The end of the year!

I thought there was not much to do at the moment but my neighbours have been talking about digging up their carrots! I'm not sure why, I was sure that they would be alright over the winter and that I can dig them as I require them. I have left mine in so I will see, they are getting to a good size now. Whilst digging up some carrots the other day I noticed that some garlic were sprouting, these are garlic that I planted last spring and which did nothing over the summer! It reminded me that I promised myself to plant my garlic earlier this year. I checked the book and it said autumn sowing!! It is only a week into winter so I have sowed today and hope that I am in time this year. When I went to the iron-monger I noticed that they are selling bags of garlic for sowing, so I think I have got the time right.
Some of the onions that did nothing over the summer are sprouting as well, I'm sure it is still too early to sow onion sets but I will watch and see what happens. My leeks are really big now I need to start eating them seriously!!

November

I came home earlier than I expected so I have had most of my autumn raspberries.  I have also picked a few more pears but many/most are rotting under the tree, there were really too many for me to cope with.  I have been given some hazelnuts nd a few walnuts and almonds, now I am cracking nuts!
I have also been out collecting mushrooms, I collect just 2 varieties and I am now fairly confident with them but I do a spore print each time just to be sure. There were several Parasol mushrooms in a nearby field before I went away but I was too busy to pick them, not sure why now as it would not have taken more than a minute. I found one parasol mushroom yesterday but I think I may have left it too late, but I have found a good source of Field mushrooms so I have collected quite a few, eaten some and I am still alive and well :) and I have frozen the rest.
I have had the first of my carrots and my leeks are looking good, they will be enjoying the wet weather we are experiencing at the moment. We have had a couple of very heavy frosts but mostly it is rain with the first snow on the mountain.

October!

I've had a few tomatoes I could freeze, I have now dug up the plants, along with kilos of green tomatoes. I will be away for a month so, even if they ripen, I won't be here to pick them.
I cleaned my garage and whilst I was doing that a neighbour asked me if I would like some peppers, she gave me 5 enormous peppers, I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have dug up my pepper plants as well, they looked really healthy and had loads of flowers, but that isn't much good at this time of year, I'm sure we had a frost the other night.
There are more pears than I can cope with, I have had a few raspberries but they will mostly ripen whilst I am away. I have had to buy walnuts, there are so few this year, the price will go shooting up closer to Christmas. All in all it has been hit and miss this year, still my freezers are full :)

Autumn

How temperamental plants are! How different one year can be to another! I have been away for a week, I was sure that when I came back my tomatoes would have ripened, some have but they are sick, they are all black at the bottom.

 I can eat the undamaged half, but I will only be able to freeze them if I cut them up and cook them. There really aren't sufficient to freeze many anyway. So different from the crops I have had in previous years.
Yesterday I pulled out the 'Cherry' tomato plants and collected the ripe tomatoes, they will keep me going this week. the peppers have been a real disappointment, it is too cool for them to ripen now.

I have also had the first of my Autumn raspberries, there will be a large crop but I doubt I will get many of them as I go away again next week. This next week I have to harvest my pears, I had a look yesterday, there are lots on the ground, there were strong winds and rain last week, but there are still plenty on the trees. I also have to clear all the cobwebs from the 'garage' so I can store them. A week of hard work ahead of me.

nearly Autumn

I now have loads of  'cherry' tomatoes, that at least is something. I have had a whole 5 decent sized tomatoes and there are 2 nearly red now. Progress is being made. The days are still pretty hot so I hope I may yet get enough to put some in the freezer. I still have loads of lettuce though it is getting less as I am pulling out whole lettuces instead of just taking off the leaves.
I will start picking my pears this week,there are loads. No walnuts though, that is a shame, there were so many last year. My apples were delicious, though very small. I will soon have another crop of raspberries so I am getting plenty of fruit.
I have been forgetting to water my carrots so I am not sure how they are doing, but they seem OK.
My peppers aren't doing much, the plants look healthy enough but the peppers seem a bit pathetic, other people seem to have enormous peppers. It is strange how some things do well and others don't.

September

We ended up with no water again last Sunday, hardly surprising as many people had left and those who remained were washing sheets by the wash load, next door did 6 wash loads!
My tomatoes are really on a 'go-slow' this year, I am managing to get a few nearly every day but they are still the very small ones. I have had 3 tomatoes that it was possible to slice, very different from the last 2 years. There are almost no walnuts either.
My autumn raspberries are starting to show fruit, I hope I will be here to enjoy them.

2 more weeks!

Mostly August has not been too bad but I went to pick my plums last week and found someone had got there before me, there was not a plum on the tree, nor any of the trees round about. Scrumping is one thing but it's normal to leave some fruit for the owner, I think!

Yesterday I pulled out my 'courgette' I really can't face them any longer.

I hadn't cleared it for a couple of days and ended up with these!

My freezer is already nearly full of 'courgettes' but it is going to have a few more! I am faced with a weekend of frying .

I have had a few tomatoes now and they are increasing in size, the first ones looked more like red currants! The warm weather must turn them, it must. I still have loads of lettuce but I have eaten all the first sowing.

This is the second sowing, I think it will keep me going for a while, the peppers are doing well too.

I am starting to pick up 'windfalls' of apples and pears, my apples are very small but I am tempted to pick them, before the local kids do:(

Why I still hate August!

This was a flower bed, a sea of green with a Japonica that I have been nurturing. I cleared it a little last Friday as it had got terribly overgrown but I left it green, on Sunday morning it looked like this. Who did it? Why did they do it? Why is the toadstool still smiling? I wasn't!  I kept my spare keys under the toadstool but fortunately I moved them, knowing that people come up here in August. The Toadstool had been well hidden, under a bramble that a neighbour admitted to poisoning for me! She denies doing the rest of the damage but someone has. Toadstool can go now.

Life isn't all bad, even in August. We had the village BBQ last night, apparently this used to be an annual event but it stopped, now it has been revived. There were 150 people, not bad for a village that only has about 25 inhabitants in winter.

I had my first tomatoes yesterday, 2 very small ones but it was a beginning, none today though :(

My vegetable patch looks full, mostly because of the 'courgette' but other things are doing well too. I will have loads of tomatoes eventually but they are much later this year. We have just had a very hot week, I thought it would have a positive effect but it hasn't done much. Once I gt a regular supply of tomatoes I will pull up the courgette as I have plenty in the freezer already and it is attacking everything else.

 There have been loads more birds this year. The House Martins have started their morning parliaments, those back 2 wires could not have fitted another bird on, there were well over 200. it's incredible how they all know to come at the same time because most of the day there is no sign of them, they meet for about half an hour and then disperse.

August

Well, I said the kittens had disappeared, they were missing for a while but now 3 have re-appeared. They spend a lot of time sitting waiting for the neighbours to feed them, not sure what they will do in October when there is no-one to feed them. I hope the ability to hunt is innate in cats.

I thought my courgettes would grow whilst I was away, I was only away for 3 nights but came back to these.

I think I was given marrows not courgettes, I'm sure I asked for courgettes. One of my neighbours has the same problem so I think the nursery got confused. I have been frying up and freezing already, and looking for recipes for stuffed courgettes/marrows. I am now picking them daily but even so I occasionally miss one, it only takes 2 days to get to this size.

My lettuce look really pretty, I am still eating it by the plate full.
I came back to thunderstorms. It is now hot again but another front is approaching, the weather is still very temperemental, but looking back it was last year as well. I just hope it stays warm enough for the tomatoes to start ripening, the peppers are doing well despite the odd weather.
I am still getting the odd raspberry and strawberry and the plums are just ripening so fruit is good.
The onions are dying back, I will dig them up tomorrow, there are very few. I planted about 3 dozen sets but the wild boar dug up most and the others have not done well. I do not have much success with onions and garlic, I really don't know why because everyone else seems to have enormous ones, it isn't as if you have to do more than put them in the ground and wait! Well maybe you have to hope the boar doesn't dig them up!

nearly the end of July!

The weather continues to be warm, hot sometimes, for at least a week now, looks it will stay this way for a while.
I have had nearly the last of my raspberries and the first of my courgettes, I am having to take out whole lettuces now as the first ones are ready to bolt, my rocket is growing well and I can see the first small pepper :) The garden is doing well. I will be away for a few days next week so I must water well tonight, I am sure I will return to some very big courgettes.

No sign of the kittens over the last few days, first one disappeared, then all of them. The neighbours were feeding them 3 times a day, not a good idea as they just sat and waited for food and were not learning to hunt, and the neighbours are only here for a couple of months but it looks like they have probably died anyway. (I know I gave them milk occasionally but I didn't feed them!) The poor cat has kittens every year, she looks after them really well for a few weeks, then they disappear and she has another set, thankless really.

great expectations!

I heard a chicken during the night, I thought this was strange. There are several people in the village who keep chickens but not close enough for me to hear them during the night. Here's the culprit! A real free range chicken, on the prowl for food, I thought of giving it a lettuce!

I obviously look kind, they all come to my door, I wouldn't have minded if this latest addition had left me an egg:) 



Not again!

I used to keep my front door locked when I was in Barrow, I was worried about people entering and stealing, here I don't lock my door, but the time is coming when I must remember to do so.
I came down stairs to get my lunch and found a lettuce at the bottom of the stairs. I have been eating salads for weeks now, I have loads of lettuce, mine are the varieties where you simply remove the leaves that you want, they are all pretty colours! I am happy with my lettuce but the locals don't see them as lettuce! I don't know who has donated this one, probably the same person who gave me tomatoes last year, just when I was over run by my own, Cherry tomatoes don't count either!!!

middle of July

A cat had kittens in my roof space, they are down now and playing around outside, 4 of them!

 

I give Mum milk in the mornings, now the kittens are coming too. I have no intention of becoming 'cat woman'. I wonder how long the kittens will survive, 'mum' seems to have 4 every year and every year they dissappear.

My lower plot is doing well, I have loads of lettuce, the rocket is growing but something seems to be nibbling it! The first courgettes will soon be edible, the spring onions are OK but not brilliant and I have so many raspberries that I am giving them away to anyone I can find! The peppers have flower buds and there are the first of the green tomatoes. The weather is unseasonably cool, most of Spain is sweltering with an anti-cyclone but Galicia keeps getting one cold front after another. We get a couple of hot days, just to make us feel good then, back come the clouds and, sometimes, the rain.

I saw Duran about my galeria and he has promised to come. He has given me a receipt and told the man who did the damage that I have paid and that he must come and settle with me! I haven't paid but will probably have to. I thought the guy was taking the 'mick' because I am english, and a woman, but it appears that Duran doesn't trust him either, maybe, one day, it will be repaired.

july

The cherry season has nearly finished but I have another large bowl full to keep me going!

The raspberries are doing pretty well too, I am collecting 200 to 300 gms everyday, I have at least a kilo in the freezer and I have given a kilo away. I should be eating raspberries for another couple of weeks yet.

The leeks that I tranplanted have taken well so I can destroy the seedlings still left, then I need to find something else to put in that corner.

I have just had rubbish collected by the man who bashed my galeria last August, he seemed very surprised that it hasn't been mended yet, he must know that he hasn't paid yet! He told me to speak to Duran so I will go there again and see what he says, I was planning to go to the market in Candelas tomorrow, maybe it will get done one day. Talk about Manana, this is 11 months!!

Summer begins!

Summer has started with a vengeance, temperatures have soared immediately.  I'm not sure of the exact temperature but it is in the 30's, I expect we will get thunderstorms soon.
Things are growing nicely. I had 1/2lb of raspberries yesterday and managed to freeze most of them. today I have transplanted most of my leeks, it seems sensible to do so before the ground is really dry, hopefully they will take.
I have also dug some more potatoes, I don't seem to have so many this year but at least I have some and I will have more later in the year. I had one garlic! I will plant them in the autumn again this year.
I have sown more lettuce and spring onions, I have loads of lettuce at the moment, I have spring onions but they are only small, they grow very slowly. the courgette has buds so maybe I will have a courgette shortly!
I have had to pull out loads of tomato plants, they have self seeded and the ones that have self seeded are enormous compared to the plants I tenderly cherished all spring :(  I doubt I will sow tomato seeds again, or peppers.

June continued

I've been walking again. Seen a little wild life, the only time I managed to have my camera ready was for this rabbit, and only because it sat still for a while.

I saw a fox yesterday, it was just walking up the road ahead of me, I am also certain that I heard a wild boar snoring in the woods the other day. I didn't stay to investigate, if it had taken a dislike to me I am sure I would have come off bery badly.

My raspberries are just starting to ripen and I have eaten the first few. I have also eaten the few cherries I had, they were probably not quite ripe but they were starting to split and I decided to eat them before the birds did.  Thanks to a generous friend I have a load of cherries now. Some trees have done well but others have none. This tree is covered!

The weather is unreliable at the moment but with the rain I have not had to water, the trouble is that the weeds are doing well too!

more wild boar

 The wild boar continues to make a mess of my orchard.  Not only has it eaten the last of the few remaining strawberries but it has nearly unearthed the plants.

 The onions are mostly flattened.

 There are big holes under the tree!

It moves my 'lawn'.

It has also knocked over part of the wall. I am obviously going to have to invest in some strong fencing if I am going to use this area for vegetables and fruit. I wonder how people have managed in the past.

The bottom plot is doing better, the lettuce seeds that I sowed the other day are germinating and one of my tomato plants now has 2 sets of flowers on it. I have also been eating my own lettuce this week. I have had a few new potatoes as well, but not many. Everything is later this year.

June

The wild Boar continues to be a pest, it has dug up more onions, eaten my strawberries and the leaves of the vines and left holes all over the place.
The bottom finca is doing OK I think. One of my peppers died but I have planted 3 more. The tomatoes look happy and today we are going to have lettuce and new potatoes from my finca! Summer is coming.

May

It has finally warmed up, just yesterday. It is still damp though today seems to be drying out a bit, hopefully now things will grow.
My tomatoes and peppers have not moved at all, I will buy some more in the market next week and put them straight out, the first year I have not grown my own :(  Something, a Wild Boar probably, has attacked my top finca and dug up some of my onions, it was probably looking for walnuts as there must still be some in the ground.

Despite all the fruit blossom there seem to be very few plums this year, hopefully there are more than I can see at the moment, everything else looks alright, the cherries are growing nicely I hope I manage to get to them before the birds!

May 15th

The weather is lovely now. Last week suddenly got very hot, now it has cooled and is sunny and warm, ideal walking weather but I have not had time to walk.

The tomatoes have not done anything despite the warm weather! In fact 2 have died.

I have bought a couple more and some peppers and another courgette and have put them all out. I will have to keep an eye on them. I am having to water the seeds now as it hasn't rained for a week. The leeks have germinated, the first lot of lettuce look good and some spring onions are through. I think some of the carrots are through too and there are signs of the first potato plants so everything is on the move.

I will be away next week so I hope all stays well.

I found several damp floors in the house this week, for a while I was really worried. I think the wet floor in the bathroom may have been damp coming in from next door but I have decided that most of the problem was condensation. The floors were so cold because of the weather in April then it got really hot and humid, now it is all cleared, or clearing. The bottom stair, which is stone, is still a bit damp but better than it was, there is no way anything could have leaked onto it, that's how I know I don't have a serious problem!

Wet!

I have managed to dig both plots and to sow everything I wanted to, in the couple of dry days we have had this month. It is cold, even the tomato plants that I have indoors are not doing anything. I think everything will be fruiting late this year but I am not having to water my seeds, they are more in danger of being washed away.
The owners of the plot of land next door are now in agreement to sell, they are registering the property in their names, they still haven't suggested a price and the people on the other side are now interested as well. I must have it it will add value and comfort to this house.
April 27th
Today is dry, so far, the air is quite warm though there is not much sun. I think it is the best day we have had this month. My tomatoes have not moved in the entire month so I have given in and bought 3 tomato plants and 2 peppers, other wise I doubt I would see any tomatoes until October.
My first sowing of lettuces are just peeping through so something is happening, the strawberries and raspberries look happy too so hopefully I can look forward to some fruit.
I have cleaned and painted the downstairs sitting room, it looks much lighter now, incredible the difference it made when I cleaned the windows! It means that I can't light a fire until next winter so I hope the weather stops being so cold and miserable.

end of March

I have returned, with the intention of digging over the land and digging in the compost. This started well enough in my top plot. There is a lot to do, it needs tidying and weeding but where I want to plant it is ready. I found 5 new potatoes, from a potato I planted last summer but never noticed that it had sprouted. I have had to water the garlic as they are not doing much and the ground is really dry.

The fruit trees are doing really well. The cherry has lots of flowers so maybe this year there will be enough fruit for me and the birds!

The plum trees are all flowering. The apples haven't flowered yet but one of the apple trees will have flowers, so maybe I will have an apple or two this year, this is only the 3rd year.

The pears are already flowering well as well. They are all very early so much depends on what the weather does from now on. This year has been unseasonably hot and dry.

Despite the dry weather my bottom finca has flourished, it is covered with weeds, I just couldn't believe it.

I left it clear and covered in compost and went there today just to dig in the compost but i am going to have to start from scratch again. The chives have spouted but are so mixed up with grass that I think I am going to have to dig these up and sow some more seeds.

I have pricked out my tomatoes, which have germinated whilst I was away. The peppers haven't yet but I think there is just a sign of the first one.

My neighbours are all busily sowing seeds outside and busy watering them, I will do that later in the week, or maybe next week. I have to clear that finca first!

March

I went to the market this morning, to see what plants are around now. I was surprised by the number. There were leeks, cabbages, onions, lots of things I didn't recognise and big tomato plants. It seems very early, most people are just preparing their land, adding composts and manure. It is certainly too early for tomatoes to go out and I would have thought that anyone with a greenhouse would be growing their own, maybe not. I have sown my tomatoes and peppers, I won't do anything else for the moment as I will be away for 3 weeks, starting next week. it drizzled a bit last night, the first rain for nearly a month though the forecast says maybe rain next week, it is very much needed.

work starts!

I have now spread compost, from my compost pile, on both my fincas. My neighbour has spread manure on hers, I'm glad I don't have much need to open windows! The weather is still very dry and very warm during the day, several times I have sat outside with my morning coffee, it is warm enough to sit out in a T-shirt.
This morning I have been climbing trees and clearing unnecessary branches, I can't quite get at all the branches I need to, I need a long handled gadget, I had hoped to borrow one but in the end I have done the best I can. Most of the branches I wanted to cut I have managed. I will go out on Saturday and tidy up the branches I have left around. I have dug up all my carrots, just 3 leeks left. Now I must start on my seeds, it needs to rain though the ground is quite dry, not what one expects in February.

February

The weather has continued to be cold at night and sunny during the day, there has been too little rain, if we don't have a very wet spring we are going to have a drought in summer. I even saw the helicopter going to put out a fire the other day!
Today is damp, which is useful, as I have been out and sown my garlic. I should have done it ages ago, normally I do, but as my garlic are usually a disaster I decided I must be doing it wrong. I checked with Ines my neighbour and she tells me they should be in, so now they are. Fortunately the ground is soft enough today to get them in, tomorrow another anti-cyclone arrives. I've sown them in my top plot so I will see if they are better, they are also a bigger variety.
My carrots are doing quite well, they are not enormous but I had a helping of fresh carrots for Sunday lunch, there are still a few left, my leeks are OK too. Hopefully this year they will germinate earlier. It will soon be time to start composting and sowing seeds.

New Year!

Thisyear has started with beautiful weather, lovely warm sunny days, which has meant very little need for heating during the day, though there have been heavy frosts at night and the frost in the shade does not always clear.
It has also meant a lot of pollution and smoke as people take advantage of the dry weather to burn. God knows what they have been burning on the mountains as there have been several days of smoke, from several different points. The fires must be very big as these mountains are many miles away. The photos are not very clear but there is quite a haze over the mountains.
I have started giving milk to one of the stray cats, with the result that I now have a companion whenever I leave the house, on this occasion she's leading me home, in the hope I will feed her again!

There is nothing to do on the land, it is too frozen any way. I just go out weekly to put rubbish on the compost pile. Today I checked my carrots and leeks, both are thriving.