I picked so many tomatoes last week, the sunshine really helped to ripen them. There aren’t as many of the cherry tomatoes left now, but there are still plenty of the red and yellow ones. I’m pleased with the new varieties I tried. They don’t have the astonishing sweetness of the little orange ones but they’ve grown well even in this terrible Summer. I would like to find a beefsteak tomato which is productive and can cope if it’s a damp year. I’ve grown lots of big heirloom tomatoes in the past. They do always taste amazing but generally succumb to mildew by September.
Finally after a Summer of struggling to get salad leaves to grow, the chard, mustards and rocket all look nice. I’ve also got pea shoots on the go again. Not something I usually grow in the Autumn but they are perfect for this time of year really. I’ve also started planting Spring greens for picking next year and I’ve sown all the Spring onions. We have so much self seeded kale that I’m not bothering to sow any on purpose! I can always move plants around if they come up in the wrong place.
Our Winter plan involves converting the net tunnel into a polytunnel. We were going to cover it in polycarbonate but that was looking quite pricey so we’ve come up with a cheaper option using a lot stuff we already have lying about the croft. The net tunnel has been less weedy and more productive this year, it’s a great space for Winter growing but as our weather seems to be getting wetter and more unpredictable it makes sense to grow more undercover where the environment is more consistent. Our new polytunnel plan involves having permanent sides to the structure and a removable plastic cover over the top. The net tunnel has a good mixed hedge as a windbreak, but one corner sticks out into the windiest bit on our croft.
This week’s Croft Shares will have:
Small – courgettes, French beans, kale, tomatoes and salad leaves or chard.
Medium – courgettes, French beans, sugar snaps, broad beans, potatoes, tomatoes and broccoli.
Large – courgettes, French beans, kale, sugar snaps, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, salad leaves, chard/spinach and onions.
The potatoes this week are Cara or Picasso. They look almost identical and are both multi purpose potatoes. We had some roast Picassos and they were very tasty.