Tomato plants before feed

Before we returned to France I went to our local plant and hardware shop to buy liquid fertilizer for my fruit and vegetables. After performing various charades my efforts were rewarded with the usual Portuguese shrug from the shop assistant. I finally made him understand “I need food for my vegetables – liquid “food” which I dilute”.  I carefully listed, in Portuguese, all my fruit and vegetables and he assured me an organic fertiliser called BrioSint was the correct product.

The shop assistant wrote down the dosage, one tampa per 10 litres of water, and I was all set.

I diluted the fertilizer as per his instructions and fed all my fruit and veg.  On my next visit to the same shop a few weeks later I double-checked I’d understood his instructions  with the shop assistant who could speak English. “No, I should not be watering the plants I should be spraying the leaves and I would soon have “muito grande lettuce, spinach. peppers, bom tomates etc”.

Mutter, mutter…mutter

I found a new spray bottle, made up the feed and sprayed the leaves as directed. I then went to France for a couple of weeks secure in the knowledge all my fruit and veg were fed and my friends would take care of the watering.

A month later

When I returned to Portugal the leaves on my tomato plants had turned yellow and were beginning to curl. The tomatoes were also a strange green. Perhaps they’d been over watered I thought? However, on closer inspection I noticed the veins on the tomato plant leaves were almost purple. I returned to the shop clutching the product and sample leaves.

Mutter, mutter…mutter

I struck lucky, the guy who spoke English served me. Yes, it was definitely the correct product and yes I did spray it on the leaves. However, he blamed the demise of my tomatoes on the cold. I accepted this and returned home.

Mutter, mutter…mutter

It was then I spotted a self-seeded tomato plant growing beside my compost heap which had escaped the fertiliser. It was perfectly healthy so the notion of it being too cold, was a red herring in my opinion.

Self-seeded tomato growing by the compost heap

Now on a mission, I returned to the shop with more samples of dying tomato leaves, plus a healthy one to stress my point. Poor guy, you could almost see him groan when he saw me walk into the shop. After an hour queuing in sweltering heat, it was my turn to be served and I related the story, showed him the dying leaves and the a sample leaf from the healthy tomato plant. Exasperated, he shrugged his shoulders.

There’s definately something wrong, but what?

He was at a loss as to the problem. When I expressed my doubts as to spraying the leaves, he again confirmed this was correct. He asked if I’d sprayed them in sunlight? Maybe, I don’t know. He never mentioned this before!

The guy in the queue behind me came to my rescue, thought I’d probably over fertilized and advised me to water the plant in future rather than spray the leaves. It’s strange though, because the other plants I’d sprayed such as the peppers and strawberries were fine.

Mutter, mutter …mutter

I returned home to watch and wait. Hopefully with no additional feed the problem would resolve itself. However, it was not to be.

The veins are tinged with purple and blue

The edges of the leaves started to turn blue so I decided to destroy all the tomato plants and start again.

Groan, curse…mutter, mutter…mutter!

I related my tale of woe to a friend who felt so sorry for me, he donated several of his tomato plants and seedlings. Bless him!

Did I kill my tomato plants? Any suggestions as to the cause gratefully received!

Related Posts:
Growing fruit and vegetables in pots – April 2012

Piglet’s blogiversary cake

Two years ago today my daughter Piglet in France introduced me to the WordPress blog platform,  and Piglet in Portugal was born.

She patiently (she is not renowned for her patience when demonstrating techie stuff on the PC to Mother) showed me how to make posts, include links and upload photographs, create pages and a blogroll etc.

I missed my first “Blogiversary” due to the excitement of the arrival of our first grandchild in France. So I will celebrate my 2nd instead!

My very first post was Yummy Carrot Cake… mmm. With a name like Piglet you can imagine a recipe was the first idea that came into my mind as my fingers hovered nervously above the keyboard!

Over the next few months I made various posts and visitors came and went, but I was deafened by their silence in the comments section. Was I talking to myself? Didn’t anyone have an opinion, good or bad? So like many new bloggers I found blogging a lonely existence, in fact, so lonely I was even tempted to approve the SPAM comments out of desperation!

Stupidly it never crossed my mind to venture beyond the bounderies of my blog, to seek other bloggers across the globe, until WordPress launched the “postaday” and “postaweek” challenge. I tiptoed tentatively outside my comfort zone and answered their appeal for blogging buddies and, much to my relief and sanity, soon discovered many like-minded bloggers.

Interests varied from crafts, cookery and gardening, to humour, writing and the “meaning of life” to name a few. We supported each other through the “ups” and “downs” with emials, comments and likes, and over time we became virtual friends.

I was going to give a shout out to all my blogging buddies in this post, but if I missed anyone in a senile moment I would feel awful, so please check out some of the great blogs on my blog roll!

As well as being my 2nd Blogiversary this is also my 200th post!

I’ve also created two other blogs over the last year
Portugal in Pictures – A daily snapshot of Portugal. I love taking photographs so the blog is an experiemnt. Not sure about the black background – what do you think?

Portugal in Pictures

Plus, a healthier eating blog – The Piglets Healthy Eating Blog where PIF and I can share recipes.

The Piglets Healthy Eating Blog

We are were trying to follow an anti-inflammatory diet. This involved cutting out gluten and dairy from our diet. Although I found this extremely dificult when I stuck rigididly to the new eating plan, I did feel about 20years younger, lost weight, my IBS disappeared and so did my cronic heartburn. Plus I could even see my toes when I looked down at my feet! The diet, unfortunately has fallen by the wayside recently and I’m suffering the consequences. Serves me right – no sympathy please! I’m now back on the wagon so if you have any dairy-free and/or gluten-free recipes please, PLEASE share!

Finally, a big THANK YOU for everyones support over the last two years it’s really appreciated. I’ve met (virtually of course) some wonderful people whose posts have made me laugh and cry plus I have gained so much from their collective knowledge.

PS sorry about the dodgy cake picture above – I painted it out of desperation because  google did not understand my plea for free cake images .  Anyone know of any good “free” cartoon style image sites?

Thanks once again!

Little Piglet meets her UK cousin for the first time

Living so far from my family I really treasure the time we are together. Last month it was our granddaughter’s (Little Piglet) first Birthday, and all the Piglet clan gathered in France to celebrate the occasion. Not only were our children altogether, but it was the first time our grandson, who is seven months and lives in the UK, met his French cousin “Little Piglet”, plus his aunty and uncle PIF.

As you can imagine my camera was in constant use as I tried to capture the special moments and preserve the wonderful memories. But can we really capture the emotions we feel and preserve them with the click of a button?

Catching the grandchildrens attention is not easy

Oh, and I do take my hat off to professional photographers who specialise in family snaps. My goodness, it’s a real art trying to persuade two babies, to look at you (camera) at the same time, especially when one is intent on crawling off!

Deep in conversation

Any tips on taking baby photos greatly appreciated!

Recipe

Brigadeiros are traditionally made from condensed milk, sweetened cocoa powder and butter. Cooked to a fudge consistency,  rolled into little balls and coated in chocolate granules (sprinklers).

Ingredients
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1oz of butter
3 large tablespoons of cocoa powder
Chocolate 100s and 1000s (chocolate granules) for decoration

Method
Place cocoa powder, condensed milk and butter in heavy saucepan. Heat the mixture slowly on low heat stirring constantly until resembles a fudge like consistency, but not too stiff. If you cook the mixture too long the it becomes too hard and is chewy. Remove from saucepan, put into a dish and allow to cool completely. Pour chocolate 100s and 1000s onto a plate.
Grease your hands with butter or margarine before rolling the chocolate mixture in to little balls as this prevents it sticking to your hands as you form into balls.

Brigadeiros are an extremely popular treat at children’s birthday parties in Brazil. However, they are also a perfect treat for Piglet with a nice cup of coffee. Hmmmm… delicious and so moreish!

A Brigadeiro is the perfect treat to serve with a cup of coffee

I’m also going to try this recipe by http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/brigadeiros.htm which includes salt and vanilla.

Extra info
Fernanda’s Mum adds an extra dimension to Brigadeiros by inserting a cherry inside (a cherry in syrup). “If you buy candied cherries (with all that sugar involving them) put them on water for a while to remove the excess sugar and the inside the brigadeiro”.

I am definitely going to try this!

I like the name “chocolate cannonballs” but perhaps not PC for children.

History

According to Wikipedia Brigadeiros are a popular Brazilian sweet created in the 1940s. They were named after Eduardo Gomes a Brazilian Brigadier and revolutionary who later ran unsuccessfully for the presidency.  So why call a sweet after this guy? Intrigued I researched further and found a plausible explanation here

In the 1940s while Brazil was at war there was a shortage of imported sweets. Cocoa powder had just been introduced to Brazil by Nestlé, and this, teamed with condensed milk, made a delicious chocolate fudge truffle sweet. This sweet proved extremely popular and a favorite with Eduardo Gomes.

1945 was the first year women could vote in the Presidential elections and Eduardo Gomes was one of the candidates. The women who supported him sold the chocolate fudge truffle sweet to raise money for the campaign.

His campaign slogan “Vote no brigadeiro, que é bonito e é solteiro” (Vote for the brigadier, who’s good-looking and single). Although he was not elected president, Brazil now had a name for this popular sweet “Brigadeiros”.

Fernanda (See comments below) completes the puzzle and tells us the ““cake” already existed before as “negrinho” and it seems that in some areas of Brasil it’s still called this way.”

Red and orange peppers

This year I planted some orange and red peppers seedlings which I bought from São Teotónio Market in March. At 25cents each they were quite expensive, but still easier and cheaper than buying the packets of seeds and germinating myself. Next year I will see if I can save seeds from these plants and grow some from seed. Orange peppers are always very expensive in Portugal (€5.64 per kg) so I felt if I could persuade them to grow and yield at least two peppers per plant, they should actually save me money!

My first cucumber!

This variety of cucumber has a very prickly skin which you need to remove before eating. I only bought the seedlings in February so they have progressed really quickly! It’s great to pop out to my garden and pick my own lettuce, radish and now cucumber.

Tomato plant

I bought several tomato plants in February which are now all doing well and are in flower.

Strawberry plants grow well in pots

My strawberry plants continue to flower and produce a regular crop.

Strawberries grown in containers

The blackbirds have discovered my delicious strawberries so I’ve now covered the plants with mosquito nets which I bought very cheaply at a local flea market. However, I need to think of an alternative option because once the nets are wet they cling to the plants and the birds just peck through them.

Strawberries can be grown in a variety of containers

Rhubarb

The Rhubarb continues to grow however, I do need to plant directly in the garden but finding the right location is not going to be easy. I may find some old bricks and build a raised bed just for my rhubarb!

Noname – all I know it’s a cross between a blackberry and a rasberry

I bought this fruit plant at a charity flea market for just €2.00 All I know is that its fruit is a cross between a rasberry and a blackberry and it needs to be kept moist. I am going to transplant into a larger pot next year. Any ideas?

Lemon tree grown in a large pot

Lemon tree – continues to produce an abundance of fruit and massess of blossom. However, I do keep it well watered and feed regulary.

Physallis – The seeds I planted last year have grown well over the winter and I have now transplanted into larger pots. The orginal plant produced fruit all through the winter, but I’ve now pruned the plant to encourage new growth.

Chili and piri piri – last years plants are now straggly and I’ve used discarded seeds for new plants.

Melons – seedlings are developing slowly, but at least they are still alive!

To do
Buy Auberine and more lettuce seedlings and rasberry and blueberry bushes. Plant radish seeds, cherry tomatoes.

I now use organic feed to spray the leaves of all the above. This is an experiment as I’ve previously only used liquid feed. We will see.

To Do

Related posts:
How did I kill my tomato plants?
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in April
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in March
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in February
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in January
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in December

Related Posts:
Proud Grandparents
An Emotional Rollercoaster

Despite earlier problems with white cabbage mold Piglet’s plot continues to yield a modest crop of lettuce, carrots, leeks, cabbage, spinach and radish. The brocoli and cauliflower have now finished, and it was rather a challenge to eat them all before they ran to seed! I like them but not THAT much! I would grow them again, but stagger the planting because unlike cabbage and lettuce, once they are ready to be harvested they need to be picked, and they do not freeze well.

Red cabbage, leeks and lettuce

Carrot, green cabbage and spinach

I only use the outer leaves of the green cabbage and this appears to have extended the harvest season.

I use the outer leaves first

My “red” thumb seems to have come into it’s own and my red cabbage are now ready for harvesting. I am looking forward to making red hot chilli slaw (I will post the recipe) and Courve Roxa Com Cominhos – Red Cabbage with Cumin

The red cabbages are now ready to pick

Organic Feed
Last month I bought some Sintex Foliar which is an organic product. Now this is a typical example of “Lost in Translation” because it’s a liquid feed I watered the plants and trees so the roots absorbed the nutrients. However, when I spoke to the Portuguese guy in the shop who could speak English, a few weeks later, I discovered that I should be spraying the leaves. You live and learn!

I also discovered I then needed another products BrioSint which you spray on the leaves once the plant/tree is in flower. But do not use on olives trees. Do you feed olive trees?

Trees
Olive trees: all have tiny buds so fingers crossed we will have some olives this year and I can make tapenade and also preserve some olives in vinegar or should that be salted water, or even oil?

Anyone know the best way to store olives?

Growing fruit and vegetables in containers
I’m have great success with this project, so I will make a separate post.

To do
Go to the market and buy some broad bean and french bean seedlings.

Related posts:
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in March
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in February
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in January
Portugal: Growing Fruit and Vegetables in December

Healthy flowers but deformed zucchini

A picture saves a 1000 words! All these misshapen zucchini were picked from the plant pictured above.

My zucchini would certainly not win any prizes!

I’ve tried growing zucchini directly in the ground and in pots and neither method was successful.

Related posts:
Zucchini – I give up!
Vegetable Diary June 2011: Veggie Disasters – S.O.S
‘Poorly’ Zucchini (Courgettes) July 2010

What have you failed to achieve despite your best efforts? Have you plodded on regardless or did you quit while you were ahead? Please share your experiences, gardening or otherwise in comments below.

Can anyone name this flower? Yes, Fernanda has now identified the flower as “Lírio-das-areias”

A delicate wild flower growing in the sand

Weekly Photo Challenge: Two Subjects

How can something so beautiful and delicate grow in such barren land? What life-lesson could we learn from this simple flower? Is less more?

Please share your thoughts…

The elderly would have more rights in prison!

A friend sent me a “joke” Grumpies of the World Unite, but far from making me laugh it made me extremely angry because the words hit home and made me pause to reflect. The more I read about care or lack of care and respect for the elderly, the less enthusiastic I am for my Mum to leave the comfort of her own home  to be cared for in a nursing home or “granny Farm” as they are sometimes referred to.  My friend was a nurse in one of these “establishments” and the stories she recounted concerning the standard of care and compassion, shown by some of the staff, were extremely upsetting. The elderly, poor souls, have paid taxes all their lives and what are they reduced to in their winter years as they are robbed of their savings, dignity and independence? Is this what we have to look forward to in God’s Waiting room?

Grumpies of the World Unite

Let’s put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They’d receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they’d receive money instead of paying it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counselling, pool and education.

Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ’s and legal aid would be free, on request.

Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens.

Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.
There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised. Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week. Live in a tiny room and pay £600.00 per week for the privilege and have no hope of ever getting out.

Think about the above words…

What are the rights of the elderly and what is going to happen to our ageing population?  I hear a lot of noise about the “Human Rights” of criminals and those who are awaiting trial, but what of the Human Rights of the elderly? Who is looking out for their rights?

This post is dedicated to my Mum.

The photo was attached to another joke email. Picture credit: Penny Parker