I’m not very hopeful about the poor broccoli, usually slugs will chew on the leaves but leave the central broccoli head alone. This year the whole plant is being damaged. If I do eventually have some broccoli it will be edible but it won’t be pretty. The purple sprouting broccoli looks more promising. Slugs are less keen on anything purple. I’ve sown some quick broccoli for planting in a less sluggy area so fingers crossed.
In contrast to the poor beleaguered brassicas, the squashes in the Polycrub are growing enthusiastically. The main threat to squash plants are woodlice. Not because they want to eat the fruit, they view a squash as a prime piece of woodlouse real estate. A hollowed out squash makes a nice home for an entire woodlouse civilisation. I planted peppers and aubergine again this year. The aubergines are for chutney, so far the plants have grown a lot of lovely leaves but no aubergines. The pepper plants are smaller but have set some fruit.
I have a few craft fairs in July, but they have reasonable gaps between them – no two in a row or four in a week! This week I have Glendale on Tuesday and Sligachan on Saturday. I’m doing a blackcurrant theme for Glendale – blackcurrant jam, blackcurrant plants and actual blackcurrants. The currants themselves are particularly good this year, the plants must like wild variations in weather and our lack of attention to weeding. I haven’t found another type of fruit that is quite so well adapted to our croft.
This week’s Croft Shares will have:
Small – potatoes, Spring onions, French beans, courgettes and blackcurrants.
Medium – potatoes, Spring onions, French beans, courgettes, blackcurrants, onions and beetroot.
Large – potatoes, Spring onions, French beans, courgettes, blackcurrants, kale, beetroot, herbs, chard and onions.