This year in the garden didn’t go exactly as planned. But that’s gardening, and you have to roll with it. You can’t expect everything to go perfectly. In this post I’m going to share my wins and losses this year in the garden. What went well and what didn’t. And what I’ve learnt to take into next year. Please feel free to share your wins and losses in the comments.
It was a very busy year for me, and that, along with some injuries, made active gardening difficult for me. Juggling time between work, socialising, side projects, and general life, meant that at points the garden took a back seat. This wasn’t too impactful during summer as it was just some watering and harvesting, but in spring it limited the amount that was planted, and in autumn it meant that some plants got neglected and also the garden hasn’t been made fully ready for winter.
Wins
Peppers. Some of the overwintered peppers survived, giving them a head start this year. Some seeds were planted, and lots of the plants did very well, producing lots of peppers.
Winter Squashes and Pumpkins. These grew well, growing to good sizes and giving us a variety of squashes. These pumpkins are Atlantic Giants, although mine did not grow that big, but they were still very tasty.
A good tomato harvest. The basil and parsley did well too. The parsley is still alive, outside and uncovered, as I write this in mid January, surviving many frosts and even a couple of inches of snow.
Success with the chickpeas for the first time. I tried growing them before, and following advice that I had read online, I actually ended up waiting too long to harvest them and something ate them. This year I harvested them a few days earlier than last year and got a decent harvest, getting more back than I planted. I’m hoping to improve upon this in 2026.
The apple trees were very productive. With the cooking apples doing particularly well, and the highlight being the 800g monster. Many 500g apples were also produced by that same tree.
As always, there were learning moments, and I have some ideas to try in 2026. I will talk about this in other posts this year.
Losses
I didn’t plant everything that I wanted this year as I got unexpectedly busy in May, which is the time when a lot of things are planted.
We had a late frost that wasn’t forecast, so some plants weren’t protected. Some of them died, and others recovered.
Some plants were lost to pests, which happens every year and is an accepted part of gardening. There weren’t issues with slugs this year, which was good. Although the rats made it to the part of the garden with the veg, maybe because of the mulch that covered the ground last winter (not 100% sure on this yet).
I didn’t harvest everything in time, so some of them went bad. This was the first year with the polytunnel. In previous years I have grown peppers and aubergines on the patio, which does get hot, but this year they were grown in the polytunnel. In previous years the peppers have not had time to all ripen, and I’ve left them on the plant as long as I could, but in the polytunnel they grew faster so leaving them as long, in a moist environment, they went bad. The aubergines didn’t grow as big as they previously did, so I was waiting for them to grow more, but they were at full size and ripe, so they also went bad in that environment.
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