Grand total of garden food, 2025

Vegetables: 578 lbs, 6.5 oz

Fruit:  42 lbs, 3 oz

Eggs: 799

My goodness, did I smash it last year!  I almost doubled my previous year's total of veg, itself a record breaker.  Best performers this year were squash at 92 lb (though about half this total was from 2024's harvest, more than half of 2025's large harvest is still hanging out in my living room waiting to be weighed and eaten), cherry tomatoes at more than 66 lb, and plum tomatoes at just under 47 lb.  Honorable mentions include almost 36 lb of cabbage;  and a close finish of potatoes, zucchini, cauliflower and lettuce(!) each hovering in the 26-28 lb range.

My fruit totals were much higher this year, both because I recorded more (failure to record fruit harvest has been an ongoing issue over the years) and because I grew more.  It was a bumper year for figs, and a good one for apples, berries and Morello cherries.  However I still didn't weigh the apples (counted them by volume, though I estimate they weighed around 40 lbs themselves) and some other fruits;  this official total includes Morello cherries, blackcurrants, figs, pears and plums (does not include apples, strawberries, gooseberries, sweet cherries).  Regardless, it was a good year and we still have jars in the pantry and bags in the freezer.  

The chickens rather slacked off in the egg laying department for 2025, but what can I say?  They're all rather old:  when they die off, we replace them with younger but still somewhat old chickens, so no wonder the eggs aren't as bountiful.  Oh well.  We like our feathery friends the way they are.  Eggs are just a bonus these days. 

The weather was for the most part in my favor this year, but the work I've done on the soil (no dig, plus copious amounts of manure/compost over the years) has definitely played its part.  My soil held plenty of moisture, enough to see my allotment plants through to harvest;  we had a very dry, hot year and a hosepipe ban from summer onward.  Nearly all my plants enjoyed the heat without being too affected by the lack of rain;  it also meant a huge decrease in slug pressure.  Note:  I still needed to water my containers once or twice daily.  A few things finished earlier than I'd hoped, such as the snap peas and first sowing of turnips--and my carrots and parsnips were a bit small--but nearly everything else produced well.  Exceptionally well.

I grew that much in the past year I don't expect to beat it for 2026:  in fact, it was so much work I almost couldn't handle it all.  Even tallying it all up over the weekend was somewhat of an ordeal!  I would like to grow a similar amount of veg or slightly less.  Maybe over 318 lb (2024's total) but not more than 578 lb.  I have my seeds ready to start, and I have some standing veg still to be harvested; I will go over last year's plan to hopefully make it a little easier on myself.

See previous grand totals:  2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

Writing a plan and following it

I wrote a growing plan in 2024, to optimize my vegetable harvest;  it was a fairly simple one, with a list of what I wanted my main crops to be (and for the production crops, how many of them), with the following columns:  

Allotment Production crops Broad beans: 150 Snap peas: 350 Squash: 40 Tomatoes: 20 Beets: 150 Corn: 50 Climbing beans: 100	Garden Priority crops Kohlrabi Cabbage Salad cucumber Purple sprouting broccoli Strawberries Cauliflower Parsnips Lettuce Zucchini
Successional/Late Season Pak choi Fennel Chicory Kale Radish Turnip Lettuce	Pots and Planters Chilis Cherry tomatoes Pickling cucumbers Aubergine

I followed this plan pretty closely:  while my numbers weren't exactly on--I think only 20 squash plants survived that year for instance--it really bumped up my overall harvest, making 2024 a record year for me.  I referred to this plan while buying seeds and ticked items off the list as I planted them out.  A few things got crossed off the list for failing to grow;  these were replaced with something from the Successional/Late Season column.

In 2025, I expanded on this plan, doubling the number of both the Allotment Production and Successional/Late Season crops.  Some of these had simply been in different columns in the 2024 plan but many were newly added, such as Brussels sprouts, potatoes, onions, carrots and Chinese cabbage.

Writing a plan (in my own personal notes until now) kept me on track and I believe has made a big difference in my total output.  The newest plan (not shown) was so ambitious this year that I don't plan on expanding it at all for 2026:  it was a lot of work--maybe too much.  However, I while I won't add to it, I also probably won't subtract anything either:  I'll try to follow the same plan as it stands, with minor adjustments, focused mainly on the placement of plants (i.e. from one column to another).  If I add a vegetable, it will replace a different one--for example I won't be growing runner beans in 2026, but climbing beans instead.

I'm still harvesting and documenting for this year so I don't have any conclusive data on whether I'm on track to beat 2024's totals--but I suspect so!  I won't find out if all that work I did paid off, until I add them all up in January.

Grand total of garden food, 2024

Vegetables: 318 lb, 10.5 oz (incomplete)

Fruit:  2 lb, 7 oz (incomplete)

Eggs: 1262

What a year!  I broke my record of 2023, which was 277 lb.  However, I must state that some of 2023's veg wasn't recorded until 2024:  of the more than 100 lb of squash (!!), around 82 lb of it was grown in 2023.  We ate fresh squash every month of the year except August (and then we ate it from frozen!);  we ate our last 2023 squash in July of 2024.

Other notable amounts:  26 lb of plum tomatoes and 20 lb of cherry tomatoes (unlike the previous year, almost every tomato ripened by the end of the season), 16 lb of beet roots (plus 12 lb more of the greens) and 15 lb of kohlrabi.  I marked the total as incomplete as there are indeed some more squashes from 2024 to be weighed and eaten in 2025 (though probably not a full 82 lb).

Fruit was actually better than the previous year (though still rather sparse), but like most years I didn't record it faithfully, so the totals are similar.  We had probably 20 lb at least of apples, plus a couple more lb of raspberries, but I only recorded a few ounces of the berries, few figs and one pear.  I don't have a good method for recording fruit like I do vegetables, probably because I don't prepare fruit like vegetables (I weigh veg before cooking, but fruit rarely gets cooked in our house, just eaten).  

Our newest adopted four hens, the Specklies, did us proud and really bulked up the egg production in the last year, more than double the previous.  Sadly we've lost two of them this winter;  as a high-production breed, they are also short-lived.  Hopefully we can adopt another four to join our flock later in spring, when it warms up a little. 

See previous grand totals:  2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

Grand total of garden food, 2023

Vegetables: 277 lb 14 oz (incomplete)

Fruit: 2 lb 10 oz (incomplete)

Eggs: 571

My very best year for veg totals since recording began!  The clear winner was the squash at more than 63 lb, with runners up zucchini at just over 53 lb and cucumber just over 40 lb.  Honorable mentions include 22.5 lb green tomatoes (I only got 8.5 lb of ripe ones), 16 lb cabbage, and nearly 10 lb of lettuce!  I marked the total incomplete as I didn't include the garlic or corn harvest, nor the dozen or so squashes still hanging out in the living room for later eating (these will be counted for 2024's total).

Rather a poor year for fruit;  no apples or pears, and hardly any cherries, almonds, strawberries or raspberries.  I did pick a good amount of blackcurrants, redcurrants, and several bunches of whitecurrants (all three went into a jug of wine) but didn't record them (maybe two or three pounds--not much).

We got four new rescue chickens in September and our egg collection totals suddenly jumped.  These hens would have been 18 months old at the time and closing in on their 2nd birthdays now;  they're our youngest chickens but I'm surprised they're still laying so well at their age.  18 months is considered too old for production at the farm, hence the rescue.

Every year I try to break the previous record, but I've come to the realization that a lot of this growing business is just luck.  It was a lucky year for a lot of things, including things I've never had much success with like cucumber and zucchini.  I've put in the work for years improving the soil which was surely a contributing factor;  and I tried out a new method of transplanting seedlings which helped keep my plants alive--though the weather might have helped here too, as it was warm and dry in May.  So just the perfect combination of work and good luck.  Long may it continue!

See previous grand totals: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

Food totals September-December 2022

Some of the harvest (Sparta apples) from September 2022

Lots of apples (Laxton Fortune variety), September 2022

Nice cabbages too, September 2022

My one and only squash of 2022, though still in storage for 2023

Vegetables

 

227 oz tomatoes, green and red (mainly red)

1 oz chives

147 oz kohl rabi

71.5 oz cabbage

59 oz kale

125 oz beets

3 oz carrots

4.5 oz achocha

0.5 oz fennel

4 oz baby corn

2 oz French beans

Total: 644.5 oz, or 40 lb 4.5 oz

Fruits

 

23 oz figs

17.5 oz kumoi pears 

Total: 40.5 oz, or 2 lb 8.5 oz

Does not include (counted individually, not weighed):

73 Sparta apples

55 Laxton Fortune apples

24 Czar plums

Eggs

 

56 eggs from 5 hens and two ducks

(Look for 2022's grand totals next week)

Food totals August 2022

In an unattended moment, the daughter (age 2) picked all these green!  August 2022

Vegetables

 

18 oz carrots

35.5 oz lettuce

79 oz beets

134.5 oz kohl rabi

18 oz broad beans

4 oz onion

131.5 oz tomatoes (cherry and salad)

2.5 oz kale

8 oz artichoke hearts

4 oz achocha

Total:  435 oz, or 27 lb 3 oz

All vegetables are weighed after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.

 

Fruit

 

82 oz figs

16 oz rhubarb

 

Total:  98 oz, or 6 lb 2 oz

We also harvested, counting per fruit (not weighed): 

137 Laxton Fortune apples

12 plums

 

Eggs 

38 eggs from 6 hens and 3 ducks

Food totals July 2022

A lot going on here!  Aug 2022

Vegetables

 

49.5 oz beets

17 oz broad beans

35.5 oz lettuce

73 oz kohl rabi

12.5 oz snap peas

50.5 oz cabbage

1 oz turnip

0.5 oz purple beans

20.5 oz artichoke hearts

 

Total:  260 oz or 16 lb 4 oz

 

Fruit

 

41 oz Morello cherries

 

Eggs

 

44 eggs from 6 hens and 2 ducks

Food totals June 2022

 

Almonds and grapes together. July 2022

Vegetables

 

7 oz fresh garlic (including scapes)

1.5 oz chives

20.5 oz cabbage greens

17.5 oz salad leaves (chard, mizuna, lettuce, miners lettuce)

15 oz artichoke heads

13 oz beets

16 oz peas

 

Total:  91.5 oz, or 5 lb 11.5 oz 

 

Does not include several bunches of fresh herbs which were too small an amount to weight (less than 0.5 oz)

Fruit

 

No fruit recorded (strawberries, redcurrants, blueberries, sweet cherries, raspberries were all eaten immediately at harvest, but none weighed or counted)

Eggs

93 eggs from 6 adult hens and 2 ducks

Most of the roses came with the house but I chose this one myself.  July 2022

Cherries 2022

Lots of little Morello cherries in there, June 2022

I've just started picking this year's harvest of Morello cherries, pictured above.  I scrounged the net from an abandoned allotment two years ago and it's done wonders for keeping the birds off.  I have some other bird netting which prevents birds entering, but the gaps in the weave are large enough for them to peck through quite easily--I needed to erect a little structure around the tree to make sure the netting wasn't too close to the fruit.  But with this netting, I can just wrap it around quickly and easily and not worry about losing any cherries.
I planted the Morello cherry tree when the son was just a baby so it's about as old as he is:  12.  

I have two younger trees, both sweet cherries:  a Kordia and a Stella.  The Kordia has been around longer than the Stella and is fairly tall (the Morello is a mini-dwarf).  We've never had many fruits off Kordia:  it's too big to net so the birds get most of them.  Although it was covered in blossom this spring, it's shed a lot of immature cherries so we still probably won't get very many.

Stella cherry, not doing so well, June 2022

The Stella has been in place only a few years and again, no real cherry harvest off it yet.  It's badly affected by blackfly this year--the sparrows helped Kordia recover from them a few years ago, but it looks like they're not stepping up yet for poor Stella.  It formed some cherries but most have dropped off before ripening.  I'll leave it alone for now in the hopes the local birds will do something about it.  It was only a £5 tree (from the supermarket)--not a huge loss though I hope it will survive.

Morellos are acid cherries, best used in cooking.  I found a bag of last year's in the bottom of the freezer the other day!  I've started freezing the new batch too and once they are all collected I might make a giant cherry pie.

Food totals May 2022

It's been years since these flowered! May 2022

Vegetables

 

1.5 oz chives

15.5 oz leeks

26 oz chard

9 oz salad greens 

47 oz purple sprouting broccoli

48 oz squash (2021 harvest)

3 oz spring onions

8 oz potatoes

4 oz garlic (bulb and scape)

7.5 oz cabbage 

Total:  169.5 oz, or 10 lb 9.5 oz

 

Fruit

 

43.5 oz rhubarb

 

Eggs 

92 eggs from 6 adult hens and 3 ducks

The last tulip to flower (cabbage seedlings behind), May 2022

Food totals, April 2022

 

Need to eat before it flowers, April 2022

Vegetables

 

78 oz purple sprouting broccoli

10.5 oz kale

17.5 oz leeks

69.5 oz chard

4.5 oz beets

2 oz chives 

Total:  182 oz, or 11 lb 6 oz

 

Note:  I weigh all my veg after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc. Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small an amount to weigh (less than 0.5 oz).

Fruit

 

9 oz rhubarb

Eggs

74 eggs from 6 adult hens and 3 ducks

Food totals January-March 2022

Vegetables

 

140.5 oz squash (2021 harvest)

23 oz Brussels sprouts

6 oz kohl rabi

61 oz cabbage greens

95 oz chard

8.5 oz carrots

16.5 oz kale

5 oz chives

1.5 oz daylily shoots

7 oz leek

19.5 oz purple sprouting broccoli 

Total:  383.5 oz, or 23 lb 15.5 oz

 

Fruit

 

7.5 oz rhubarb

 

Eggs

 

60 from 6 adult hens and 3 ducks

 

Grand total of garden food, 2021

Vegetables: 129 lb, 1 oz (incomplete)

Fruit: 28 lb, 15 oz (incomplete)

Eggs: 797

Well, it seems as though only fruit totals were better than previous years.  It's true the veg totals are incomplete;  I didn't weigh the garlic harvest, nor did I add in the (untrimmed) sweetcorn, and there are still five small squashes hanging out in the living room--but I still don't think this would bring me up to last year's total of 160 lb. 

Maybe I should have weighed the two ducks!  And I missed out weighing most of the apple harvest and the bumper almond harvest.  What's more, there is still veg  ready for harvest both at the allotment and in the kitchen garden:  lots of chard, some leeks, cabbage, carrots, kohl rabi and Brussels sprouts.

So all in all, it was a good year, though perhaps not quite good enough.  Maybe 2022 will be the year for me.  I will have to do some reflection and planning to make it happen.

See previous grand totals: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

Food totals December 2021

Vegetables

 

20.5 oz beets

25.5 oz chard

4 oz leek

6 oz Brussels sprouts

2 oz carrots 

Total: 58 oz, or 3 lb 10 oz

Note:  I weigh all my veg after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.

Fruit

 

No fruit harvested this month

Eggs

No eggs collected this month from 8 hens and 3 ducks

Food totals November 2021

Vegetables

 

23 oz chard

14 oz beets

18.5 oz yellow crookneck squash (mature) 

Total:  55.5 oz, or 3 lb 7.5 oz

Note:  I weigh all my veg after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.

Fruits

 

1 oz yellow raspberries

Eggs

16 eggs from eight hens and three ducks

Food totals, October 2021

Vegetables

22 oz zucchini

68 oz green kuri squash

9 oz radicchio

78 oz chard

12.5 oz green beans

16.5 oz carrots

14.5 oz kohl rabi

1 oz celery

3.5 oz lettuce

4 oz tomatoes

2 oz kale

12.5 golden beets

Total:  243.5 oz, or 15 lb 3.5 oz

 

Note:  I weigh all my veg after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.

Fruit

44 oz flowering quinces (chaenomeles)

2 oz yellow raspberries

 

Total:  46 oz, or 2 lb 14 oz

Eggs

44 eggs from 8 hens and 3 ducks

Food totals, September 2021

Vegetables

 

2 oz salad greens (lettuce, mizuna, chard)

51.5 oz French beans

22.5 oz squash

103.5 oz chard

66.5 oz zucchini

22.5 oz radicchio

21.5 oz kohl rabi

4.5 oz lettuce

6.5 oz beets

10.5 oz carrots

2 oz kale

Total: 313.5 oz, or 19 lb 9.5 oz

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.  Does not include:

12.5 oz sweetcorn (untrimmed)

Fruit

 

74 oz plums

16 oz figs

2.5 oz yellow raspberries

 

Total: 92.5 oz, or 5 lb 12.5 oz

 

Also harvested but not weighed: 

 

2 Laxton Fortune apples

19 Sparta apples

Eggs

 

63 eggs from 8 hens and 3 ducks

Food totals, Aug 2021

Vegetables

 

75.5 oz green and yellow zucchinis

39 oz green tomatoes

1 oz golden tomatoes

113.5 oz chard

9.5 oz kohl rabi

34.5 oz French beans (purple)

20 oz cabbage

11 oz carrots

2 oz oyster mushrooms

22.5 oz artichoke hearts

4.5 cauliflower

5 oz squash (immature)

3.5 oz kale

37 oz potatoes 

Total:  378.5 oz, or 23 lb 10.5 oz

 

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.  Does not included:

 

18.5 oz sweetcorn (untrimmed)

 

Fruits

 

37 oz plums

57.5 oz figs

13.5 oz raspberries

4 oz Sparta apples

 

Total:  112 oz, or 7 lb

Eggs

76 eggs from 8 hens and 3 ducks

Food totals, July 2021

 

Almonds and grapes growing together, July 2021

Vegetables

 

66 oz cabbage

6 oz snap peas (in pods)

64.5 oz chard

85 oz peas (shelled)

2.5 oz lettuce

70.5 oz broad beans (shelled)

7.5 oz rhubarb

23 oz artichoke hearts

1.5 oz cauliflower

1.5 oz purple French beans (in pods)

1.5 oz carrots

Total: 329.5 oz, or 20 lb 9.5 oz

 

Note:  I weigh all my vegetables after preparation:  peeling, trimming, etc.

Fruit

 

15 oz strawberries

152.5 oz raspberries

16.5 oz blackcurrants 

Total: 184 oz, or 11 lb 8 oz

Eggs

109 eggs from 8 hens and 3 ducks

Food totals, June 2021

Spring cabbages next to the house, June 2021

 

Vegetables

 

9.5 oz salad greens (lettuce, miners lettuce, chard, mizuna, escarole)

58.5 oz chard

4 oz lettuce

7.5 oz leeks

8 oz cabbage greens

16 oz garlic bulb and scapes

10.5 oz snap peas

5 oz rhubarb

Total: 119 oz, or 7 lb 7 oz

Fruit

 

27.5 oz strawberries

Eggs

98 eggs from 11 adult birds