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SilverCoast Holidays - Portugal |
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March 2011 |
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Week Nine
This was a dry week with sun and some light winds so there was no time to hang about on the sowing front. A quick pass over the planting area with the tiller and most of the week was about getting seeds into the ground.
Leeks and onions sown inside earlier in the year and nurtured in the poly have been hardened off and were planted out too.
Potato planting time arrived on the Saturday, our neighbour and 5 “mates” must have been up at the crack of dawn as they got to our place at about 11.30 having already planted 3 other plots. The tractor tilled over the ground then pulled through the plough and the potato “bits” were dropped in and we all set to covering them over. For those who don’t know, a potato can be cut into many pieces provided every part has an eye - the growing part - We had a 10 kilo bag which once dissected trebled in number, from this we are told each piece will give us a kilo in return… chips anyone?!!
Planting completed it was over to the neighbours for lunch, everyone including the family sat around the table to barbequed pork with salad, chips, bread and much more. With the meal there was the wine and the wine followed by some more wine, then there was the ginja and the biggest bottle of brandy I have ever seen, so as you can imagine the meal turned into a fun and happy time.
Week Ten
Just as if we had ordered it the rain came in this week, mostly drizzle but great all the same.
We decided this year to sow our chillies slightly later than last year as we found it a struggle to keep them warm enough to get full germination, wise move or not! We will find out. We are looking at about 1,200 plants of 26 different varieties if all goes well.
12 Roma tomato plants sown in January now large enough to plant up in the large poly-tunnel
Time confined to the house due to the rain was not wasted as we made spiced plum jam and sweet chilli sauce for casa45.
Week Eleven
Trouble at Mill………………………..
Yesterday was a good day at casa45, we had a full afternoon sowing lots of seeds then at the end of the day we shut up a very productive looking poly-tunnel. This morning like every morning we went down to the planting area to open and check the tunnels to find that during the night there had been a disturbance!!
During last year, our first, we had a few problems with something taking a liking to some of the crops we grew, this year it has begun again. It began with the peas, as they popped their heads through something started to chew at them, we then found some of the planted pea seeds under some plastic sheeting we used to suppress weeds. The next attack was on our beans which have been planted in pots in the poly. We have planted 3 types of low growing beans which will grow in our poly until big enough to be planted in place later in the year; they had not been sown long before we found some of the seeds chewed on the floor of the poly. Now we have the latest attack, 120 cucumber seeds and 4 pots of pepper seeds eaten and scattered over the table. So who’s been eating in our seed bed?
I have 3 suspects for the crimes against casa45 reported above. The rabbit, we know he is a pest for most people’s crops and was a suspect last year for chewing the cabbages, French beans and onion tops. The lizard, we have seen these guys everywhere from the hedges around the land to running about in the poly. Mice, again these have been seen on the land from time to time and were a possible eater of the beans and onion tops last year too.
What are we going to do about it? Bunnies we will fence and net out, the cabbage and caulis planted out last month are now netted and are looking good so that looks like it works. Lizards we see as friends who eat the snails and bugs so if it is them by covering the seed pots with cling film should keep them at bay! Mice, out of the 3 is where I would put my money, we won’t trap them we will net the outside of the poly’s to prevent them getting in, also net all new sowings just in-case they break through our front lines.
Message for the pests – want a fight? Bring it on!!
Week Twelve
Mixed weather this week but that never caused us a problem as we did more sowings in the poly and worked on the BBQ area which now only needs the base to be completed.
We have an area of bamboo like most properties in this part Portugal, which we are harvesting for use in fence and screen making, great as its free!!
Mice still a problem, just don’t know how many of our chilli and pepper seeds they have eaten so we are going to have to re-sow what we have left, this will put this part of the project out by at least a month.
Week Thirteen
It’s warming up weather wise so with the drizzle and warmth plants and weeds are growing really fast.
Plenty going on with planting out some of the plants bought on in the poly and with direct sowings, we are really pleased with the results so far this year.
Busy, busy, busy but we still have time to go to the chocolate fiesta in Obidos, a must for all you chocoholics!
March Sowings & Plantings
Chillies, Tomatoes, Marigolds, Sunflowers, Other Assorted Flowers, Chives, Coriander, Mint, Mustard, Oregano, Dill, Lemon Grass, Peppers, Cumin, Tomatillo, Borlotti Beans, Runner Beans, Dwarf Beans, Corguettes, Cucumbers, Okra, Peas, Desiree Potatoes, Mona Lisa Potatoes, Summer Squash and Butternut Squash, |
