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SilverCoast Holidays - Portugal |
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January 2011 |
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Bom Ano from Silver Coast Holidays & Casa45 - Portugal
The year began up by our pool, the night was clear with a deep blue, almost black sky sprinkled with tiny little lights and as midnight struck, Portugal exploded with fireworks that lit up the sky and thumped its way into 2011.
Week One
After an interesting time last year things start to get serious on the planting front. We will have a lot more product to grow, with new lines that will test our skills (or lack of!) but we will have more time to care for and study what these plants require to grow into nice juicy crops.
We have a structured planting diary so we can keep track of what needs to be done each month, it will also log the progress of the plantings so we know what did well and what didn’t for future reference.
Herb beds are a big one this year. We are going to grow herbs in big beds near the house, where possible, with the view to selling them fresh or in pots. This was started by transplanting last years oregano plants into the first bed.
Vines that were pruned late last year have been cleared of all cuttings and the ground strimmed - they look so sad this time of the year.
The last olive tree has been pruned, we have 15, just a light thinning this year as the neighbours gave them a good seeing to last winter.
Week Two
There has been heavy rain over the weekend and again this morning (Mon) but the tractor has arrived with the manpower to begin pruning the orchard - no mean feat! This will take in the region of 3 days, one guy drives the tractor with 2 on a framework set on a trailer with compressed air powered pruners..
We have transplanted from seed trays, leeks, onions, cabbage and cauli, just small amounts that will be kept undercover in the poly. Sown in the poly this week are basil, roma tomatoes and peppers, again just small amounts for some early produce if the weather allows!! I get itchy fingers when the sun is out and warm I want to sow, sow, sow but the nights get cold and it could all end in tears.
Week Three
Weather wise this week was the complete opposite to the previous, not a drop of the wet stuff which was great as the ground was able to dry out a little and we could get on it at last.
Our main job this week, while the rain holds off, was to mark out and prepare a soft fruit area, raspberry canes, black currant, red currant and strawberries were all planted.
Nik made it her priority this week to plant out the rhubarb she grew from seed last year, they have been planted in close to the wooded area so to be protected from the strong summer sun, we will see how they get on.
Up near the properties we are building an area with a barbeque, this is a project we work on when the ground is wet.
Week Four
Much of our land was turned over towards the end of last year by machine but where we still had chillies growing we kept them in place. The process of clearing and turning over this area began this week.
All January sowings have been completed - list below - so we are on target in the garden and we even had time to go out with the local-ish walking group a few times.
At the end of the week the rain returned so we had a few days inside and made some cakes ….. Chilli chocolate sponge filled with cream and cherries then covered with a soft chocolate coating - you got to try it!!
January sowings
Garlic, Mint, Tarrogan (Russian), Cabbage, Cauliflower, Onions (Salola Tardla), Parsley (Italian), Basil (Genovese), Peas, and 6 Corguettes (Calabacin) to be grown on in the poly along with the few Tomatoes (Roma) and Peppers (California Wonder). |
