What I actually harvested from my allotment this year

Tomatoes were by far the most productive crop on the plot. I grew cherry varieties (Sungold, Gardener's Delight) and a few beefsteak types. The cherry tomatoes were relentless — from late July through September, I was harvesting handfuls every other day. By the end of the season I had given away more than I kept.

I planted strawberry runners in a raised bed in spring, not expecting much the first year. But by June they were flowering, and by late June I was picking a punnet every few days. The flavour of a sun-warmed strawberry straight from the plant is genuinely nothing like a supermarket strawberry.

If I could only grow one thing, it would be peas. Nothing from a shop compares to eating fresh peas straight from the pod while standing on the allotment. I grew both standard green peas and a purple-podded variety that looked incredible on the plant.

Two courgette plants. That is all you need. I grew three and spent August desperately trying to give courgettes away. They go from small and perfect to marrow-sized in about three days if you are not paying attention. Check them every other day and pick them small.

Sweetcorn takes up a lot of room and only gives you one or two cobs per plant. But the taste of freshly picked sweetcorn, boiled within an hour of harvest, is so far above anything from a shop that it justifies the space. I also grew some glass gem corn for decoration — it was beautiful but not for eating.

Carrots take forever. I sowed them in April and was not pulling proper carrots until September. But when they finally came up — in all their muddy, wonky, forked glory — the flavour was incredible. Nothing like the uniform orange sticks from Tesco.

I grew two pumpkin plants through weed membrane and let them sprawl. By October I had three decent-sized pumpkins. One went on the doorstep for Halloween, one became soup, and one I gave to a neighbour. They are not the most practical crop but growing a pumpkin from seed is incredibly satisfying.

Not everything went well. The cauliflower bolted before forming proper heads. The coriander went to seed within what felt like minutes. And the slugs decimated my first sowing of lettuce seedlings — I had to resow twice before they got established.

But that is part of allotment growing. You learn what works on your specific plot, in your specific conditions, and you adjust next year. The crops that did well more than made up for the failures.

Absolutely. In terms of pure monetary value, I probably grew a couple of hundred pounds worth of vegetables and fruit. But the real value is not financial. It is standing on your plot on a summer evening, picking tomatoes that are still warm from the sun, eating peas straight from the pod, and knowing that you grew all of it from a tiny seed.

If you are on an allotment waiting list or thinking about getting a plot, do it. The first year is messy and overwhelming and wonderful. Start with the easy wins — tomatoes, courgettes, peas, strawberries — and build from there.