Shading has been something I've avoided forever in all aspects, but recently I decided to dedicate some practice time to it. I'm determined to improve, but my usual methods (YouTube tutorials and repetitive exercises) aren't yielding the usual results I get in other aspects of drawing. 

  
I feel like no matter how purposeful I try to be with keeping my pencil strokes close and consistent, I end up making patches darker/lighter than intended. I also am struggling to blend areas together. Especially blending the darker areas, which usually results in a larger dark area than I intended. 

  
Comparison pic is my most recent (and probably best to date) example. I phoned it in at the end, which is why the area around the stem looks rubbish, but I spent a good 30 minutes on the bottom half, trying to get the shadows and reflected light right. 

  
For reference, here's my current process: 

1. Sketch outline
2. Draw gentle outline of where the core shadows are
3. Fill in midtones with HB pencil (one gazillion passes)
4. Block out the shadows with a 2/4B 
5. Go over the darkest areas with a 6B

Would be grateful if anyone could provide some insight into if it's my technique that's the problem, or if I just need to keep working at it. (Or both.)

P.S. Also totally aware the example image is not a perfect recreation of the reference regarding scale/proportion. Not looking for critique of that at the moment.

Thanks in advance!

How can I improve pencil shading?