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Last Thursday felt like the rainiest day in the history of Skye. I wasn’t sure what effect this would have on the veg plants. Amazingly the mange tout grew about six inches! The big unknown is what effect the rain will have had on the potatoes. They had a really good start with nice weather in May, if we get a dry spell now I think they should be OK.

My old foe the slug is back with a vengeance! All the rain has increased the numbers. So far slug casualties are salad leaves and some beetroot. I’ve re-sown the salad leaves with varieties the slugs seem less keen on. Everything else is too big now for total destruction.

Winner of the best vegetable so far has to go to the courgettes in the Polycrub. I think the lack of sun might actually have benefited them, if it’s too roasting the courgettes don’t set properly. Prize for most affected by the weather probably goes to the broad beans. They do have some pods but keep dropping flowers. The base of the stems are vulnerable to slugs as well, a lot just snapped off in the rain. I’ve just planted an Autumn cropping variety, hopefully they will fare better.

Looking at the photos from last years harvest at this time I’d say we’re about a week or two behind on most things (apart from the courgettes.) This isn’t a huge amount of time considering the contrast between this June and June 2023. Amazingly the tomatoes are starting to ripen, The main type that I grow is called Honey Comb, it’s a very resilient variety.

Last week, slug activity and the grey weather necessitated a last minute change to the veg Shares. There weren’t as many good radishes as I’d hoped and fewer mange tout than expected. Some customers had beetroot, kohlrabi or pink onions instead. This week I’ve been swithering about whether or not to dig up the next lot of potatoes. I’ve decided to be patient and let them get a bit bigger. I don’t think slugs have destroyed anything I’m planning on picking this week, but I do think some quantities might be on the small side still so I’m adding in some garlic and/or onions. If you only eat garlic occasionally it can be stored at an ambient temperature for months.

Small – Courgettes, Spring onions, kale, mange tout/sugar snaps, blackcurrants and garlic. These mange tout are from outside, if I think portions are too titchy I may put something else in instead.

Medium – Courgettes, Spring onions, kale, salad leaves, French beans, blackcurrants, onions and garlic.

Large – Courgettes, Spring onions, kale, salad leaves, broad beans, blackcurrants, onions, garlic, Spring greens and herbs. I may substitute broccoli for broad beans if I find there aren’t enough beans.

The blackcurrants are tart as always and are delicious stirred into yoghurt or added to crumble. If you’re feeling very fancy, fruit compote and ice cream would be delicious!

I really think we’ve had enough rain now. Everything has had a thorough watering, a bit more sunshine would be nice. Usually by this point in the year our croft is mud free. This year the ground has all been re-mudded many times over. The ducks love a bit of mud but the poor chickens aren’t keen. I hope all the water doesn’t affect the potatoes, the ground doesn’t seem to be waterlogged so fingers crossed. The rain has caused a slug resurgence, a nice row of lettuce has been completely devoured, along with some beetroot seedlings. The youngest boy sowed a row of lettuce which looks perfect, not a slug in sight. I may have to bargain with a fourteen year old for some lettuce in the next month!

I regularly read the blog of a commercial grower in Oregon, https://cullyneighborhoodfarm.com, and subscribe to a newsletter from a grower in Germany. The veg I’m harvesting is often very similar to the Oregon farmer, the main difference is that their tomatoes and beans can grow outside, peppers are a fairly safe bet and they call swede “rutabaga.”. Currently the German gardener is experiencing an “incessant 12 hour cycle of torrential downpour- followed by 28 degrees.” I think what we have is probably preferable. Everywhere seems to be struggling with the weather this year, if anything we seem to have had less rain than other places in Northern Europe. Our longer term aim is to move from growing in raised beds to growing in long rows in the ground. In a wet Summer like this, raised beds are a much better bet.

The chickens are laying with more enthusiasm now that I’ve separated them into two groups. We’re now back up to around twenty five eggs a day, so lots for the honesty box with plenty spare for Armadale. The residents of Bornaskitaig aren’t keen on a duck egg, luckily South Skye inhabitants love them.

Next week I’m staring Medium and Large Shares. The outside broccoli is nearly ready. I’ve pulled up most of the indoor mange tout, the mange tout in the net tunnel has baby pods so I think I should be picking from there next week or the week after. The yellow French beans I planted are currently green, not yellow. Why is a mystery, maybe they will turn yellow at some point. I’ve just planted a lovely type of dwarf bean, Marvel of Piemonte as a follow on crop. This is a multi coloured, flat podded, stringless type. Although I haven’t seen a vole for weeks I’m still putting barriers around the bottom of the French beans. I’ve run out of fish farm pipe so I’m now cutting up milk bottles. This doesn’t look very professional but so far all the French beans are in one piece.

This week’s Croft Shares will have Spring onions, kale, chard, courgettes and two from the following – French beans, sugar snaps/mange tout, broccoli, radishes.

I keep records of each week’s harvest so I can look back and compare. I’m sorry to remind everyone of this but June 2023 was so sunny and rainless that there were rumours of water shortages on Skye. This year June has been more Wintery in nature which obviously has an effect on all the plants. Not what you would imagine though – the brassicas prefer this rainy, cold weather, onions need a cold spell to form bulbs, lettuce and salad leaves don’t like heat and mange tout aren’t bothered either way! Undercover the tomatoes have grown at a normal rate, the actual fruit might take longer to ripen if there’s no sun, but the Polycrub sits between 20C – 30C even if it’s overcast. The peppers I planted have produced a pepper and French bean harvest started on much the same date as last year.

The weak link on the croft at the moment are the birdies. I bought some shiny new chickens in March. To start with I kept them in separate accommodation from the other hens with their own pen. Once they started laying I mixed them with the other chickens and they promptly went on strike – no more eggs! I’ve now put them back in their separate house and pen and we have eggs again. They appear to have been institutionalised! They prefer their own pen which is totally enclosed and off the ground with a wooden floor so no contact with that nasty nature stuff. The other chickens hate being confined and are in a huge pen with lots of trees and scrubby grass and reeds. Some of them still want to escape. The new chickens are unusually placid, there’s no discernible pecking order, they just seem to enjoy lounging on their wooden balcony, snacking on layer pellets.

This week’s Croft Shares will have Spring onions, onions, courgettes, potatoes and two from the following – mange tout/sugar snaps, French beans, broccoli, radishes. The potatoes are from the big wide world (as opposed to the greenhouse.) There are two varieties, Cosmopolitan and Orla, known for being fast growing. Once the first earlies are all dug up, there will hopefully be Jazzy – a nice salad potato, followed by Sarpo Una and Charlotte. I’ve got the maincrops in a separate, smaller bed where I can monitor them and hopefully dig them up before any pest or disease issues in September. The undercover mange tout are running out of steam now, luckily the plants outside have some tiny baby mange tout appearing.

Much tidying has occurred. The greenhouse is mostly tidy, and fully planted for now. I have some beetroot in there which did seem to have attracted the attention of a vole, the vole appears to have relocated and now the beetroot it didn’t scoff is growing fairly well. When it does well beetroot is my favourite crop, it looks attractive, can be eaten raw or cooked and the leaves make a delicious soup. It’s such a good Autumn plant as well, will stand in the ground or can be stored somewhere cool. My plan for more Autumn veg is going fairly well, the follow on crops have been sown, but my leek planting has taken ages. I now have two raised beds of leeks in a cool spot which they prefer. At the start leeks look a bit pathetic but once in the ground are fairly quick to establish. I’m about to do some quick spuds as a follow on crop, this has worked for me in the past but it does depend on what the weather does in September. If it’s warm and rainy like last year potatoes don’t sit well in the ground.

The Polycrub is also much tidier, the tomatoes are pruned and all the old crops and plants have been cleared out. If you’ve never grown tomatoes the best way to do it is to choose cordon varieties and train them to grow up a string. Any side shoots have to be ruthlessly pruned or the whole plant turns into a giant unwieldy tree. I’ve also relocated a great many adolescent spiders. It’s good to see so many beneficial creatures I just don’t want them in my hair.

Next on the tidying rota is the net tunnel, the current batch of onions and most of the garlic has grown over Winter in the net tunnel, this was a really good use of that space. There’s enough protection from the wind but it’s still cold which these plants like. Most of the garlic seems about ready and there’s time for a follow on crop like sugar snaps or broccoli. My plan is to harvest all the garlic and probably all the larger onions, have a thorough weed then assess how much space there is, and think about what could fit in next. I’ve just sown some plants for over Wintering which seems like a weird thing to do a few days before mid Summer, but any plants for growing outside in the Winter have to be a decent size before Autumn or they just don’t grow well.

This week’s Croft Shares will have Spring onions, garlic, salad leaves, kale, sugar snaps/mange tout and one from the following – courgettes, broccoli or French beans. I can’t tell how many French beans there are, it’s a case of pick and see! The mange tout are growing undercover but it looks like the plants outside are about to start producing. These Spring onions are from February’s sowing and are growing outside. I’ll be taking a salad leaf break next week, I’m about to pick the last of the Feb sown lettuce and then I’ll need wait for the outside leaves to grow a bit more. We’re about to reach the non leafy section of the growing season which from my point of view is much quicker to pick!

There are some upsides to all the rain, first of all the ducks love it. Their pond is full and they can spend their days dibbling in the mud. I may be imagining this, but I reckon they lay more eggs in the summer when it’s raining. Secondly, onions and garlic need a good dose of water to form bulbs and finally brassicas do better in cool and wet! Downsides – it makes the weeds grow, the squash are not happy and slugs are multiplying again.

Me and the youngest teen were at the Armadale monthly market on Saturday. We experienced a wide variety of climatic conditions – rain, wind, rain and wind, still and warm with midgies! Luckily this didn’t put off the customers and we had a very good day. Armadale is our best market because we can take the full range – baskets, pendants, cards, eggs, jam and veg. I’ve sold several baskets recently so I think I might have to do a bit of weaving in July. It’s easier in the Summer. The willow is dry and has to be soaked to make it pliable. If it’s warm the soaking time is a bit shorter and more effective. Cold willow is more prone to cracking.

Everything in the greenhouse and Polycrub is growing well despite the dreary weather. The Polycrub is getting a bit out of hand. The tomatoes could do with a good prune and the paths need a weed. The greenhouse is in an untidy, in between phase, there are over Wintered plants in there as well as Summer crops. I’ll be planting courgettes and French beans together in there next, this is always a happy partnership. After Wednesday I have two weeks of no markets so a big tidy up is on the agenda.

Outside the potatoes are growing well. The onions and Spring onions are a bit pock marked after the hail last week but they’ll recover from that (I hope!) The net tunnel proved it’s worth as nothing in there was damaged.

This week’s Croft Shares will have kale, courgettes or broccoli, mange tout/sugar snaps, onions, salad leaves aaaaaand new potatoes! These potatoes were planted in January in the greenhouse for an early crop. It won’t be a huge portion but some of the outside potatoes seem to be nearly ready so there could be more in a few weeks.

Our main weed this year is kale which has self seeded everywhere. We have saved plenty of seed for sowing and there are enough little plants to start a kale farm. Occasionally one appears in a helpful location, most of them are being pulled up though. I’ve just collected pods from last years dazzling blue kale, hopefully before it self seeded everywhere. The kale from our own seed is growing particularly well, I planted it earlier than is sensible and it hasn’t minded at all.

The net tunnel is much improved on last year although it’s still the weediest location on the croft. The net tunnel is the one area where I’ve done proper “no-dig.” This method works perfectly well for getting plants to grow but I think it’s weedier. Even our hot composter doesn’t kill weed seeds. For those who aren’t up on trendy gardening methods, “no-dig” involves spreading compost or manure on the soil surface rather than digging it in. One of the advantages of this method is meant to be weed suppression. The soil underneath is undisturbed so weed seeds aren’t brought to the surface and any weed seeds in the compost are supposed to have been killed off by the temps in the compost bin. That’s the theory anyway. On our croft the opposite seems to be true. A bit of ploughing always knocks back the weeds and a nice spell in a hot composter really gets the weeds off to a good start!

Everything has really taken off in the last week – the French beans are nearly at the top of their strings, the courgettes plants are enormous and all the potatoes are up. There are little baby tomatoes in the Polycrub. I think French beans will be on the menu in a few weeks. The first batch are Cobra green beans. I’ve also planted yellow and purple beans. Last year the French beans were a casualty of the vole menace. The early ones were OK but by September the evil furry creatures had chewed through almost every French bean stem they could find. I also had a bit of a problem with red spider mite in the Autumn. This year there are a lot of actual spiders in the Polycrub, I’m hoping they might enjoy a diet of red spider mite. I am planning to relocate these helpful spiders to the corners, I appreciate the part spiders play in a healthy eco system but I don’t really want them on my face. Currently they are spinning little webs across the French beans, right where my head will be when it’s picking time!

This week’s Croft Shares will have salad leaves, proper garlic, onion onions (as opposed to Spring onions), mange tout/sugar snaps, kale and courgettes or broccoli. The broccoli isn’t growing very speedily so there may be a few weeks of broccoli or…….

Last week I added some photos of recent progress to our facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/EllasCroft/.

Wow, the weather here can vary very dramatically. Last Tuesday I had to get up early to do all the picking before everything wilted in the heat, on Wednesday I was planting sprouts in waterproofs and a woolly hat, then on Sunday we had perfect midgie swarm conditions. Despite the changing weather I have succeeded in planting most of the current batch of plants! Hurray for that. I have many beds of brassicas and Dom has done the neatest squash planting I’ve ever seen. We’ve used every last scrap of compost, manure and grass clippings. The kids have been a big help, the youngest sieved a big pile of lumpy earth and the middle one is now an expert weeder.

There is still at bit of planting left – leeks, salad leaves, more mange tout but this can happen at a slightly more leisurely pace. It’s also about time to start follow on crops. My ambition is always to have every bit of cultivated ground planted with something, we’re nearly there this year. I’ve one area still covered in black plastic but it’s ear marked for late broad beans and more broccoli.

I’ve had yet another go at growing kohlrabi in the greenhouse, they haven’t been slugged this time but the foliage is enormous. I always viewed it as a small, beetroot sized plant which could fit in a smaller bed, rather than something of triffid proportions. I’ve got some growing outside too, maybe it’ll be smaller under less favourable conditions. It’s not normal to want something to be less lush but in this case it’s getting in the way.

This week’s Croft Shares will have salad leaves, Spring onions, mange tout/sugar snaps, chard, kale or broccoli and herbs. There look to be a lot of mange tout and sugar snaps this week, so plenty for everyone. I also have a few garlic scapes this week. A garlic scape is is the flowering stalk of a garlic plant, the actual flower isn’t that nice but the stalk is very good cut into batons and fried in butter or olive oil. This week will probably be the last week of Spring onions from the greenhouse, we just have to wait for this years outside plants to be ready, probably in a couple of weeks. There are some small cooking onions in the greenhouse which I might start pulling up. I’m not convinced they’re getting any bigger now.

I have ten days with no markets, so I’m working my way through a seemingly endless planting list. So far most of the French beans are in the ground, about two thirds of the outdoors mange tout, carrots are sown but there’s still loads of brassicas to go. I sow quick broccoli in succession which results in an unmanageable number of broccoli plants. My plan is to plant all the brassicas this week.

I have deployed the footloose teenager to plant squash outside. I don’t know which he prefers – digging holes or maths revision. Planting squash outside in a windy field is a bit of an experiment but I’ve seen other market gardens in more exposed places manage to get a crop. Squash plants grow to be metres in length so at worst they are a brilliant weed suppressant, at best we get a squash or two. I’m growing the usual red kuri variety, one called Blue Hubbard and Crown Prince, which is pumpkin sized but the best tasting and storing squash I’ve found. Squash do need a bit of warmth so fingers crossed.

The first French beans I planted are flowering so we could have a French bean in June. The Spring weather this year and last year has been quite different to the preceding years. I used to plan for courgettes and French beans in July, now June seems like a possibility. This is good for more variety in June but plants that flower so early can run out of steam by August. I have to do a better job of sowing second crops. Things like French beans and mange tout which crop fairly quickly.

This week’s Croft Shares will have a salad leaf/pea shoot mix, spinach, kale, Spring onions, green garlic and either asparagus kale or mange tout. The mange tout are about eight feet tall now and covered in flowers but it’s hard to know exactly how many portions there are until I start picking. There are baby courgettes now and a bit of broccoli so these will probably feature soon. There will probably be a bit of “either/or” for the next few weeks as quantities increase and decrease.

There are a few extra customers joining the Croft Share scheme this week so here’s a quick re-cap of the growing season so far. The mild Winter has definitely given a boost to the undercover crops, all the alliums (onions, garlic etc) in the greenhouse have grown well and so far nothing’s munching on them. All the tomatoes are now planted and are flowering, although the time between first flower and first tomato can be several months, so don’t start dreaming about tomatoes just yet! I have courgettes in the Polycrub which don’t look far off flowering and have planted some of the French beans. Outside all the onions are in the ground, the broad beans have lots of flowers which smell divine, and I’ve started planting brassicas. Last Saturday one man and one teenager finished planting the bulk of the potatoes. There was quite a bit of space left in the big bed we had ploughed so I’m thinking of planting some more first earlies in June for that new potato taste in September.

I always grow a few traditionally outdoor crops undercover in the Spring to try and get an early crop. It’s interesting to see the growth habit of potatoes and mange tout when there’s no wind pressure. Outside mange tout on Skye reaches about four foot tall, in the greenhouse it’s heading for six foot! Indoor tatties produce tall, glossy foliage, several feet high. Outdoors, one foot is more usual.

The mange tout and sugar snaps have tiny little pods now, probably about enough for one each, so I’ll hold off putting them in the Shares for this week.

I am fanatically monitoring the vole situation – so far there don’t seem to be the numbers around this year that there were last year. I’ve started planting French beans in the greenhouse with barriers around the bottom just to be on the safe side. The barriers are made from the left over bits of Polycrub hoop. Polycrub hoops are made from recycled fish farm pens. In other words my vole guards are designed to withstand constant battering from the North sea! If a vole gets through these I will assume they were armed with tiny chainsaws.

This week’s Croft Shares will have salad leaves, Spring greens, spinach, Spring onions, asparagus kale and green garlic. Green garlic is an immature garlic plant, it looks a bit like a Spring onion and can be used in the same way, or chop up and use like mature garlic.

Asparagus kale is not asparagus, it’s a type of kale that has been bred to produce broccoli type spears in the Spring. It can used in the same way as purple sprouting broccoli, it’s also very nice raw. We have endlessly mulled over the idea of growing asparagus proper, so far the plan involves building another greenhouse out of reclaimed windows, so I’m not sure I can see that happening!

Such a treat to have a warm spell of weather! For ages my problem was keeping all the little plants warm enough, now I’m trying to cool things down. For years the greenhouse wasn’t fully glazed, one section had a solid roof. Over the Winter Dom replaced the solid roof with polycarbonate and I’ve discovered that on a sunny day the greenhouse is hotter than the Polycrub. Luckily we have a well established irrigation system in there and I can cool the whole thing down fairly quickly.

I have early mangetout in the greenhouse which has sun damage, but it’s starting to flower so fingers crossed. The broad beans outside have flowers too and I’m pleased to announce the first tomato flower!

Potato planting continues. It’s so much faster in dry weather, two boys and one man planted 310 Jazzy seed potatoes in about 90 minutes. Overheating humans could be a new problem though. We aren’t planting all the spuds at once as there’s no way I can harvest them all in one go. One lesson I’ve learned over the years here is that potatoes don’t sit well in the ground on Skye, I think digging and storing from the middle of September is a better option.

I started some brassica planting (cabbages). I’m doing more of a cabbage selection this year. I’ve limited myself to red cabbages in the past as they seem to repel most pests. One of my targets this year is to have more variety available in October, a good cabbage selection could help in this regard.

It’s the first Armadale Market of the year this Saturday. I do really enjoy my Summer visits to the South of Skye. The South end residents love a duck egg, the market’s always well supported by locals and there’s usually some tourists around as well.

This week’s Croft Shares will have salad leaves, pea shoots, chard, Spring onions, asparagus kale and coriander. I can feel the approach of the hungry gap! I’m hoping that broccoli planted this year will be ready to take over from the asparagus kale soon and I have a lot of really nice looking lettuce. Last year voles, slugs and leather jackets ate almost every lettuce I planted. This year seems (so far) a bit less pest filled.

Thank you Betty for the nice comment on last week’s blog – this is definitely curry (and stir fry) time of year!