A Creative Spirit in Portugal
Fellow gardeners I need your help, please. The leaves on my hibiscus are not only turning yellow but have brown patches and the veins in the leaves are exposed. I've checked the moisture level and it's fine so I doubt it's overwatering. I must also mention that another hibiscus is also showing similar signs of... 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 →
Just over a year ago some new friends inspired me to start collecting cacti and succulents. I'd always admired the different species but only as a passing interest. However, once they showed me their incredible collection, I was hooked. Have you ever studied these plants? Structure, leaves and flowers? They are beautiful! Okay, I concede... Continue Reading →
... That's the million dollar question. I've never had any inclination to grow roses until an unusual striped variety growing in a friend's garden, caught my attention. It was love at first sight and I wanted one! A woman on a mission I went in search of this mystery rose. Armed with a picture of... Continue Reading →
Upcycling vs. Recycling For some reason I'd always assumed (ass-U-me) that anything we 'reused', rather than throw in the garbage, was recycling; apparently not. Upcycling is reusing an item, such as the plastic crate pictured below, and creatively using it for something else. While recycling is taking items made of plastic, metal, paper etc. to... Continue Reading →
My passion for gardening has now extended to include collecting succulents and cacti so every time I visit a garden centre my first port of call is the succulent and cacti bays. So far choice has been limited as most garden centres and shops sell nigh on the same plants. If anyone knows any specialist... Continue Reading →
After making some Kumquat marmalade which was absolutely delicious, I decided to grow my own Kumquat tree. Kumquats are expensive here in Portugal so planting my own tree seemed the logical step says she, who kills most things including fig trees which are meant to be indestructible. Fingers firmly crossed I planted a healthy tree... Continue Reading →
Is there a cure? About a year ago I noticed my Aloe Arborescens were covered in dappled black marks. After a few months the leaves turned black, shriveled and died. There is an old adage: Don't put off till tomorrow what you should do today. Unfortunately, I never acted immediately and when I did seek... 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 →
Growing fruit and vegetables was my labour of love and a hobby which gave me a great sense of fulfillment. Although my efforts in the vegetable garden were never destined to make us self-sufficient, the pleasure of eating something I'd grown from seed or plug was rewarding. Like a sentry I stood guard against the... Continue Reading →
A couple of years ago I bought a peach tree. I planted the baby tree in a large pot, talked to it daily and it thrived. This year it flowered and the flowers, to my delight, turned to peaches. After months of waiting for the peaches to grow and then ripen, I decided today was... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, I was pegging out the washing when I heard a persistent clicking noise coming from the general direction of my vegetable area. "Tick...tick tick... tick... tick tick... tick.." (You get my drift) The ticking, sounded almost like Morse code. Intrigued and thinking it could be a bird in distress, I went to investigate. The... 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 →
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 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 →
On the 15th of each month bloggers from all over the world take part in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day organised by May Dream Gardens. What is blooming in your garden? In the UK gardening in January like the weather, was depressing.. However, here in the Algarve I'm amazed there are so many plants, shrubs and... Continue Reading →
On the 15th of each month I participate in a gardening blog hop called Garden Bloggers Bloom Day where garden bloggers all over the world share what is currently blooming in their garden. So what's blooming in Piglet's plot? The temperatures here in the Western Algarve have not dipped below 3C at night and have... 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 →
I usually always wear gloves when I'm gardening because of all the little beasties lurking in the soil or on the leaves of my plants. Guess what? On this occasion I got sloppy and I put my naked hands into my strawberry bed to do some weeding. I saw something lurking among the dead leaves... Continue Reading →
