About Me

We moved out to Portugal to live a frugal but better , simpler and peaceful life, our house is a very basic, semi ruin, up in the hills outside Figueiro Dos Vinhos, where we work our land, enjoy life with each other and our dogs, and hope to make the smallest carbon footprint we can,

Monday 4 April 2011

Planting.... nearly done ..

Well we've really worked at it and managed to get the bulk of it done... I still need a few more beetroot, another packet of Basil and Im hoping a friend will arrive from Uk  in a week or so, bearing gifts of Parsnip seeds.
We've now got in, all the beans, four different kinds, we eat them in so many ways, as green pods,  normal french beans, the portuguese  green beans and those we also leave to swell and pod them, and freeze them , I then leave them longer and dry them, I do this with the runner types too... I have Borlotti beans  for freezing and drying, and  I have Broad beans podding up nicely too... and now the climbing yellow waxy pods that are a heritage variety, which I have high hopes of a big crop...
Peas... a quarter of the main area is now down to peas... and I know it wont be enough...  Carrots... two different kinds, Nantes and a bigger tougher one Im hoping will store better... a huge area of those too...
Red cabbage, green cabbage, caulis, broccs, spinach, three large areas of sweetcorn now, Two rows of basil right across the whole width of the garden, two rows of coriander and a large patch of Parsley, lettuce seedlings coming up all over...
In the little seed house, yesterday popped up a Kuchi chiri.. Im sure thats spelt completely wrong.. it joins my Okra as being an early bird coming up... hopefully now as we are forcast a couple of weeks of 24/5ยบ weather , they'll all be up and growing well. Im really hoping on the melons this season... we had a handful last year but only small Galia  and this time Im trying the more prolific white Portuguese type...
And about 5 different types of winter squash...
Add all that to the aubergines, courgettes, peppers and three kinds of tomatoes... plus all those damn spuds... and I dont think we'll starve this winter...
Im so looking forward to the whole growing, picking, preserving , drying time this year, last year was so overshadowed by Dad's illness and death that it seemed that I missed it all out... it just didnt register...
This year is a whole new ballgame though...