Benfeita Wholefood Coop
October 17th, 2011. Post by Wendy
A few of us in Benfeita have got together to form a wholefood coop. Anyone within what you regard as a reasonable distance of Benfeita (where the orders will be delivered) is welcome to join.
Pine wilt nematode
October 11th, 2011. Post by Wendy
This is the view from the top of the track down to the larger building on the quinta. In many ways it encapsulates the nature of the “Green Heart of Portugal” – forested mountain ranges cut deep by meandering river valleys, peppered with tiny white villages perched on mountain ridges, surrounded by land terraced and richly cultivated with olives, vines, fruit trees, vegetables … Idyllic.
But it encapsulates something else about the Green Heart of Portugal too – an ecological disaster-in-the-making presently taking hold in Portugal’s forests. The tree on the left is dying.
October garden
October 7th, 2011. Post by WendyA month ago we were all nodding our heads sagely and predicting an early autumn as night-time temperatures headed down towards woodstove range and rainclouds gathered. Suddenly the valley was full of the sound of chainsaws and axes as everyone scrambled to get their firewood ready for winter, blocking and chopping the lengths of timber cut earlier in the year and left to dry. We haven’t lit the woodstove yet, but I dug out the winter quilt.
That was a month ago. After a very brief rainy interlude, it was back to summer again. On recent evenings it’s still been 20°C at 10pm with the yurt roof open to clear skies and the garden is showing few signs yet of slowing down for winter. If anything, we have more peppers and tomatoes coming on now than we did in August and September.
The yurt terrace vegetable garden at the beginning of October
Climate change weirdness?
October 2nd, 2011. Post by WendyShouldn’t someone be telling this bracken it’s October, not April? Bracken is a perennial fern, but the fronds generally emerge in the spring and die off in autumn. I’ve never seen this before.
Stairs finished
September 25th, 2011. Post by WendyFollowing on from the last post on the subject – and a bit overdue since they’ve been completed at least a couple of weeks now – we have finished the stairs on both sides of the building. This makes 3 sides of the building now protected from the weather by an extra overhang. All that remains now is to complete a lean-to roof along the back wall, dig a large drain into the bedrock behind it, and we should have a substantially watertight building … even without all the windows and doors.
Quinta wildlife #12
September 25th, 2011. Post by WendyI mentioned elsewhere what an enormous difference the presence of flowers in the vegetable garden this year has made to the number and varieties of butterflies we’ve seen. Considering that the number and variety here is, even without flowers, comparable to a profusion and diversity that’s not been present in the UK for a good 40 years, then perhaps you can begin to grasp what a wonder this year has been.
Mangelwurzels
September 22nd, 2011. Post by WendyOur lack of seed-raising facilities at the moment, coupled with a desire to learn how the Portuguese organise their planting calendar, has this year taken me to the weekly markets on a regular basis to see what seedlings they’re selling. It’s a safe bet there’ll be lettuce and cabbages. They’ve been a steady fixture from January right through to September. But it’s the other stuff that’s intrigued me. Sometimes you have to look quite carefully for it. At other times every stall is full of it, but for a couple of weeks and no more.
Year of the Peach
September 13th, 2011. Post by WendyMany things distinguish this year, but I think on balance it will have to go down as the Year of the Peach.
Here are a few, along with a few butternut squash, from this morning’s harvest.
Companion planting update
September 11th, 2011. Post by WendyIn a previous post, I described what happened with my inadvertent experiment with lovage (Levisticum officinale) as a companion plant. We found that the broccoli planted around it grew twice the size of other nearby broccoli plants.
Vegetable garden update
September 11th, 2011. Post by WendyA week or so ago the weather turned autumnal and we had our first decent rainfall since early June. (Yes, friends and family in Scotland, read that and weep! Smug? Who, me?) A thorough watering and a few cloudy days completely revitalised the vegetable garden, emphasising again that adequate watering and shading are keys to successful growing here.
