A Creative Spirit
This post is inspired by the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge. The theme is Hope I considered naming the tin which contains all my packets of seeds, "My Tin of DOOM". Why? Because many most of the seeds fail to germinate. I'm not sure if this is due to the quality of seed or if I'm... Continue Reading →
My personal diary. Over the next year I will be keeping a monthly diary of all 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. I'm... Continue Reading →
Over the next year I will be keeping a monthly diary of all the fruit and vegetables I grow in my garden. This idea was prompted by fellow blogger Hurtled to 60 and now beyond I've made various garden posts over the last year, but as there is very little information regarding what to grow... Continue Reading →
...by roots! We returned to Portugal in Mid October and the weather was hot and dry; a balmy Indian Summer. My raised vegetable bed which had been left to run wild in my absence was full of weeds and in dire need of some tender loving care. I'd never grown winter vegetables before so I... Continue Reading →
If you have followed the ongoing saga regarding my failed attempts to grow zucchini, the photograph below will be familiar. Fellow bloggers kindly offered suggestions as to the possible cause along with some remedies. Vegetable Diary June: Veggie Disasters – S.O.S To cut a long story short, I finally decided despite my valiant efforts, it... Continue Reading →
Since moving to Portugal we now use far more garlic in our food than in the UK. Reportedly, garlic acts as a great mosquito repellant because they dislike the taste of your skin/blood when garlic is absorbed into the body. I am not sure how true this is, but I no longer have as many... Continue Reading →
My "Monthly Diary" and the saga of my attempts to grow my own fruit and veg continues... My success rate to date leads me to believe that even if I had a large enough plot I certainly would not be self-sufficient by any stretch of the imagination! Zucchini (Courgettes) My zucchini are still desperately clinging to... Continue Reading →
Here we are in June and I feel rather despondent. Even my inbuilt tenacity is beginning to wane. Why?, my pigging vegetables just won't grow! My motto has always been "If at first you don't succeed try and try again". Yes, I'm trying I've read several interesting posts on growing vegetables recently by fellow bloggers... Continue Reading →
The diary of my challenge to grow my own fruit and vegetables in Portugal continues. Seasons, soil conditions and climate are totally different from the UK, so gardening here is one big experiment. I am not a knowledgeable gardener, nor do I have a "green thumb", but my enthusiasm makes up for what I lack in these... Continue Reading →
My favourite hobby is gardening and I love "trying" to grow my own vegetables both in pots and in the ground. This year I have a new raised vegetable garden which I hope will yield great results. This is a record of my successes and failures usually just kept as notes on scraps of paper.... Continue Reading →
God loves a "tryer" and as Mr Piglet says I’m very trying! Every year I attempt to grow my own vegetables with varying degrees of success. I do not have a Horta (Allotment) but a patch of poor sandy earth in a small, windswept urban garden in the Algarve. High humidity and salt air, due... Continue Reading →
As summer draws to a close and my experiment to see which fruit, vegetables and herbs would grow successfully in pots comes to an end - I look back on the highs and lows. I’m not keen on the word failures but secretly I have to admit to myself there were several. For example, one... Continue Reading →
The internet is certainly a great place to interact and share hobbies and interests with people from all over the world. I recently started corresponding with a lovely lady in Northern Portugal and soon discovered she shared my passion for growing her own vegetables and even saved her own seeds. She kindly sent me a... Continue Reading →
At the beginning of June I decided I would attempt to grow my own salad in containers. My goal - to grow lettuce, tomatoes, radish, courgettes, cucumber, spring onions, French beans and beetroot! An experiment prompted by the fact my little veggie patch now had to share soil space with some maturing trees and a... Continue Reading →
My courgette celebrations are short-lived. The zucchini (courgettes) have matured but the problem of rotting and yellowing ends return. I despair! What next? My tale of woe is shared with my favourite gardening expert, Gene, who I just happen to meet in a supermarket 90kms from where we both live. What a stroke of luck!. Gene listens carefully, asks questions thinks carefully and then ... Continue Reading →
You may recall from my previous post that my baby courgettes just turned yellow, withered then died. I asked various people for advice and the common consensus was the courgettes either did not have enough nutrients from the soil, or the flowers were not being pollinated. I duly fed the plants with a tomato feed... Continue Reading →
I watched a gardening program on TV a couple of months ago suggesting you should grow your own salad. Not only was it more cost effective but it was always readily available. I have tried in the past to grow vegetables, but with varying degrees of success. However, I am the eternal optimist so I... Continue Reading →
Piglet in Portugal 