Update 10.03.2010

Finally the rain stopped two days ago, it went out with a flurry of snow and more freezing conditions on Monday night, most unseasonal. Yesterday, the Nottingham Society of Unofficial Wwoofers arrived (Debs, Sophie and Kathy) and Debs presented us with the Biodynamic Planting Calendar (Maria and Matthias Thun) to guide us in sowing planting and harvesting in line with lunar things. Luckily it is the right time to sow courgettes, squash, cucumbers etc which is good because that was on the list as today’s job.
We made a third semillero and sowed more seeds including organic bell peppers from our local friend Agustin Paloma, organic sweet peppers from our Portuguese neighbour, squash and melon seeds we collected from last year’s crop and other packet seeds listed below. The first semillero is doing really well and the second still warming up for action… if only I had the lunar planting calendar a couple of weeks ago…

At the weekend we met an interesting lady called Kate Jackson who told us about Sonic Bloom, a growing technique using sound to enhance the yield and health of vegetables grown in the huerto. Mooch is currently preparing a DJ set to get the plants grooving through the night.

We are interested in the idea of permaculture which we also discussed with Kate but have a lot to learn as it is a holistic concept for living that we are only partly geared up for, however, there are many good values and ideas that we can take on board. For example, companion planting to enhance plant growth and prevent disease, this is something achievable and part of the permaculture philosophy, so more research required… we now know we should have planted our garlic in rows in early winter ready for potatoes to be planted in between in spring… something to remember for next year…

Sown in semillero today: gourds and squash (various), peppers (various), melon, (various), cucumber, pumpkin, aubergine, artichoke. Also planted sugar snap peas and mange tout straight out in rows.

Mimosa in blossom.

Lake full.

Eating preserved Jerusalem artichokes from last year.

Update 03.03.2010

Things are already astray in terms of planning and working on the allotment; from time to time we might call the allotment a huerto because that’s what we call it in Spanish. Last year it didn’t rain in February or March and this year it hasn’t stopped so far. The huerto is too heavy to dig and prepare, although we did manage to get it ploughed during a few dry days, so that was lucky. Also, our massive supply of goat poo which is coming from a Portuguese farmer is very wet and heavy and difficult to move at the moment but we haven’t got a picture of that.
Luckily during February we had a visit from expert gardener Joe Skaptason (my 5 year old nephew) who helped get the spring onions in while Holly (my 3 year old niece) ate biscuits.

We made a couple of basic semilleros or mini greenhouses in part of the allotment using old irrigation pipe, plastic sheets and rocks. It’s technical stuff you know. We sowed a mixture of seeds under the semillero including donated organic seeds, packet seeds, saved seeds, all of these will be grown organically even if some aren’t technically organic. The first batch (sown 20th Feb) included organic welsh onions from Holy Isle, Scotland. They sprouted within ten days. The second batch (sown 2^nd March) included organic tigre verde and cuelgo tomatoes from local specialists and some pak choi which is also from Holy Isle. We’re still eating the pak choi that was sown in late autumn, mm… (thanks Jenny)

We have had volunteers here, Jeremy from NZ and Tim from Australia, and to kill time whilst not being able to dig we did some land clearance by the orange grove and made marmalade which was fun, although they did have a bit of trouble getting a bonfire going in the rain. Even so, they’ve been a great help to us. Thanks guys.

We also relocated some young fruit trees and we’ve been harvesting our oranges to make marmalade and mixing them with stored kiwi fruits from last year (from our Portuguese neighbour) to make juice for breakfast. Antonio the neighbour thought it was hilarious to give kiwi fruit to a Kiwi.

Sowed mid February: coriander, onions, leeks, spinach, rocket, lettuce, pak choi.

Sowed beg March: courgette, squash, gourds, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, chillis.

Ideally some things could be sown straight into the huerto but as we can’t prepare the ground we’ve sown them undercover.