Where has this week gone? It seems impossible it’s Saturday again! I have been so engrossed in helping my Gnome build our new composter (more on this project in a separate post) that I nearly forgot to post my weekly gardening update.
This week we were blessed with heavy rain on Tuesday night which gave the garden a good soaking and a welcome relief from the time-consuming task of watering. After another week dodging the intense heat from the sun while trying to work in the garden a few cloudy days would be nice. I know it may seem a strange wish but planting out some seedlings in the intense sun is quite a challenge. where there is a will there is a way, so I resorted to sheltering the newly planted seedlings under plastic crates. These crates really are a gardener’s friend!
1. PIGLET’S PLOT IN PROGRESS
We now have space in the raised vegetable area to plant the leeks I have been nurturing from seed (wilkos elephant) I planted in a seed tray on the 19th April. I transplanted them recently into larger pots waiting for the pea crop to meet its maker. Unfortunately, the peas succumbed to the dreaded white powdery mildew which spread through the whole crop in a few days. After Gnome removed all the peas I removed the debris of dead and decaying leaves, cleaned the earth, fed with some manure compost, and Epsom salts then left for a couple of weeks to rest ready for the next tenant.
The green beans continue to provide a daily crop and if I’m honest I am beaned out. The freezer is almost full and I need to consult Google for some new recipes. Any ideas?
The courgettes are still problematic with end rot. I persist.
Carrots are doing well so I have decided to grow some more in the space vacated by the peas.
The cucumber is still reasonably happy as are the aubergines planted back in March.
2. CURLY CUCUMBER
We had curly carrots and now we have a curly cucumber. I now have several cucumber plants in different stages of growth and next month I will plant some more seeds.
3. MORE COURGETTE CHALLENGES!
IT withing courgettes is not enough to contend with the pigging leaves have started going brown. I’ve since removed these leaves but I hope it’s not fungal. Any idea how I can prevent this?
4. WILKO ELEPHANT LEEK SEEDLINGS
The leek seeds I planted on the 19th April can now be planted to the main raised vegetable area. I can’t believe they have taken so long to grow this big!
5. RED PEPPER SEEDLING – CALIFORNIA WONDER
The red pepper seedlings planted on the 18th April are ready to move to large individual pots and their final home.
6. ONION SEEDLINGS
I have now potted on the onions I planted on the 20th March. I already know onions adapt reasonably well to growing in large containers so I have planted in the blue box and black crate previously home to lettuce and watercress.
That’s it for this week. Why not check out other gardening bloggers for their six on saturday.
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Piglet in Portugal 
I am impressed that you can grow courgettes (what I know as squash) in containers at all. They are of course susceptible to mildew, but are even more susceptible if slowed down by something else, such as nutrient deficiency. I could not grow them in containers because they can not disperse their roots enough to compensate for the naturally slightly alkaline water (in the former neighborhood). Mildew is not often a problem here. A slight nutrient deficiency should not be much of a problem either. However a combination of the two was rather bad. Anyway, yours do not seem to exhibit symptoms of nutrient deficiency, so all that I just said does not help much. If you suspect that pH may affect the availability of nutrients, you may want to compensate. The plants may do better as they grow big enough to shade their pot. Plastic pots can get unpleasantly warm where exposed to sunlight.
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To be honest I’ve never tried to grow courgettes in pots before so this is an experiment. Interestingly they are displaying the same problem of rotting courgettes as the ones growing in the bed. I will check the ph level.
You mention the black pots but this is what all the garden centres grow their plants in.
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?! If the fruit is rotting, it may be staying damp overnight. If you water them late in the day, you should instead water them early in the morning so that they are not damp overnight.
Black cans (or pots) absorb even more sunlight than lighter colored sorts, but are not a problem in the nurseries because they are arranged so closely together that they shade each other. For some plants, I have leaned boards against the southern edge of closely packed cans until the foliage grows out. (Most of what I grew was not too sensitive to the extra warmth.) As plants grow in the nursery, and need more space, they are big enough to shade the cans below them. They need not shade their cans completely, but enough to disrupt constant exposure.
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Since relocating to Portugal, we have had a devil of a time germinating seedlings. I am both encouraged and frustrated by your pictures! I brought a packet of jalapeno seeds from the US and hoped to get a few plants in the ground this summer, but nothing! Not one.
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That’s a shame. I am surprised as you have green fingers. Are you shading the seeds from the sun? I only buy seeds in Portugal now. Try buying the Jalapeno seeds here and try again. 🙂 Maybe it was just a faulty batch of seeds. I mention this because I planted 28 green bean seeds a month ago for my next crop of beans, and not one has germinated.
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Guessing you have made a chutney from the green beans?
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No, never made bean chutney. Is it nice? Can you recommend a recipe, please?
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This was the one I’ve made in the past . . . green beans work as well as runner.
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/spicy-recipes/spiced-pickled-runner-beans
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Looks nice and simple. 🙂 thanks, Becky. I will try it.
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Good luck and hope you enjoy 🙂
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Your veg going well. I’ve been trying to protect my lettuce from slugs as was getting nibbled even though I couldn’t find any on at night. But I think it might actually be the neighbours cat nibbling on it. Found it sat there yesterday looking guilty.
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Can you protect your lettuce with netting or crates? Cats are a nuisance.
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I can. I’ve got netting just been lazy.
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You do have a very productive vegetable garden. Everything is looking great. Pity about the powdery mildew. I am interested to hear what the benefit of the epsom salt is. Lovely interesting post.
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Hi Hairbells check out
https://pigletinportugal.com/2017/11/21/using-sulfato-de-magnesio-epsom-salts-in-the-garden/
re epsom salts
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Thank you! I will try using Epson Salt in the garden!
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Things look great! My peas are starting to feel the heat (until this weekend when it’s cold again), so I’ve removed some. My first planting of beans peeked up and were eaten, so I have more started in containers, the first time I’ve done that. I doubt my peppers will do anything, I put them out when it was hot, and it keeps alternating with cold. I see you have lovely strawberries! That’s my goal for next year! I have the bed built, but money for the soil went elsewhere this spring.
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Hi Lisa, you say your peas started to feel the heat – don’t they like the hot weather? It seems mine were doing well until then. My beans are going crazy so many beans we have a freezer full of them. actually i have just planted on my pepper seedlings and the pots are in full sun. I better move them to semi shade until they establish.
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