the story of Casa Azul

Hooray for May

May 12, 2014 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

Well, hardly a mention of the veg patch and growing things so far this year but rest assured it’s been a busy time sowing, transplanting, mulching, planting, weeding etc etc over the last few months. This morning the first courgette flower was out and that for me is a sign that the growing season has really kicked in and the munching season is not far behind. I’d taken a photo of the beds on the 29 April and already, just over two weeks later, there’s a big difference:

And here you can see how the sweetcorn, chard and sprouts have enjoyed the sunshine:

The asparagus, leeks and purple sprouting broccoli have all gone (plus most of the artichokes) but waiting in the wings now are more brassica (loads of cabbage for some reason, calabrese, cauliflower) plus beans, onions and garlic. The potatoes have pale purple flowers. There’s aubergines, buttercup squash and melons planted too. Oh, and some carrots.

Along with the baby courgettes there are tiny toms appearing (the comfrey fertilizer should be ready for them soon), weeny cucumbers and minuscule peppers. And for dessert they’ll be gooseberries, plums, raspberries and red currants before long:

It’s always a nice time, it’s still sort of green, the heat hasn’t become too oppressive and there’s the excitement of a good crop of nourishing things to eat. I was feeling rather pleased with myself as I looked over the beds today until I saw what a mess the potting shed is but I just can’t face sorting that out now. I’d failed to clear it out at the end of last summer because of a huge wasp nest. They tried loads of times to make a new one this season but I put an end to that.

A little pat on the back for me too as I won a couple of prizes at an agricultural show. Not a good time of the year for showing veg but the lemon cake with borage flowers, and a trio of preserves did well:

So it’s all coming up roses, or rather dandelions, at the mo 🙂

Good news and bad news

May 5, 2014 richard Comments 0 Comment

The good news is that our two year old apricot and almond trees produced fruit for the first time. The bad news is that they have all fallen off while still very small. We’ve had this happen with other young fruit trees. The first year we had fruits on the lime tree they fell off, but the following year we got some more and this time they stayed on and turned out really well. So there is hope. Similarly, last year we had loads of figs on a young tree but they all fell off before they matured. This year they are coming on nicely – hang on in there!

apricots - before they fell off — apricots – before they fell off

The other fruit trees have done really well. It looks like being a bumper plum crop. We’ve got about half a dozen trees, young and old and a variety of types, so that will be good. And we’ve never had so much pear blossom so fingers crossed for them. Meanwhile, we only picked the last of the oranges last month and now the two trees in the courtyard are full of blossom and the smell is divine. Added to that, a couple of linnets have decided the big tree is a great place for a nest but more of that later.

The fruit bushes in the veggie patch are also doing well. Hopefully we will have increased crops of gooseberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants.

I mentioned the linnets – I saw 4 little blue eggs in their nest the other day and now they’ve been replaced with 4 hungry mouths. We’ve also already had two baby blackbirds fledge and leave their nest in the garden and we also have a couple of blue tits feeding their young in one of our nest boxes. There’s also been at least one hoopoe hanging around. But the most exciting sighting was a neighbour of ours. We often hear the barn owl which lives in the ruined house next door and we have caught glimpses at night, but only recently have we seen it during the day and I managed to have my camera handy.

We’ve been a bit slack on updates over the last month or so and in that time we bought a dozen baby roasties and I’m already killing them. At least there is now plenty of room for them in the freezer. Slowly but surely we are getting through the two pigs we reared and slaughtered in 2012. I recently found another pork belly at the bottom of a freezer. It was from the so called thin end so wasn’t good for roasting but it was excellent for making bacon. And this is where your supermarket streaky bacon comes from. We just cover the belly in salt, leave it overnight, then drain the liquid that comes off. Reapply the salt over the next 5 days and the result is dry cured streaky bacon. Perfect.

Of course we still take the dogs for a walk every day and Jackie has been keener to do it these days as it’s orchid season. She wrote a post about it recently but since then she has spotted quite a few more. Maybe another orchid post soon and of course May is peak time for the wild flowers so watch this space.

Black and white

April 5, 2014 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

It’s orchid time again and on a recent walk three more were discovered near us, making a total of thirteen orchids round and about. Along with the Man orchid we have spotted this beauty, the Sombre bee orchid. There were quite a few of them in a small clearing just up above the path we take most days with the dogs, it makes me wonder how many other orchids are just out of sight. They have a lovely rich, dark velvety lip. The Bee orchid itself remains elusive.

And this lovely white one caught my eye. I spent ages trying to find out what it was and now it seems to be an albino of the Early-purple. For those of you interested we have added an orchid section to our wild flowers page.

The fly in the ointment

March 27, 2014 Jackie Comments 4 comments

So March is here along with the showers, sunshine and birdsong. Looking back it really hasn’t been a bad winter, for a winter. There wasn’t too much frost, or rain, or wind or cold for that matter. There was some flooding, some blown over trees and red noses but all in all an unremarkable winter. Which means that we have blossom, green grass and colour in the garden and courtyard.

We have asparagus in the veg patch and the purple sprouting broccoli coming along nicely, thanks.

We are also really pleased the trees we planted on arrival are at last rewarding us with signs of fruit and nuts. There are tiny apricots and almonds appearing, and the quince, pear, cherry and plum trees are also in full bloom. But while sniffing the blossom we got a less attractive smell followed by a whiff of anxiety, yes: the pong of poison was in the air. We have no neighbours on our side of the road and both fields on either side of our house are occasionally sprayed with something nasty and then planted with kale or turnips. But now alas the meadow beyond our garden was getting the treatment. The meadow which has thigh high wild flowers in the early summer, the meadow our dogs run through every morning, the meadow where D. Elena grazes her sheep and goats. The meadow which is also an olive grove. That meadow.

Two old boys, one the owner and the other his mate, were spraying the grass with some kind of herbicide. Richard tries to intervene but is shooed off with reassuring noises – it’s not bad, they say. But now the grass has wilted and yellowed.

The only comfort I get is that I know it all grows back. Last year we were disappointed that another villager had sprayed a field near us including the wild irises growing there. I dug some up and put them in our garden where they disappeared not only to come up this spring but also to flower. If someone could explain why the grasses around the olive trees are sprayed I’d appreciate that. It’s the first time in 5 years it’s been done on that plot, the farmer usually gets it all strimmed and occasionally dug over. We can see it in many places this spring, a kind of scorched earth policy, and in this beautiful, healthy, wildlife abundant Portuguese countryside it’s sad to see.

About time!

March 16, 2014 richard Comments 0 Comment

After a fairly miserable winter, signs of spring started appearing at the end of February and now March has been glorious – in fact we’ve even had to start watering the garden! Most of the early fruit blossom has come and gone but now the plums are in full bloom and there is plum blossom confetti drifting around the garden. We’ve got quite a few peach trees but they never seem to do very much. However, the blossom comes out every year and the pink contrasts well with the white of the plums. Cherries up next.

Flowerwise, the daffs are still going but the irises (which grow wild around here) are now coming through as are the first of the orchids.

With the warm sunny weather, I’ve been making some more garden furniture. Here is an adirondack chair upcycled from an old pallet.

We’ve also got a new (temporary) addition to the family. A local animal sanctuary has had to close down so we are looking after Teddy for a month until he goes off to his new family. The main residents weren’t too happy at first but they seem to have accepted the young scamp now.

Blossom

February 20, 2014 richard Comments 0 Comment

Despite all the rain (which is showing signs of slackening off), things are finally looking up and spring is round the corner. As well as the daffs which have been with us for quite a while, the yellow crocuses have followed the purple ones and are now in flower.

However, the real harbingers of spring are the fruit blossoms. Like last year the apricot was first followed by the almond. We won’t have any fruit from either again this year because although we did buy another apricot for cross pollination, it is still too young as is the almond.

The plums are showing no sign of flowering, which is not necessarily a bad thing as we hope they flower when there is less chance of the rain knocking the flowers off.

Meanwhile we are back to full egg production. The old hens are still in semi retirement only laying one or two between them per day but the youngsters have filled the void. We get 3 every day, which is a little strange as there are 4 of them. Maybe one is a dud? As you can see the eggs are quite a bit smaller than the ones from the oldies.

The oldies have completely destroyed their run which looks rather devastated but we have adopted a new strategy with the youngsters. As you can see they are constrained in their run. We move this every few days so they get fresh grass and the grass where they have been gets a chance to recuperate. We also did it because they are ‘at that age’ where they want to stretch their wings and can quite easily fly/jump over the fence. It’s a bit of a faff. I wonder how long we will keep it up.

After a number of trips to the vet with the big hairy one, the vet reckons she has got atopy – it’s an allergic skin reaction which makes her lick her paws and is probably the cause of her often infected ears. It’s not too bad at the moment – the scratching and licking is usually just in the mornings for some reason and we are now used to cleaning her ears every day. And she is still full of life and obviously happy so we are not worried that much. The (slightly) smaller hairy one is still up to her tricks and recently she has presented us with a rabbit’s foot (for luck?) and a pig’s trotter (??!).

The birds, the birds… and foxy

January 30, 2014 Jackie Comments 1 comment

The birds 1 First up the chooks. Well, we are really pleased that at least one of the new hens we bought back in September is now laying. Not the biggest of eggs but small and perfectly formed. The remaining hens (now called the old hens) are trying to make amends for their past poor performance and recently we’ve had 3 eggs a day from them.

They’re a little miffed at the mo. The new hens have been taken from their original patch and put in a new one, full of luscious green grass. The old ones are left to dig around in the dirt having eaten every blade and scratched up every root.

The birds 2 January is always a good month for bird watching from our living room windows. It’s not uncommon to see 15 different kinds of birds at one time, mostly the various finches on and under the feeder, but also warblers, pipits and wrens. For some reason the tits have turned their beaks up at the fat balls we put out but the great tits are happy with the seed.

A first for us here at Casa Azul was a short-toed tree creeper doing it’s thing around the olive trunks. And we were really surprised to see a hoopoe preening itself in the plum trees, they’re summer visitors and shouldn’t be here until April.

Foxy We treated ourselves recently to a wildlife camera, one of those that takes photos and videos when something walks past. I’d chosen what I thought was a good spot, opposite some kind of underground nest, but nothing. So after a few weeks chose a different spot where it looked like animals had passed. Success! One night the shot of a passing tail and then a short film of a curious fox. Just keep away from the chooks, foxy!

Light at the end of the tunnel?

January 24, 2014 richard

I think we were softened up by the winter of 2011/2012 which was a series of warm sunny days followed by clear frosty nights. Last year was rain, rain, rain and this winter has been more of the same. However, I can’t complain too much because this is the opening paragraph from last year’s blog: “I know January is only two thirds over but we’ve had enough already! Although not as bad as the UK, we’ve had rain, rain, rain, culminating in storms this weekend which knocked the power and water out for three days. And there are more thunderstorms to come.” So not quite so bad this year – up till now! However there are plenty more similarities between this year and last:

For instance enjoying a day at the beach under a glorious blue sky.

However, this year Jussi is wearing the big plastic collar – her ears are playing up and she has managed to cut the outside of one by scratching it. Remember this time last year Betty had the big collar to stop her licking a huge wound caused by a wild boar trap! This year she’s decided to take it easy:

However she does enjoy “playing” with the local cats.

And the daffs are coming out again, as they did last January. There is no mention of oranges last year, but I’m sure we had plenty. This year there don’t seem to be as many but they are whoppers! Grapefruit size and delicious. One new thing, and something I’ve wanted to do for ages is to get rid of the ivy around a walnut tree. When we arrived (4½ years ago!) I managed to get the ivy off most of the olive trees and what a job that was. Many of the ivy stems were thicker than my leg and tightly wrapped round the trunks. Anyway, this year I finally got round to this walnut. Here it is in all its glorious nakedness.

In one of the last posts of 2013, I mentioned that we had started work on the rockery. Well, it’s pretty much done. Not so much of a rockery now, more a bed, but we will be planting some flowers and a few more herbaceous perennials when the last of the frosts has gone.

Lets hope the similarities continue as we had a great 2013 and here’s to an early spring!

Plant of the year award 2013

January 1, 2014 Jackie Comments 5 comments

A year ago it was the humble leek that got the prestigious casa azul plant of the year award, for reasons too numerous to list here. For 2013 there is another clear winner, more exotic and almost as prolific; a beringela, the aubergine.

Since mid summer there were plenty to pick, plump and purple, right up to the end of November. Every time I picked what I thought was the last batch I left the plants and their nodding violet flowers to die, only to discover more fruit a few weeks later. I’m also pleased because there was a time when Richard said he didn’t like them. Roasted over the dying embers of a summer barbecue and turned into baba ganoush he was happy but otherwise he didn’t like their texture. Since my vegetarian days they have been one of my favourite veg so I took it as a personal challenge to make him change his mind. Well, numerous dishes later he seems to have come round. They have been oven roasted with potatoes, lightly fried in chilli oil… .

…curried with coconut milk and served in half with roasted toms. Not to mention the pasta and other middle eastern dishes, I particularly like the fact they go so well with cumin.

And all eaten with great relish, so a culinary as well as horticultural success. Here’s to a good 2014 harvest and happy new year to everyone!

Winter?

December 4, 2013 richard Comments 2 comments

Why the question mark? Well it definitely is winter, with our first frosts and temps going well below freezing. But as you can see from the thermometer in the polytunnel, crazily it has still got into the 30s during the day and we’ve had some cracking sunny days: Lunches al fresco and runarounds on the beach.

First thing in the morning, it’s a Christmas scene.

But we still have quite a few flowers. Above are chrysanthemums and below, one of many roses.

The sudden sharp frost that we had yesterday meant that finally the Plane tree in the courtyard has started to lose its leaves.

But the days are still sunny and warm and perfect for a runaround on the beach followed by lunch at one of our favourite beach side restaurants.

Meanwhile, back at the house a project which I have wanted to get going for ages has lurched into action. By the threshing square is a pile of rubble, rather grandly termed ‘the rockery’ although all that grows there are a few hardy weeds. Well this winter I intend to get it sorted. At least I’ve made a start…

stage 1 - clear out some of the rubble — stage 1 – clear out some of the rubble

Betty is supervising. In her own way.

As we know this is when she is at her sweetest – when she’s asleep. When she’s awake she gets up to all sorts. One day last week during a walk, she managed to grab a wild bird. It was something like a grouse but as she refused to come anywhere near with it (hence the blurry photo taken from distance), we can only speculate. It is now buried somewhere for future retrieval no doubt!