A Creative Spirit in Portugal
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, and 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... 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 →
