2025 And Finding Our Sound
23 min read - Too Long?
It’s annoying. I wrote this ages ago now, and somehow managed to wipe everything – words, images, the lot. I haven’t been able to bring myself to write it again until now – I feel I’m talking to myself anyway.
The “Truth” Movement. The truther industrial complex? Conspiratainment? It’s become a joke to me, I don’t want it to be that way. I don’t have answers to what’s going on, I have thoughts but it would be unwise to post them on here.
It’s ok though, we’re taking back our towns because we’re putting up flags with the very people that would have seen us held down and vaccinated just four short years ago. Apparently, one has nothing to do with the other…
“My bad.”
We’re being made fools of by the very movement that woke us up. It woke us up on purpose, we’re not special, it was designed that way - you were right to buy into it but there’s no shame admitting you were fooled, again.
Banks disappearing from our towns, data centres being built on the outskirts, and you still can’t drive 5 miles without seeing the flashing blue lights of at least two ambulances every time you go anywhere.
That’s about the ONLY thing you KNOW is happening. It’s happening NOW, and on your doorstep.
Somewhere, an old lady walked into town to put some money in the bank, and the bank was gone. It doesn’t matter, she’s likely dead by now anyway from the fake virus injection, or maybe just old age.
She was probably in one of those ambulances you keep seeing.
As a truther you did your bit, you waved a Union Jack, and if you’re really switched on, you waved the cross of Saint George. This was no Ukrainian flag waving psy-op, you’re not stupid enough to fall for that.
Anyway, back to growing your own food.
Beetroots
We’ve never had so many! We eat loads of them and our family eat them - so we sowed a whole bed. This is where we’d grown a whole bed of mustard cover crops the previous summer - it’s hard to know if it helped.
We started them all off in modules early in the greenhouse, and direct sowed when we ran out. We couldn’t help but notice everything that went in from modules grew well, but direct sowing was very hit and miss.
They were incredibly vibrant early on, and over the course of the year we’ve had a constant supply and given so many away. We were harvesting these until November 2025.
None have had an overly earthy taste that Beetroots can sometimes have, and planting from modules is the way we’ll always do it now. It takes a bit longer but it saves on seeds, and the results seem much more consistent.
Aubergines
My partner always wanted to grow these more than me. They need starting early, and we don’t have the room for them in the house as they grow so they have go on her dads nearby windowsill.
I always moaned they’re a waste fo time and we need a polytunnel but she was adamant they can be grown outside. We tried a few last year, and they did really well, so I shut up and made space for more this year.
Again, these went on to do really well. They did catch a late drop in temperature, and we might have given them too much water early on but by the end of the summer we’d had two or three from each plant.
We put twelve plants in so we ate these for quite a while. The missus made a baba ganoush with many of them which was delicious. We are growing more of these in 2026.
"It's ok though, we're taking back our towns because we're putting up flags with the very people that would have seen us held down and vaccinated just four short years ago."
Peppers
These go in next to our aubergines and we’d saved some seeds from last year to see how they compare to our bought seeds. Like the aubergines, these caught a late drop in temperature which seemed to slow them up.
Saving pepper seeds is easy. We want to keep saving more seeds each year as prices are a rip off in line with the rest of the on-going psy-op. I leave them on my desk and put them in an envelope after a couple of months.
We had a couple of plants where we had no fruit but we had two to three peppers each from the others and we noticed that the saved seeds did better than the bought ones in the end. They go in our salads mostly.
Broad Beans
We grew these individually last year in modules but it was a bit of a rigmarole. The modules weren’t deep enough for the large seeds and their roots would often break out of the top of the potting mix.
They went on to do well once we got them outside, and it helped with slugs eating them as the plants were bigger but we decided against doing it that way again this year and just direct sowed them in double rows.
We had erratic germination rates rather than problems with slugs, and when they did eventually start poking out the soil they were very hit and miss. We sowed more in the gaps and eventually they all caught up.
We think we’ll do them this way each year though modules seem to yield better results. As I write this we should be getting one batch in for next year but we’ve had that steep drop in temperature and the ground is hard.
We enjoy eating these raw as we get them and just throw them on top of salads but the missus makes up fritters when we get too many. She’ll also freeze them to make fritters with later on. They’re delicious.
One of the reasons I like growing broad beans is that they can come out early which gives us a chance to get a couple of summer cover crops in to experiment with in the nicer weather.
Cabbages/Brassicas
We grew quite a few cabbages this year, Savoy, and a couple of different greens and reds. We have a habit of putting them all out at once as we find it’s quite hard to stagger the seedlings, so we a get a glut later on.
We also put in Swedes, Turnips and Kale (curly and Nero). These go into two beds of Brassicas so we can keep a nice rotation behind our beans. We tried Broccoli for the third year running but it bolted again.
I think if we watered in the mornings this wouldn’t happen so much but it’s being able to do it. We think we’re going to try something different this year, maybe spinach in the place of a couple of things…
Our Kale was attacked by white fly this year, and it took a while to recover. We’ll leave our Kale under cover through Winter and see how it does. Last year the pigeons stripped it in a morning when the temperature dropped.
We made Sauerkraut with some of our cabbages when we had a glut - it turned out really well and will be something we make every year. We’d rather eat them with our Sunday dinner but it’s handy to make them last.
We had no luck with our Swedes, they seemed to be doing really well early on but get to a point and grow no further. I don’t think we’ll do them for a while. We had some lovely Turnips though - we’ll grow them again.
"We’re being made fools of by the very movement that woke us up. It woke us up on purpose, we’re not special, it was designed that way..."
Carrots & Parsnips
We were initially put off of trying Parsnips when we started on the allotment. People made a point of telling us how hard they were to germinate - we just thought they were for experienced growers.
We tried them last year, quite late, and they did well. All we did this year was make sure we bought as fresh seeds as we could, and over-sowed them. They seemed to germinate no problem - just thinned them out later.
Same with our carrots. I just sowed too many and thinned them out once they’d grown a bit. Both have done ok. The worst things is we just didn’t dedicate enough space for them - we will do next year.
Cucumbers
We had absolutely no problems with these this year. Last year we had a couple of plants that just didn’t seem to like the soil, and we made more of an effort not to get water on the stem of the plants.
We grow a large variety, Marketmore and a small variety called La Diva. As time has gone on we feel we prefer the smaller variety, we seem to get more from the plants too.
Cucumbers are so good to just pick and be eating on a salad within a couple of hours. We had a continuos supply throughout the whole Summer up until the weather started to turn colder.
Fruit
While we’re lucky to have our fruit trees on our first plot (two apple and two pears) they are becoming a frustration as it’s obvious the previous owner planted them way too close. It’s becomes more apparent each year.
Neither of us feel confident when pruning them, so we left them this year and they all seemed to fare better but there’s no way we can’t prune them this year. They have grown so much.
Ideally I’d like to remove two of the trees but would feel guilty doing so. It seems like the pear trees suffer the most being so close to the apple tree which is quite large now, and must be taking nutrients from them.
We find they have to be left on the tree as long as possible, and if you catch them right, they are delicious and quite substantial but we have so many drop off, along with the pears before them seem at their ripest.
We have some difficult decisions to make regarding our trees this year…
Our fruit bushes had their best year yet. The missus pruned them a lot less this year, and we didn’t even cover them. The birds left them alone and we had loads of gooseberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants.
Garlic
We had really poor Garlic in 2024, they ended up covered in rust and were tiny - really disappointing! We felt they’d gone in a nice bit of soil that had actually had some our well sieved compost on. They went out a bit late too.
The plot were looking after had a big pile of manure left on it in a particular spot, and for 2025 we decided to put half our garlic there and the other half on another plot. It ended up being good for comparing the outcome.
We planted this in late October 2024 and didn’t harvest it until about mid June in 2025. There were quite considerable differences in the sizes of the garlic that had gone into the differently fertilised beds.
Overall, both lots of Garlic were better than the year before, and we were really pleased. It should last us the year but we’ll see. We’re going to make a point of using more manure where we know it will be going in future.
The garlic and onions for next year have already gone in as I write this. We planted it in late October and it’s all up and doing well. Half has been rotated and the other half has gone in in the same place as last year.
Leeks
I can see Leeks as being one of our favourites to grow. They’re no trouble and seem very low maintenance. We started these off in February indoors and transferred them outside when they were still quite thin.
The Leeks turned out fantastic, and have been the thickest we’ve grown so far. We have sweated them down with our Savoy cabbages and they’ve been absolutely delicious!!!
Potatoes
Hmm, the old spud… We only really grow these as we have the room to do it with three plots. We put most of them in the plot with the poorer soil, and this year they felt like a real effort to get in.
I dug trenches a “spit” deep and really took my time but the soil is very difficult to work with while we build it up. I just wasn’t happy with them by the time I finished, I don’t know why.
They didn’t do as well as last year, and we planted about 50% less too. The previous owner really only grew potatoes in this plot in various places over 40yrs he had it. Growing our potatoes here isn’t the greatest idea but it feels like the best plot to put them in.
They just didn’t seem to kick on after poking their heads out, the foliage is never the same as the other growers. We eventually harvested more then we thought but for a main crop potato, they were a bit small.
I’m not digging trenches again, it’s too much hard work. I’m just going to rotovate the soil and plant them with a potato planter, then earth them up afterwards.
It’s annoying as it’s nice to give some potatoes to family but it makes it difficult when you don’t get what you expected. It’s not nice giving all your hard work away and having just a few weeks worth of potatoes for the effort you put in.
Runner Beans
If we’re good at anything it’s turning “stringless” runner beans into stringy ones!!! I don’t know, we’re not great at these, they just always end up stringy, even when we pick them small.
The missus reckons it might be because we put them out too early, so next year we’ll not be putting them out until the weather has been warm for a good while.
We had plenty from the plants in the end (they weren’t ALL stringy) but what is it about a stringy runner bean that makes you want to launch your dinner across the living room!?!?
Courgettes & Squash
We had a bit of a disaster with these in 2025. The day we were due to plant them out was a really rotten day, grey and drizzling. I’d said to the missus I didn’t want to put them out as I had a feeling about the weather.
The missus (after telling already her to stop doing it!) had watered the plants in the pre-dug holes I’d made the previous day. It made it hard to pack them in after planting and my hands we caked in wet earth.
We had 16 plants of each, and though I should of taken them all back to the greenhouse and waited for the weather to improve, something wanted me to teach her a lesson - so I planted them all out anyway…
That night we had a late frost (this was late May), and the next day the plants looked like they’d come out of the freezer. We basically lost the lot - the plants, especially the courgettes never recovered. We eventually had about 10 courgettes whereas you normally can’t give them away!
The squashes faired a bit better, and we had half as many as the previous year in the end, and much smaller sizes. It’s the biggest disappointment we’ve had on the plots but it’s taught the other half a lesson.
Did I cut of my nose to spike my face still putting them out? Maybe, but I was pissed off and didn’t expect the frost. I won’t be do it again, and I she’s learned her lesson too. They don’t go out until June now - period.
Sweetcorn
The soil on this plot is really poor. We know it’s had very little manure, and mostly been used for potatoes. It’s fine and dry, and very stoney. We’ve been building it up with manure and cover crops but it’s a slow process.
Sweetcorn is one of my favourite foods to grow, and I was disappointed when I thought it was doing well only to have someone tell me it wasn’t going to do well judging by the look of it this year.
He had a point, the plants weren’t as tall as the were the previous year, and were very “spindly” but they had two to three cobs on each and until he’d pointed it out I thought they were going well.
In the end, these did well, we never had any spectacular tasting cobs like 2024 but we had a bigger harvest, they were tasty, and a good size. If our neighbour hadn’t said anything I wouldn’t have given them any thought.
The plants weren’t as vigorous though and I do put it down to the quality of the soil but we’re slowly building that up. It’s 2026 now as I finish writing this, and we’ve got some fantastic compost to put down.
Tomatoes
To say we had a lot of tomatoes in 2025 would have been an understatement. We still have sauces made up in April 2026 as I finally finish writing this.
We had about 20 plants in total, mainly salad tomatoes but we put in more beefsteak, and a variety called Roma which were prolific! We also have about 15 cherry tomato plants in various pots scattered about.
Keeping up with harvesting these actually became a problem as did finding the space to put them. The missus really does try and do her best at keeping enough for salads and making sauces to use later though, even with a limited fridge freezer.
If we do half as well in 2026 as we did in 2025 we’ll still be doing ok.
Winter Cabbages & Cauliflower
This was the first year we tried to over winter cabbages and cauliflowers. I thought growing cauliflowers through the winter might be a bit easier as we’ve found it hard to get them to grow well in the summer with things bolting. The soil for these was well prepared with manure, and had also had a cover crop in before too.
I even tried some copper wire around some bamboo for a little electro culture test, and obviously put them under hoops to try and stop the slugs as best I could. I did the same with cabbages, in the end there was about 16 of each under two hoops.
They started well to be fair, and I thought we’d be eating them early 2026. By January though, the cabbages had all but disappeared, and there was one sorry looking cauliflower I daren’t eat. I’m not really sure what happened really, as can’t really think what I might have done wrong.
The Winter was abysmal though, and the endless grey sheet and rain we were treated to by the weather manipulators made things so damp - I just think it was a case of them not being able to cope with the conditions.
I’ll try these again though this year and hopefully get a bit luckier. I don’t think the copper wire made a blind bit of difference though but I’ll try it again.
Getting The Hang Of It All
Planning what you’re doing is as important as anything when you have so much soil to grow in, and I’d been good at keeping a detailed record on a spreadsheet since we started, especially when it came to sowing dates.
Having the sowing dates recorded and knowing if it worked or not takes quite a bit of the work away early in the year, especially when it comes to repetitive things that don’t change.
We sowed our Leeks and Aubergines indoors on a heated tray that we’d bought in February, and shortly afterwards we started Beetroot in seed trays that hold about fifty cells.
We find that sowing beetroots early in cell trays and taking time to put them out is more reliable than direct sowing them. Every cell we transplanted survived and our direct sowed beetroots were hit and miss.
It does take a little bit longer but we sow a whole bed of beetroot so we can give quite a few to family and friends so the extra effort is worth it. We steam ours and eat them for a large part of the year.
Overall, we feel like we have good system now for what we grow and how we grow it. After a good few years of experience, and getting the plots how we like them, things have just felt like they’ve clicked into place a bit.
We’re well into 2026 now and the agenda clearly isn’t stopping any time soon with everything that’s gone on with the orange puppet (that some people still seem to think is here to save us all - the mind boggles, it really does). I do think gradually we’re going to start seeing thieving on the plots.
In truth, we’ve had nothing stolen, apart from an incinerator lid, and a tarpaulin from our Turkish plot neighbour that must think I’m stupid but no food, not that I can tell. I hope it stays that way… Theres’ not really much you can do to stop it if it does.
Anyway, I’ve got to stop writing this - it’s been quite hard to finish what with losing it all once.
"The “Truth” Movement. The truther industrial complex? Conspiratainment? It’s become a joke to me..."
What We Learned
- Mice will eat your corn, even if it’s hanging up!
- Some people in the truth movement are as lost as those that aren’t
- With three plots, watering is the least enjoyable part of growing
- Talking to the “normies” is now often easier than talking to the “awake”
- There’s more to growing through the Winter than just planting it out
This was the first year where we had a really nice system for trying to rotate what we grow, how we get manure and cover crops in during the year and our roles on the plots.
We still have lots to learn but being organised and growing what works best can maybe cover up any shortcomings that will come more with experience.
The agenda isn’t stopping, and having the ability to grow ANY kind of food is still going to be an important part of trying to cope with what’s being thrown at us, even if it has to be through the council.
2026 has seen the endless psy-op ratchet up even more with Orange Man and Iran, and regardless of what people think, his true purpose is now being revealed. Things are going to get harder, more constrictive and financially more difficult.
Fuck them, bring it on…
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