A Creative Spirit
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 →
My monthly garden diary continues with my ongoing attempts to grow fruit and vegetables in pots and various containers. After various gardening disasters in May I learned some valuable lessons such as a basic understanding of soil nutrients, watering (under and over) and the size of the pots I should be using to name a... Continue Reading →
Shame on me. I completely forgot to write my monthly vegetable diary for May and I only took one photograph of the raised vegetable area. In my defence, I was away for several weeks so my garden was left very much to its own devices. Unfortunately this created problems with bugs and of course my... Continue Reading →
My diary continues... 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!... Continue Reading →
Piglet is going green! No, that's not green with envy of EC's wonderful zucchini and squash. But I do feel I can at least make a small contribution to help reduce global warming by cutting down on my personal carbon emissions. How? By not growing zucchini (courgettes) What...has Piglet gone mad? (probably...) How will not growing... Continue Reading →
The monthly diary of growing my own fruit and veg continues... - What grows well (God grant me the serenity to accept dispite my best efforts SOME vegetables will not grow well in my garden) - What to plant and when. (Next year I must leave space for broad and green beans and NOT fill... Continue Reading →
I am not sure if this is an unusual Rhubarb Forcer or an unusual use for a plant pot destined for the garbage after Mr Piglet burnt a hole in the bottom with red-hot ashes! Researching on the Gardeners' World website I've just realised I should have plugged any holes to exclude light. Now there's... Continue Reading →
I want to scream, stamp my foot in anger, have a mardy and then curl up into the fetal position and have a good cry. I'm normally a positive person and if I don't succeed I keep trying until I do. For example you may recall when I discovered roots from nearby trees and hedges... Continue Reading →
My monthly diary continues. Over the next year I'm keeping a monthly diary of the fruit and vegetables I grow in my urban garden here in the Algarve. Gardening is one of my passions, and although my efforts are not always successful my tenacity makes up for what I lack in knowledge. Despite a couple... Continue Reading →
Piglet in Portugal 