This is the point in the year when I spend a lot of time staring impatiently at plants willing the glut to begin. I’ll be climbing a ladder to pick the French beans so that’s a good sign. There will be tomatoes for Medium and Large Shares this week and potatoes for everyone. I’ve dug up most of the first earlies. I had a rootle around under the second earlies and the first row seems to be nearly ready. We staggered the planting of the second earlies, so hopefully they won’t be ready all at once.
Outside broccoli picking starts this week. All the broccoli so far has been grown in the greenhouse. I’m looking forward to removing the indoor broc and replacing it with French beans and chard. Once that job’s done, the greenhouse will be completely planted with Summer and autumn crops. Last year there was a lot of red spider mite in the greenhouse so I’m on the alert for that. These little critters aren’t visible but they can suck the life out of a French bean plant. There were a lot of green caterpillars in the greenhouse but they seem to have vanished. I’ve seen some cabbage white butterflies fluttering around, I think they must be the green caterpillar parent.
Me and the middle boy had a stall at the Armadale Market on Saturday – I don’t have nearly enough ducks to satisfy the demand for duck eggs on the South of the island. We also did very well on the jam selling front, I only have a few jars left. There’s a bit of a gap now in the market/craft fair schedule so I’ll be spending a week weeding, interspersed with a spot of jam making. We still have plenty of blackcurrants waiting to go in the jam pan. Our next craft fair is in Kilmuir Hall on the 24th, it’ll be such a luxury not to have to get up at 6am and drive for an hour. The residents of Kilmuir prefer a chicken egg to a duck egg and I have plenty of those at the moment. The new hens are laying very well now that I’ve separated them from the older chickens.
This week’s Croft Shares will have:
Small – potatoes, Spring onions, kale or courgettes, mange tout and broccoli.
Medium – potatoes, Spring onions, kale, courgettes, French beans, tomatoes and onions.
Large – potatoes, Spring onions, kale, courgettes, French beans, tomatoes, onions, salad leaves, black currants and herbs.
This will be the last week of Spring onions, it’s not really Spring any more and the proper onions are nearly ready now.