A Creative Spirit in Portugal
My Six on Saturday this week is another mixed bag of the joys of growing vegetables. We still have not had rain (apart from mizzle and sea mist) and I confess this is a cause for concern as I read unless we have rain soon there will not be enough water to see the Algarve... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
My courgettes were growing exceptionally well and then disaster struck. I noticed the ends of the baby courgettes started to wither and die off. The rest of the plant is perfectly healthy so the only thing I can think of is that the wet weather meant the bees were not pollinating the flowers.... Continue Reading →
My garden Gnome worked his magic in the garden this week while I've been busy plotting, planning and repotting. I seek sanctuary and some degree of sanity from my garden endeavours as the craziness of Brexit comes to pass and Britain embraces the next phase of its history. 1. Raised Vegetable Bed My garden gnome... Continue Reading →
While I have taken a rest from writing about my garden and gardening in general due to visitors, my plants have laboured on left to the mercy under the watchful eye of the OH. The abundance of sea mist offered no compensation for the much-needed rain to deep water the shrubs and plants. Even the cacti... Continue Reading →
This time last week I was preparing my Six on Saturday when we lost our telephone line. We had a wildfire start quite close to us but thank God the wind sent the smoke, fire and ash in the other direction and across into the next valley. Thanks to the swift response of the Bombeiros... Continue Reading →
Unlike the UK we've not had any rain other than the odd shower to quench the thirst of the scorched countryside. Unfortunately, this means we are on high alert for fires. Consequently, we try to conserve and reuse every drop of water when feasible. So far my plants in pots are holding up well as... Continue Reading →
My garden is plagued by pests and diseases. The latest victim is my beautiful Agave which is over twelve years old so I am hopping from foot-to-foot wondering what to do. When we are sick we go to the doctor, when animals are sick we take them to the vet... but where to go for... Continue Reading →
... okay, a thousand seedlings may be a slight exaggeration but as I survey all the seeds that have germinated so far: petunias, basil, nasturtium and curly parsley to name a few, I don't have enough pots to prick out. Another week and another Six on Saturday (SoS). It is difficult to select my six... Continue Reading →
Where do the weeks go? We desperately need rain but despite the forecast showing a shower or two, we have only been gifted 1cm since last Sunday. If it does not rain soon, we have already been warned there will be a shortage of water in the Western Algarve. Sitting in the garden eating breakfast... Continue Reading →
We've had glorious weather again this week and the night time temperature has not fallen below 10C in our micro-climate. Unfortunately, we've had no rain so once again we rely on our temperamental irrigation system. 1. Upcycling Plastic in the Garden As I've been struggling to find plastic plant markers in the shops, I decided... Continue Reading →
Last Monday the overnight temperature dropped to 3.5C and we had our first light frost on the roof of the car. However, while we were away at the hospital in Coimbra neighbours reported on Facebook that temperatures plummeted to -4C. This is the lowest (in our area) in over a decade so hopefully my plants... Continue Reading →
My #sixonsaturday this week is to suggest six effective ways to upcycle plastic in your garden rather than disposing in the recycling bin, or trash. Come on fellow gardeners, get creative with plastic! 1. Recycling Water Water is a precious resource. When practical I recycle grey water from the house (washing machine, bath, showers etc)... Continue Reading →
A new week, another Six on Saturday and a great opportunity to connect with fellow gardeners. The temperatures have dropped significantly over the last week with a low of 6c at night. Daytime temperatures range from 13C to 19C but at least the rain has stopped for now which means my cacti and succulents have... Continue Reading →
In my quest to use as many natural products in the garden as possible I consulted Google and found this informative article by Backyard Boss who kindly gave me permission to repost some of the article here. WHAT ARE EPSOM SALTS? To begin, I should probably explain what Epsom salts are. Epsom salts are... Continue Reading →
You name it, my fruit and vegetables probably have caught/will catch it. I was a sickly child and my fruit and veg seem to be following in the family tradition. With this in mind I literally love my plants to death, or so I've been told. In December I added rotted horse manure to the plot,... Continue Reading →
There is a popular phrase: Third time lucky. And as this is my third attempt to grow vegetables in my ill-fated raised vegetable bed due, to problems with hedge roots, let's hope it's true and I am lucky! Just to backtrack to my previous post, Gardening IS a Labour of Love!, there were various options.... Continue Reading →
One of my many 'container' gardening successes is growing cucumbers in pots. Rather than plant seeds and wait weeks for them to germinate I buy the seedling plugs from local markets. The only downside is that there are no "fancy" varieties to choose from, or perhaps I should view that as an upside because the... Continue Reading →
When it's a choo choo... noooo that's not a Portuguese sneeze! Feeling rather adventurous during a recent shopping foray to the local farmers' market, I stepped outside my cautious 'foodie' comfort zone and decided to experiment with some, shall we say... some of the more weird and wonderful vegetable offerings they had on sale. As... Continue Reading →
It's now September and here's me wittering on about my garden activities in July. I'm so far behind with this year's "Vegetable Diary" I was almost tempted to abandon the idea. However, as I have all the notes and photographic evidence I thought it would still prove useful to other Algarve gardeners and a reminder... Continue Reading →
This year I’m keeping a photographic diary of my humble vegetable garden; what’s growing when, where and how well. Yes, I know it's August and I'm writing about July June, but with recent trips to the UK and France I am way, WAY behind on my blogging activities. I took all the photographs, so at... Continue Reading →
This year I’m keeping a photographic diary of my humble vegetable garden; what’s growing when, where and how well. Despite being away for nearly two weeks I'm pleased to say my friends did a sterling job looking after all my fruit and vegetables. Everything was just as I'd left it(alive), but almost twice the size!... Continue Reading →
This year I'm keeping a photographic diary of my humble vegetable garden. In theory, if I take photographs on the 19th of each month they will offer a direct comparison as to what’s growing when, where and how well. The purpose of the exercise is to provide a record for next year so I can... Continue Reading →
This year I plan to photograph and record what's growing in my humble vegetable garden on the 19th of each month. This will give me a better idea of what’s growing when, and how well. Hopefully, it will act as a record for next year and I can learn from my successes and failures. The... Continue Reading →
This year I plan to photograph the plants in my humble vegetable garden on the 19th of each month. This will give me a better idea of what's growing when, and how well. Hopefully, it will act as a record for next year and I can learn from my successes and failures. The broad beans... Continue Reading →
Better late than never! I don't know whether the excitement of our imminent trip to the UK for several weeks was sapping my enthusiasm, or just the December blues due to the long dark evenings, but I really had to dig deep (pardon the pun) to motivate myself to work in the garden. I'm not... Continue Reading →
My passion for gardening has taken a back seat during November due to my trip to France, illness and of course the National Novel Writing 30 day challenge. However, much to my surprise everything, bar the cucumbers growing in pots, survived despite being unloved and neglected. Temperatures in the day hovered around 18C and 12C... Continue Reading →
Here we are hurtling towards the end of October enjoying the sun when autumn arrived quite suddenly. One minute we are swimming in the sea and enjoying temperatures of 25C while the cloudless blue sky suggested not a hint of rain and then it turned cold and wet... I should have known better, our wedding... Continue Reading →
August passed with a blink of an eye and before I realised, it was September. Unfortunately, I failed in my personal challenge to record my "August" gardening "ups and downs" along with photographic evidence. Fortunately I made some notes, which I've recorded below, but photographs are like hen's teeth (non-existent) A bug called citrus leaf... Continue Reading →
You certainly reap what you sow! I've devoted hours tending my vegetable garden this month and I'm now reaping the benefits with an abundant crop of tomatoes, lettuce, radish, carrots, peppers, red cabbage and French green beans. The crops are fed at regular intervals with the MiracleGro kindly donated by a friend. However, I can't... Continue Reading →
