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SilverCoast Holidays - Portugal |
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June 2011 |
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Week Twenty Two
Wet start to the week but when we got to Tuesday it got hotter and hotter, summers on it’s way!
Earlier we reported that we thought we had blight, this is not the case it is mildew, this we can sort. We believe due to the dew at night and the way we have been watering, our plants have contracted this spore so all contaminated material was removed and destroyed to allow air circulation around the plant. Now we wait and see.
At the back end of the week when it was very hot we hid ourselves in the kitchen and made a new batch of tomato chilli chutney which is one of our top sellers, we also are putting together a hotter version of our Tabasco and little elf sauces which will brew for at least 2 weeks before we try them.
Good warm weather means … barbecue time, whole chicken and a large bowl of our own freshly picked runner and dwarf beans with a few beers to top it off - spot on!
Week Twenty Three
Weather cooled off again with a little drizzle and cloud but that’s fine for us as we were doing the usual maintenance on the land and with the plants.
The gardens and pool area had a freshen up as we have new guests next week, flower plants Nik sowed earlier in the year are beginning to flower and are getting stronger, they will be even better next year.
Stocks were getting low on Habanero sauce and sweet chilli jam so we did a brew for each of them. The Habanero sauce has a strong taste and is fairly hot, I like it with barbeque meats and cheese & ham rolls.
Week Twenty Four
One of the greatest kicks a gardener gets, whether it’s a small plot or large one is to have the return from all the hard work of sowing and planting. Today (Thursday) we got our biggest pay back when I started the potato pick, great to get the return but hard work getting them out of the ground and up the top for storage. This lifting process will be done over the week as I am a newbie at this and don’t want to do myself a mischief! The potatoes being dug look great and some are really big, this is an excellent result. Once they were dug out, first thing in the morning, they were left on the soil in the sun to harden the skin then in the evening myself and Nik filled the wheel barrow and pushed them from the lowest part of our land to the top where they will be stored, no mean feat, I pushed the barrow and Nik pushed me with about 4 stops on the way up. When this is complete we have a few weeks until the reds need to be lifted…. Can’t wait!
Beetroot is also being picked, this will be for our beetroot relish which was popular last year.
Cucumbers producing really well this year, we have laid down a bed of dried grass so the fruit is not in contact with the soil. Have you tried cucumber soup? It’s good, it surprised me! ps don’t forget to add some chilli it makes a good soup excellent.
Week Twenty Five
Another excellent hot sunny week.
We have regular sales of salad onions, dwarf beans, runner and berlotti beans also our white potatoes that, and I quote “are excellent potatoes” and that is from an Irishman so we take that as the ultimate compliment.
We lifted the last of the current crop of beetroots and have pickled them in our own chilli infused vinegar, hopefully the flavours blend and we can introduce a new product to the casa45 range.
This was a busy week for us, it started with a table top sale which we used to promote ourselves and had some good sales too, did a delivery to a new customer who rang an order in, which was a first, and ended the week at a property promotion event where they allowed us to supply some of our chilli products for tasting.
Week Twenty Six
Hot start to the week moving to a cooler end of week, so early part of this week we made more jams and chutney’s, we seem to be making some lines more regularly these days.
Plenty of product now ready to pick, tomatoes, courgettes, squash and garlic as well as our top sellers, all is well in the garden at the moment even the chilli plants are happier!
What do you do with excess courgettes? Soups sound boring but with a sprinkle of chilli powder it transforms it completely. Not happy with the fact we still have loads Nik made chocolate courgette cake, now that was worth waiting for.
The weekend brought the local festa, time for a break, a few beers a Portu-English chat with known locals and a poor attempt at local dancing, a good time was had by us both!!
June Sowings, Plantings and Harvesting. Sowings/Plantings - Beetroot, Carrot, Dwarf Beans, Peas, Radish, Salad Onions.
Harvestings - Dwarf Beans, Beetroot, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Strawberries, Basil, Chives, Mint, Tarragon, English Runner Beans, Berlotti Beans, Courgettes, Summer Squash, Butternut Squash, Cucumbers.
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