With the house build we’ve had little time for the croft tree plans or vegetable bed preparation beyond the most basic of plans for zoning and starting to think about grant applications for the trees and deer fencing.
Having said all of that, whilst our days are taken up with working in the house I’ve started on the croft in the smallest of ways. It just felt necessary to do something.
We’re planning for a berry bed, and also edible hedges.
To this end I’ve just received the first dozen or so cuttings of japanese red gooseberry, jostaberry and green currants, and have stuck them in a barrel of soil positioned next to the caravan to root up ready to be planted out into beds late next year.
If the deer don’t eat them (and you’d think that the thorns on the gooseberries would be enough of a deterrent, or am I deluding myself?) this should give them a bit of an early start.
These will be followed with raspberry, honeyberry, cloudberry, black currants, blueberry and strawberries early next year. And maybe the start of herb pots in the spring for the herb beds. Once we have some windbreaks in place.
We have also picked up some willow whips from a neighbours’ prunings, and as an experiment we’re going to plant them in the exposed boggy bottom of the croft over the next few days.
We’re treating these as sacrificial trees, as a test. We’ve had conflicting local reports about the need for and the effectiveness of deer fencing. It will be interesting to see whether these young trees get decimated and whether we have to wait for a further year to fully deer fence the croft before we can attempt sensibly to plant any young trees further at all.
A slow and spiky start. But it’s a start.
Ravencroft Skye 
What a good start. Could you cover your berry cuttings with a wire cage? We need to have everything covered here to keep the possums and wallabies at bay. As possums can climb and have nimble little fingers, that means growing most things in a cage with locked doors. Deer would be more like my sheep I think (with absolutely no experience in deer at all) and more inclined to push through or jump over obstacles, so a cage would need to be quite strong. Good luck with your willow whips, maybe they won’t notice them.
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Thank you. And yes, I think netting or a cage structure would be necessary once they start to green up in the spring. I’ll be looking at options soon.!
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I love the optimism! Discovering what will grow depends on your site, soil and neighbours (deer, sheep, mice, voles) and it is really a case of trial and error! The good news is that determination and hard work will eventually produce results, although perhaps not your dream garden. I’ll not offer advice unless asked, but a gift of encouragement and support to cheer you on.
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The gift of encouragement and support is very much appreciated, so thank you ❤️
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