Plot Lines

It’s another week of many craft fairs. Now that the new kitchen is finished I can take more cooked items. We’ve added Scottish Tablet to the repertoire. We’ve all eaten quite a lot of tablet in the past week, I do fear for our teeth. There are always a few corner pieces that can’t possibly be sold, someone has to eat them, might as well be me! I’m also trying a few cakes for the Glendale Fair on Tuesday. I’m used to making cakes, but not used to thinking about how to package them. The new kitchen is very nice to use. On Thursday there’s another Sligachan Fair and on Friday it’s the Gathering Hall. After that there’s more Glendales and An Crubh again. Then the Christmas Fairs!

We’ve dug up the final batch of potatoes, they’ve sat in the ground this year far better than previous years. Usually by September the quality really declines with more slug holes and other creature damage. The cherry tomatoes have ripened very well in the last week, I’m not sure why as the sun hasn’t been about much. I’m still staring at the purple sprouting broccoli, willing it to grow some spears. I think they may make an appearance in any deferred holiday shares.

Salad leaves, kale and chard are all very nice now, they grow better in the cooler months.

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – potatoes, leeks, sugar snaps, tomatoes and salad leaves.

Medium – potatoes, leeks, French beans, tomatoes, courgettes, salad leaves and kale.

Large – potatoes, leeks, French beans, tomatoes, courgettes, salad leaves, kale, chard, beetroot and herbs.

Last week I got Freddy to utilise his very long arms and pick all the crab apples. Six kilos of little apples have been transformed into 27 jars of crab apple jelly! Next on the agenda is aubergine chutney (good with curry) and rosehip and apple jelly. Rose hips make a lovely pink jelly. Our rose hips are from Rosa Rugosa bushes. This hardy plant isn’t native but is about the most resilient shrub there is. It makes a super spiky hedge, even a very determined sheep will struggle to get through. The rose hips are a decent size as well. We do also have a lot of native Dog Rose. These are beautiful plants, with much more delicate flowers and smaller rose hips. They do take a lot longer to get established though. Next year I need to try and pick our Rowan berries, we had a decent quantity this year, I was just too slow and the birds ate them. It would be nice to try and gather enough fruit for a proper “hedgerow” jelly – probably a mix of crab apples, rose hips, rowan berries and brambles.

There’s just a few weeks left of this years weekly veg scheme. I’ve some very nice leeks to dig up and the late planted Orla potatoes are ready. The purple sprouting broccoli is really taking its time. It’s just been a bad year for broccoli! it’s been a great year for apples though and the potatoes have probably been the best ever crop. This could be the weather, more likely it was my choice of varieties. It’s taken four years to figure out, but Charlotte and Orla are the best potatoes for growing on Skye. Orla make a great new potato, or they can be left in the ground and dug as a maincrop.

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – potatoes, leeks, courgettes, tomatoes and salad leaves.

Medium – potatoes, leeks, courgettes, tomatoes, French beans, sugar snaps and kale.

Large – potatoes, leeks, courgettes, French beans, sugar snaps, tomatoes, kale, chard, beetroot and squash.

Last week was an exciting week on the croft. Regular readers may remember that I didn’t have any help with potato planting this year. There was a good reason for this – no I hadn’t been abandoned by my crofting helpers! Dominic has spent the past few months working on a new kitchen so that we can expand the jam and chutney side of things. The new kitchen is finally (mostly) finished. It’s very small, but very shiny with multiple sinks. We’ve recycled the stainless steel from an old catering trailer and have plenty of equipment from our cafe days. I’ll be expanding the jam and chutney range, experimenting with tablet and maybe even making some cakes. Next year we’ll hopefully have a bigger honesty box for more local sales. The new kitchen has the best view of any kitchen I’ve ever worked in, I’m hoping I’ll see some interesting wildlife, so far all I’ve seen are some chicken escapees.

I did want some rain for the leeks and broccoli, I’d like it to stop now! The leeks are surprisingly happy in damp, clay soil. The last batch of potatoes that I planted in mid July have grown well, they’re in a very sheltered spot so the foliage is very lush. I had a rootle and found some edible size potatoes and not much slug damage. For the past three years I’ve attempted to have potatoes for the veg shares in the Autumn and it’s never quite worked out. Maybe this is the year. This week’s potatoes are the ever reliable Charlotte.

This week’s Croft Shares will have –

Small – Potatoes, tomatoes, apples, squash, a couple of peppers and sugar snaps.

Medium – Potatoes, tomatoes, apples, squash, a couple of peppers, French beans, courgettes and chard.

Large – Potatoes, tomatoes, apples, squash, a couple of peppers, French beans, courgettes, chard, kale and beetroot.

The squash will keep for a month or so. The peppers are a mini, sweet green and yellow variety.

Our own damson tree has a good amount of damsons this year and they’re nearly ready for picking. I think last year we got about five damsons, this year there are at least enough for a batch of chutney.

I’ve starting picking the squashes. Once picked they need to be “cured” in a warm spot for ten days or so. In theory this means they will keep for a few months once picked. I grow Uchiki Kuri squash, it’s the most adapted to our unhelpful climate and the plants are extremely vigorous. I’ll probably put some in the weekly veg shares next week. They’re also a good chutney ingredient mixed with apples and plenty of chilli.

It’s nearly leek picking time, they look good, if not enormous. Leeks really do enjoy a lot of rain and the Isle of Skye usually obliges, just not this year. The purple sprouting broccoli could do with a bit of a deluge as well. If this happens I’m sure I’ll complain about the mud and wish it was dry again.

I’ve still got a few beds of Charlotte potatoes to go. They really do well in raised beds. They were planted through a layer of old hay. We’ve found that the hay can just be peeled back and hey presto there are the tatties just sitting on the soil, no annoying digging!

I hope to have salad leaves on the menu again in September, they always do better in the cooler months. The tomatoes still have plenty of fruit left to ripen, particularly the medium sized red ones.

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – potatoes, tomatoes, French beans, courgettes and beetroot.

Medium – potatoes, tomatoes, French beans, sugar snaps, courgettes, beetroot, and kale.

Large – potatoes, tomatoes, French beans, sugar snaps, courgettes, beetroot, kale, chard, onions and herbs.

The tomatoes are enjoying the amazing weather and the second batch of French beans look really good. I have a few mini sweet pepper plants, these haven’t grown with a huge amount of enthusiasm but there are quite a lot of mini peppers and they’re turning yellow now. I’ll probably pick them all in the next few weeks

The emergency broccoli may be succumbing to slugs. The Bornaskitaig slug seems to have some kind of green broccoli radar. The purple sprouting has started producing though so there should be enough to go round in the next few weeks.

I’ve started picking the apples. This has been our best crop by far. The Discovery outside aren’t huge, but there are lots of them. The crab apples are nearly ready for picking and turning into jelly. I’ve picked most of the blackcurrants, the remainder will probably find their way into the stomach of a blackbird.

Uig Gala happened on the sunniest day in the history of Uig. It was a great success, the organisers did a brilliant job. I sold a lot of jam and have had to re-arrange my craft fair schedule so I can make some more. I’ve got a lot of events scheduled from next week until around the end of October. By September the vegetables can usually withstand being ignored a bit more. They’ve either grown or they haven’t.

A bed of pointy cabbages that I’d planted a couple of months ago looked to be doing well so I removed the net cover and discovered 30 Brussel Sprout plants. Why they are sprouts and not cabbages is a bit of a mystery. I definitely sowed cabbages, cabbage plants aren’t in evidence anywhere else so I think the seed packet had the wrong seeds in it. The top of a sprout plant is like a cabbage, it’s a two for one plant really.

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – potatoes, tomatoes, French beans, cabbage and apples.

Medium – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, French beans, cabbage, apples and sugar snaps.

Large – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, French beans, cabbage, apples, sugar snaps, chard, kale and onions.

I’m looking forward to the sunshine that’s forecast. The croft has returned to it’s usual muddy state, it would be nice if it dried out again. The ducks do love having a full pond but the poor chickens prefer it when everything’s dry. It’s Uig Gala this weekend, hopefully the weather will be good then as well. We’re having a stall there again this year, last year it was a really fun day out. Dylan somehow managed to successfully guess the weight of a huge fish and we spent days eating trout based meals. This year I’ll be encouraging him to stay away from large sea creatures. If he could guess the weight of a cake that would be nice.

I’ve planted my emergency broccoli, so far they are unmolested by slugs, if they do make it then maybe there will be green broccoli this year. If not the purple sprouting still looks pretty good although the wind last week did knock some of it over. I’m hoping for a few more cabbages as well.

The green caterpillars are gone from the greenhouse and Polycrub. Instead there are brown caterpillars. I think they must be Red Admiral as I saw a lot of these butterflies not long ago. Amazingly these brown caterpillars are not eating anything I’ve planted, instead they’re munching on some nettles that I’d failed to eradicate from the Polycrub. Earlier in the year there were some aphids in the greenhouse, these were ignoring the tomatoes and congregating on a few rogue thistles. Maybe leaving a few weeds can be beneficial, that’s my excuse anyway!

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, French beans, blackcurrants and garlic

Medium – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, sugar snaps, kale, beetroot, blackcurrants and garlic.

Large – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, sugar snaps, kale, beetroot, blackcurrants, onions, chard and garlic

The apple tree in the greenhouse is so laden with fruit it’s starting to fall over. The youngest teenager has tested the apples and pronounced them ready. I think they could do with a bit longer, I’ll probably start picking them in a couple of weeks. I think I should have been more ruthless at the thinning stage.

We also have a fig tree in a pot in the greenhouse. Supposedly figs like dry soil and root restriction, I have provided these conditions and this year the little tree has set twelve fruit. In previous years it produced one fig which I dutifully cut into five pieces! I do think I’ll plant it in the soil for next year, either that or move it to a bigger pot.

This year, veg which usually like Bornaskitaig growing conditions haven’t done well, while plants which are generally more hit and miss are thriving. Apples, squash, beetroot and aubergines are a hit, meanwhile brassicas are struggling and sugar snaps are not nearly as prolific as usual. I planted a second sowing of sugar snaps which are now looking good, the first batch was a bit feeble. The net tunnel is so bad for slugs now we’re thinking of turning it into another fruit cage with red and white currants for currant jelly. The two crops which are doing just as they always do are tomatoes and courgettes. The potatoes that I’ve planted in raised beds are really good, nice and clean, not much wildlife damage and easy to dig up!

This week’s Croft Share will have:

Small – potatoes, tomatoes, kale, courgettes and sugar snaps or French beans.

Medium – potatoes, tomatoes, kale, courgettes, chard, salad leaves and Spring onions.

Large – potatoes, tomatoes, kale, courgettes, chard, Spring onions, onions, beetroot and garlic.

Last week three baby wrens fledged in the greenhouse. The wren parents had built their nest in the apex of the greenhouse roof. Recently there had been a lot of squeaking coming from the nest and the mum and dad were flying backwards and forwards with beaks full of flies. At the weekend the babies emerged from the nest and spent several days hopping around and cheeping. They had no fear of me and one briefly sat on my hand. I couldn’t turn on the irrigation in case they got wet! They were like oversized, brown bees. They’ve now left the safety of the greenhouse and are on the big wide croft.

The next batch of potatoes are ready – these are Jazzy, a nice oval, waxy variety. The tubers aren’t huge but each plant produces a lot of them. After that it’s on to Charlotte.

The quick broccoli I’ve sown is growing happily in some seed trays. I think I’ll plant it in the bed which grew the first lot of Jazzy potatoes. This is usually a fairly slug free area so fingers crossed. This variety of broccoli is a quick variety which produces Tenderstem type spears.

All varieties of tomatoes are ripening now so some big salad tomatoes should start appearing in the Croft Shares.

This week’s Croft shares will have:

Small – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, blackcurrants, chard and onions.

Medium – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, blackcurrants, sugar snaps, cabbage, French beans and onions.

Large – potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, blackcurrants, sugar snaps, Spring onions, French beans, chard, kale, onions and herbs.

I’m having a bit of a potato digging rest this week. I’ve dug up most of the first batch of tatties and I’m not convinced that the next lot are ready yet. They have an abundance of nice, shiny leaves though, hopefully whatever is growing underneath the leaves is just as abundant! This year half the potatoes are in raised beds. This is a really good environment for potatoes as a raised beds tend to be better drained than a dug bed. The next round of potatoes should be Jazzy or maybe Charlotte. I did want to grow Sarpo Una again this year but the big seed potato farms didn’t seem to have any, or they were only available in tiny bags.

The tomatoes are looking great now, lots of ripe cherry tomatoes and it looks like the bigger ones are about to start turning. I would like to add Tomato and Courgette chutney to the preserves range so the really big tomatoes are reserved for that. There should be plenty of medium sized ones for the customers though. The medium variety is called Shirley. I haven’t grown it before but it’s done very well, the plants haven’t produced endless side shoots and they’re not too tall. Honeycomb – the cherries I grow, can easily reach eight feet. I don’t have any eight feet tall humans to pick from the top so I have climb a ladder.

I have the first aubergine, it’s almost full size for some reason while the other plants have only just started to set properly. My kids hate aubergine and I only have six plants so I’m growing them purely for chutney. Even six aubergine will make a lot of chutney. There are loads of squash in the Polycrub, enough for customers and chutney.

The crab apples are coming on well, they are the finest jelly ingredient, but quite time consuming to prepare. We’ve also got hedges full of rose hips, another great jelly ingredient.

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – Courgettes, French beans, tomatoes, beetroot and sugar snaps.

Medium – Courgettes, French beans, tomatoes, beetroot, kale, onions and chard.

Large – Courgettes, French beans, tomatoes, beetroot, kale, onions, chard, sugar snaps, Spring onions and garlic.

At the weekend our croft was better than abroad! There was some muttering along the lines of “too hot.” I know better than to utter these words and the tomatoes and squashes certainly loved it! On Saturday I was in Sligachan and saw part of the Glamaig Hill Race. This looked absolutely terrifying. Glamaig looks like a big, steep pyramid covered in scree and it was definitely too hot for running up a giant hill.

The sun wasn’t enough to save the first batch of broccoli which I have pronounced inedible. It’s just too slugged. There may be some broccoli later on and I have some cabbage which looks alright at the moment. A few years ago I was complaining that the vole population was out of control, this year I haven’t seen a single vole. The upside of a large vole population is that they eat slugs. The downside of a large vole population is that they eat brassicas, beetroot and French beans. On balance slugs eating all the broccoli is probably preferable to voles eating a lot of several crops! I keep hoping for the perfect year for vegetable growing but so far it hasn’t happened.

This week’s vegetable customers will have… tomatoes! The cherry tomatoes are ripening nicely now. I have some bigger red tomatoes as well, these take a lot longer to ripen but the plants have set some big bunches of nice fruits. The apple tree in the greenhouse is really laden with fruit so I think apples may make an appearance in the weekly veg bags this year. The apple tree in the greenhouse is a Braeburn – not an unusual variety but it has grown well. I bought it as a tiny, unimpressive twig from Jans, it’s now quite a big, productive tree.

This week’s Croft Shares will have:

Small – potatoes, onions, tomatoes, courgettes and French beans.

Medium – potatoes, onions, tomatoes, courgettes, French beans, Spring onions and sugar snaps.

Large – potatoes, onions, tomatoes, courgettes, French beans, Spring onions, sugar snaps, blackcurrants, kale and herbs.

If I get any decent broccoli I’ll distribute it as it becomes available.