Incredible Edible Totnes: 2025 Year-In-Review

Every Incredible Edible group is unique. They each embody the Incredible Edible ethos in their own special way.

This year we are sharing a round up of reflections looking back over the year from a small selection of our groups. Today, we’re hearing from Paul at Incredible Edible Totnes.

 

What is your favourite or most successful crop you have grown this year?

Courgettes worked really well this year. It’s the first time we’ve planted them and they proved very popular with the public. The great thing is that they produce a lot of fruit in quick succession, often a problem for home growers but ideal for a well visited Incredible Edible site. The mild Autumn has meant they were still producing into November.

What has been your biggest success, or something you are proud of?

We have developed a very productive partnership with a local primary school over the past year. We worked with volunteers to create 6 raised planters for food growing, so that each year group could have their own veg bed. The beds proved so successful that now we are partnering with the school and parents to create a 300sqm growing site. The veg grown will be used in the school kitchen, garden work will be incorporated into the curriculum and children who need outdoor space for their mental wellbeing will be able to spend time in the garden when they need it. It’s wonderful to see that a garden can have so many benefits in the school, beyond just the food growing. Other schools in the area are now interested in creating something similar, so the hope is that veg growing will become a key part the school landscape in our region.

Are there any challenges or difficulties you overcame this year?

Our community orchards were so laden with apples this year that a few branches snapped and one tree fell over entirely! Next summer I will be checking the trees for signs of over fruiting, although, apple trees being what they are, they will probably be taking a well earned rest next year and the apple harvest might be rather modest.

Can you share a valuable lesson you learned this year, big or small?

In past years, I have planted lettuces out and they have disappeared pretty quickly. This year, I put signs up asking people to just pick the outer leaves and let the plant grow on. People have really taken this on board and the lettuces have lasted several productive weeks in the beds.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

We lost our compost heap at one of our gardens this year as the ground it was on became part of a caravan park development. This means I have to carry our green waste across the town to our other site after every volunteer session. I get some funny looks from people as I drag overflowing rubble sacks of old veg leaves up the High Street and the heap at our other site is now reaching crisis point. So I’m looking forward to making some new compost bays this winter!

Do you have any words of encouragement you would share with someone thinking about starting a new Incredible Edible group?

The amount of compliments we get from the public during our volunteer gardening sessions makes all the hard work worthwhile. I am always amazed and delighted at how much local people value our gardens. If you start an Incredible Edible group, your work will be so appreciated by the local community.