Browsed by
Author: Jackie

The kitchen sink

The kitchen sink

Comments 0 Comment

Never thought I’d get so excited about a sink and work surface. However, although we want the kitchen in general to have some kind of traditional rural feel (free standing cooker, no ikea cabinets…) we did decide to splash out on a flash work surface. It was all designed last year so it was great to see it actually installed, and the brown speckledy bits go great with the terracotta tiles (that’s cement dust on the floor):

The guys who put it in were really nice. One of them found a problem with the orange trees in the courtyard, we hadn’t seen that they had become infested with some kind of cochineal beetle. He recommended what we should do to get rid of it, and then proceeded to lop off some of the branches!

Meanwhile, the final stonework is being put in around the windows and the spiral staircase is coming this week. Am trying not to get too excited, there’s still lots to be done, but it’s really looking like a home now.

What rot!

What rot!

Comments 0 Comment

What has happened to the weather?! I don’t think it’s just us, an email from a friend in Spain has written: I hope the weather is better there than here because we have come back to winter time! We had a few scorching days in May and I thought oh-oh, it’s going to get really uncomfortable. But then June came – with the rain. Lots of it, and then some more. When that went we returned to the sunny days (with a cooling north wind) and the bbq was dusted off (or rather dried off). But today I went to check up on the veg patch and wore my fleece – it was misty and quite cool! And alas this weather has affected the crops. Some of the toms have got buckeye rot (well, I hope it’s that and not the dreaded blight) and the dwarf peas are covered in powdery mildew:

On a more positive note the veg patch in general is doing well, particularly the cucurbits (the squash shoots are metres long and have completely covered the paths) and the greengages [update: we think they’re yellow plums now] are almost ready, can’t wait.

Finally, from that to this in nine months (facing west):

And this in six (east):

Champers!

Champers!

Comments 2 comments

No, we’re not cele-brating moving in… yet! But we couldn’t help trying one of the bottles of elderflower champagne we made at the end of last month. It just didn’t seem to be fermenting, both when it was made and after yeast was added (which is not always necessary – elderflowers have their own natural yeast). Anyway, we popped a cork and it was fine – not exactly a glass of bubbly but a little fizzy nevertheless,  and it tasted nice!

So the remaining 5 bottles will now be kept – for a time when we really do have something to celebrate.

Our daily veg

Our daily veg

Comments 2 comments

Every day when we arrive there are new things to see, and eat! The courgettes will be on the bbq this weekend, and suddenly there are loads of peas – we have already eaten some straight from the pods and they are as sweet as they are bright green.

Flowers & showers

Flowers & showers

Comments 0 Comment

We’re been having the tastiest and most colourful salads – the nasturtium flowers have a wonderful peppery taste and the borage flowers are one of the few natural blue things we eat. Meanwhile the sprinkler does its stuff.

Plus: rhubarb goes in and the spuds and carrots come out.

Finally, some creepy crawlies:

cabbage white and swallowtail butterflies / striped shield bug and longhorn beetle

Growin’ stuff

Growin’ stuff

Comments 0 Comment

So a description of all the beds (for those who are interested)! There are nine, six running west-east and three long ones running north-south. Are you ready…

There are lettuces, herbs, nasturtiums and marigolds dotted about too

Bed #1 has the legumes: dwarf broad beans (and the black aphids), dwarf purple french beans and dwarf peas (from Luis). All have flowers and some pods. Climbing up poles: runner beans and peas, and up the teepee: barlotti beans. Only the peas have no flowers.
Bed #2 is for the solanaceae: 4 cherry toms with lots of flowers, 8 yellow ones (golden sunrise) and 4 stripy ones (tigerella), these all need to be staked soon. Plus various peppers: red, chilli and very chilli, these are all small and seem to be growing very slowly. Finally, a couple of aubergine plants under a mini cloche which are now growing but not that fast…
Bed #3 is for the potatoes. We’re already eating the ‘Jersey Royals’ which I’m very pleased with, averaging about 600g per plant. The supermarket ones (the ones I bought from the supermarket and chitted on the windowsill) are ready to be pulled up and very soon the 16 plants that Luis gave us. Something, however, has eaten all the flower heads…
Bed #4 has 8 perpetual spinach which seem to double in size every morning, plus a rather weedy selection of sweet corn which I now wish I hadn’t bothered with having discovered that you only get one cob per plant!
Bed #5 is the winter brassicas: brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli all doing well, plus the central row of turnips (although having thinned those recently there’s definitely something eating those).
Bed #6 is for the roots and onions. The first sowing of these have worked well and we’ve been enjoying the (carrot fly free) carrots but subsequent sowings haven’t worked. The red onions I sowed in a seed tray have at last worked and these are all in the bed now, fingers crossed. The four strawberries have suffered a bit recently (I think the fruits got sunburnt!) but have given us some delicious strawbs already.
Bed #7 is the curcubits. Squash, courgettes and cucumbers are growing well, have some melons ready to plant out but not sure where to put those yet, perhaps in the potato bed.
Bed #8 has 54 leeks (!) and 6 asparagus in a raised bed, all fine so far. The ferns are all a metre tall.
Bed #9 has cabbage, 6 more asparagus and loads of globe artichokes, again all doing well 🙂
In front, in various pots, are the herbs, some flowers, rhubarb, celery and I can’t remember what else. Our latest purchase was a hose and sprinkler which comes with a timer. It covers the whole area (although patches get left out if it’s too windy) and it’s just great, come 6 o’clock and on it comes, fantastic!

A year ago today

A year ago today

Comments 3 comments

As our intro says we found Casa Azul one wet Monday morning in May 2009. That was May 11. But despite the pouring rain there was something about the place we both liked instantly. Returning later on in the afternoon, and in the sun, we decided to go for it. A year later and identical weather. I arrived this morning with a brolly and returned in the afternoon with a camera. So some pics from that first day to this one.

The main bedroom is to have French windows
A brand new bathroom with loads of light
The kitchen entrance onto the patio
The living room was once a windowless barn for the animals, and then a wine-making cellar
The main entrance below the bathroom
After the building work started and now

And as building work started January 11 that’s exactly four months too – we really hope to be in before July 11. The builder seems to think that’s possible, fingers crossed.

Amazing asparagus

Amazing asparagus

Comments 1 comment

From super spuds to amazing asparagus! The asparagus crowns were put in the ground a week ago. Yesterday was the first lovely day after lots of rain so it was time to check up on how things were going.  Amazingly, there were loads of asparagus spears, some 15cm tall! I somehow thought they’d stay dormant until next year but they’re up and thrusting (as it were) already. Now we just have to wait until 2012…

Meanwhile there are fewer Jersey Royals to be eaten. Not because my sister sent loads to me but because the island has had the worst drought in 34 years, so all the more reason to savour ours.

The ugly bug ball

The ugly bug ball

Comments 0 Comment

One of the nice things about being a gardener is that you’re happy when it rains! Well, kind of… Meanwhile I’d hate anyone to get the impression that all’s growing splendidly in the garden. There are certainly some problems, but not what I’d naturally expected. Aphids, yes of course. They are stuffing themselves silly on the dwarf broad beans and, despite the ants, keep multiplying – where are the ladybirds? When I was at Luis’ the other day I saw his crop was infested too. Oh yes, he says, I’m going to spray those soon and then I’ll do yours. Er, no thanks Luis – we’re trying to be organic! The plants seem to be growing ok and there are certainly plenty of flowers so fingers crossed. A new bug for me is the flea beetle. As the name implies it’s a beetle that leaps into the air when disturbed. The brassicas are covered in their tell-tale little holes, they love ’em. My organic gardening book says you can avoid these by planting earlier or later (which of course isn’t what the seed packet says). Kale and cabbages are growing everywhere in the fields nearby so I must have look and see if they are infected too. If not I suspect they’re being sprayed… however, the plants are growing valiantly and I’m hoping that once the flea beetle season has gone there’s enough leaves for the plants to survive!

Black aphids... and flea beetle

There are pretty patterns appearing on the leaves of other broad beans and the peas…

Mmm, these shouldn't be there!

Here is a picture of a parsnip, no problem there. But where are the others? I sowed three rows and only one worked! Mice? Bad luck?! But most disappointingly is that I have just discovered that our quince tree is suffering from quince leaf blight. It was looking very sorry for itself last year, hidden under giant bramble branches and triffed-like vines, but after rescuing it we were rewarded with loads of lovely flowers. Alas, having done some research, the reason the fruits last year were a bit strange was because it had blight then. The website I found tells me this: As with nearly all fungal infections, good hygiene works wonders.  Rake up and burn the leaves and cut out any infected shoots and burn those also (never compost infected matter). Spray your quince tree with a copper based fungicide immediately and then again in spring just as the leaves open. But all the leaves, which are now open, seem to be suffering and all the ones fallen from last year have gone in the leaf mould cage – ready to be put on the beds to improve their texture in the autumn! Suppose I better find out what copper based fungicide is in Portuguese.

The lonesome parsnip... and the dreaded blight

Good news is that, for some strange reason, there have been no slugs or snails on the beds although I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. Time to console myself with some more delicious strawberries. Oh, and did I say it was raining?