I’ve been thinking for a while that a garden diary/blog would be a nice addition to this website. It’s possible that there are a few gardeners out there might find the travails of a West coast market gardener of interest. As a veg grower of many years I know that the general gardening advice for Scottish growers isn’t any use to those of us in the path of regular gale force winds and Summers with not much sunshine! I’ve actually found some blogs written by gardeners in Alaska whose insight is more helpful to me on Skye than standard UK advice. Our Winters are dark, our growing season short, the Spring is cold and the Summer can be wet! On the upside in the Summer we have plenty of light, my soil is very good, outdoor watering is rarely required and the Winters are mild so growing brassicas in the Winter is possible.
In the Spring and Summer I’ll post weekly updates of the Croft Share harvest along with some general croft news and probably a lot of complaining about the weather and slugs.
At the moment I’m mostly mulching! I cover most veg beds with a mix of seaweed, manure, old hay, wood ash and leaves. I put cardboard down on the paths and top this with wood chip. This cardboard/woodchip arrangement usually suppresses the weeds until about August. In August the weeds suddenly get wildly out of control and everything looks really untidy! In January everything is soaking wet but pleasantly weed free.
It’s almost time to start sowing again. I’ll be starting the tomatoes in a propagator under a grow light this week. This always causes a few problems in our small house as all the plants take up quite a lot of room. I need at least 80 tomato plants, they don’t take up much space for the first few weeks but by March it feels a bit like the house is being taken over by triffids. After that it’s time to sow all the onions, leeks and some leafy veg.
I’ve just planted 50 early seed potatoes in the greenhouse. I’ve done this in the past with a lot of success until last year. Tatties planted under cover in January are usually ready in June. I did this in 2022 and for the first time the potato plants were destroyed by slugs. This just shows how wet it was last Spring, slugs aren’t usually a major problem under cover. This year I’ve put the seed potatoes along the driest edge of the greenhouse, so fingers crossed for a nice potato surprise in June.
If the weather is too awful I have a few indoor activities. There’s the things I don’t relish like IT and accounts, and the good stuff like felt making and basket weaving for our Etsy shop.
I started learning to weave willow baskets a few years ago. After many attempts I became proficient in producing a simple round basket. The first baskets I made were woven with a very forgiving four rod weave. This year I’ve been experimenting with different weaving techniques and have completed several baskets with handles. This is a difficult skill to master but it’s very satisfying to produce something that’s actually useful. All my practice baskets are still in use around the croft and have proved to be very sturdy, if a bit wonky.
Here are some recent creations. I really like the asymmetric, stick handled style, it feels like I’m doing carpentry! It’s good to incorporate a bit of wood that I’ve grown. I can do commissions in either of the styles shown. Or visit our Etsy shop to see what’s available.