wetter conditions after the Summer heat waves.  From only 6 plants, there was so much available to harvest and crop.  Alas though, we only took a couple of crops, and the rest we weren't able to shift, despite offering it about.  Still a great 4/5 for success in growing it and extending the season of that particular bed.

Beetroot - Cylindra 2/5

This was another later season chance crop that I grew from seed and dropped into a spare half bed.  It had every chance of producing a good harvest.  Today though, I pulled them up, keeping only about half of them, but even they were pretty small.  The truth being that they won't grow much more now, with drastically less daylight and colder days. We'll boil up the handful that were picked though.  It was worth a try but always going to be a risk.

The Mini Polytunnel

Carrot - Paris Market 3/5 Berlicum 2 3/5

The Paris Market variety is supposedly a good option for very early, or very late crops, primarily because they don't grow very big.  This early sowing did what it needed to do in terms of give us some early carrots, but they were pretty inconsistent in size.  They were OK to see us through until the crops in the bath started to harvest.  The Berlicum were also OK, but the ground in the mini polytunnel is quite lumpy, so we found that they forked a lot.  Again, they were fine for filling in the early gap before the outdoor carrots some into their own.

Pak Choi - Joi Choi 4/5

We've had two successful sowings and successful crops of Pak Choi this year.  We perhaps grew too many and despite giving some away, we couldn't get through all the crop we grew, particularly from the late season sowing.  Nevertheless, what did make it to the plate were large and well developed and proved to be quite resilient to all but the most determined of small slugs.  They also did well in the cooler temperatures undercover.  Great charred on the barbeque, and also excellent cut up in stir fry!  We're certainly going to be growing this again next year.  I think it will become a staple!

Watermelon - Jubilee 5/5

By far and away the best thing and most satisfying thing we've grown this year.  We'd never grown watermelon before, and didn't even know that it could be grown in the UK.  We had a slow start, which apparently isn't unusual, and the growing season is also very long indeed.  We only grew 2 plants, so only had 5 fruits.  Unfortunately one split very early on, and another just didn't get to grow enough before the temperatures started to cool off.  But, when it come to harvest, the fruit that did make it were totally worth it.  They grew to a good size and tasted every bit as good as you expected.  So much so, that they have secured their place on the 2026 growing list!

Courgette - Yellow Golden 5/5

The single courgette plant was a stunning success.  So much so that we soon had our fill and could take no more.  It is one of the rare occasions where the plant has been lifted because it's grown too much produce that we simply didn't want any more.  I see absolutely no point in anyone growing more that one of these plants because the produce so much.  A great variety, different to it's green counterparts and heavily cropping.

Lettuce - Red Cimmaron Romaine 5/5

A great variety that has been consistent in germination and cropping.  It's proved to be very reliable in the mini polytunnel at each end of the season.  It's slow to bolt, and seemed to be left along by the slugs.  It's also kept really well in the fridge after harvesting, with one or two heads lasting us a whole week.  

Kholrabi - Purple Vienna 3/5 so far...

This is the second time we've attempted to grow Kohlrabi.  So far so good.  It's germinated well, and supposedly favours cooler conditions, so should be good for a autumn and early winter crop.  We are a way off harvesting these plants yet, but there are now signs of swelling in the stem of each of the plants which is pleasing to see.  We have to wait and find out how big they will get, or if they will given up and enter a state of dormancy before they are ready.

Chinese Cabbage - Wong Bok 5/5

Very similar to the Pak Choi, the Chinese Cabbage has been a solid performer and has produced some fantastic crops late season.  As I type, they are still just about clinging on as they start to get attacked by the grubs and slugs which are also seeking refuge under the mini tunnel.  We'll probably get one, or maybe two more harvests before we should think about turning the rest over to the wildlife.  This is the first year we have grown them, and I don't think it will be the last.

Polytunnel

Pepper Hot - Rocotto Tree Chilli 1/5

I had very high hopes of these peppers.  They were the only hot peppers grown this year, and while they started very well on heat mats and under lights, they seemed to stall early on.  But, once the got transferred out into the polytunnel, they picked up and grew very well.  Disappointingly though, they took an absolute age to get any flowers on the plants.  When the flowers did eventually arrive and the fruits started to form, we thought we had cracked it.  Then, for some reason, everything came to halt again.  Watering and feeding were going to plan, but though the fruit had got to around the size of a golf ball, none of them actually started to ripen.  I was desperate for the space to be freed up in the polytunnel and October was soon upon us.  Sadly ripening took place, so despite growing them and the fruit eventually putting in an appearance, we didn't get to harvest them.

Pepper Sweet - Green Cubanelle 4/5 Asti Mixed 4/5

Unlike the hot peppers, the sweet peppers this year performed quite well.  At times I was concerned about the temperature in the polytunnel getting too high, and in fact, I think the hot temperatures stunted them again, so they were later than I expected.  Nevertheless, we had a good crop of Cubanelle peppers.  New to us this year were the Asti peppers.  These are a pointed variety, and we harvested red and yellow fruits.  Potentially again due to the weather, we had an initial crop, but then to my surprise, the plants came into flower again and then produced a second late crop.  Unfortunately by the time they were large enough to harvest, daylight had reduced and temperatures were dropping off.  But, the remainder of the crop was taken and was left to ripen on the windowsill at home.  Both great peppers and worth growing again.

Carrot - Berlicum 2 5/5

Yet another appearance for this variety in the 2025 review of the year.  But this time, for the sowing made in the main polytunnel.  I'd heard and seen people sowing carrots later in the season, undercover with the intention of them growing and then being left in situ into the winter for a ready supply through into the new year.  We decided to give this a go and made a small raised bed in the corner of the tunnel.  The carrots of course managed to avoid all the bugs and beasties, and the sowing has produced large and tasty carrots.  Worth the 5/5 score and something that we will repeat again in 2026 no doubt!

Calabrese - Marathon F1 4/5 so far...

After the clearing of the peppers from the tunnel, it was in with our next crop which was, and will, continue to grow under cover through the Winter.  Yet to start harvesting, but growth wise, things are looking really good.  Of course, the final test will be in the eating, but it's looking very possible that we will be able to enjoy the first harvest of this crop as part of our Christmas dinner.

Aubergine - Black Beauty 2/5

We were full of hope for these plants and they were a first for us this year.  As it was a first year, we only grew two plants. They took a long time to grow and produce flowers, and then we only got a single fruit of each plant.  A second fruit did develop on one of the plants, but seemed to die off before reaching any size.  Pretty disappointing overall.

Cauliflower - All Year Round 3/5 so far...

Another undercover and late planting are these cauliflower plants.  It's fair to say that the ones grown outside this year have had to cope with all sorts of demanding weather conditions.  Perhaps the more controlled environment of growing them undercover may suite them better.  So far, the plants are looking well but I expect they won't start forming heads until the first signs of Spring

Strawberry - Elsanta 3/5 Cambridge Favourite 4/5

These were the first plants we bought purely with the intention of growing them in the polytunnel in hanging baskets.  All the local fruit farms grow their produce undercover, so I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't work for us.  We did make the small error of putting two bare root plants into each basket, so I think yield may have been down due to overcrowding.  However, we were enjoying lovely strawberry crops off the plants weeks before they even made an appearance in the markets.  We're looking forward to their second year, especially as they have now been split into individual hanging baskets.

Tomato - Steak Sandwich 3/5

Following the success of growing these outside, you'd have thought that growing them undercover was going to be equally as good if not better.  You'd be wrong.  We really struggled to not only grow fruit, but to get them to ripen.  They just did not want to ripen on the vine under cover.  Instead, what few fruit there were, we took home and eventually they came good on the window sill.  Again, I'm going to put it down to the Summer heat.  We'll wait and see what next years attempt will bring.

So there we have the review of 2025.  Overall a very successful year with plenty of learning and some failures.  It's been the most challenging year weatherwise so far in our short growing hobby but we've learned a whole bunch of different things and look forward to putting them all into practice next year.  The Grand Plan for 2026 will be unveiled soon enough.  Until then, happy growing  :-)