Shame on me. I completely forgot to write my monthly vegetable diary for May and I only took one photograph of the raised vegetable area.
Raised vegetable garden 30th May 2012
In my defence, I was away for several weeks so my garden was left very much to its own devices. Unfortunately this created problems with bugs and of course my container grown tomato plants
Another lesson learned is not to leave leeks in the ground too long as they run to seed, the centres become rock hard which then makes them inedible. All the leeks pictured above were recycled on the compost heap. “Waste not, want not” as they say…
Raised vegetable garden 23rd June 2012
Since returning to Portugal I’ve spent all my spare time in the garden and I’m finally reaping the rewards.
Plum cordon tomatoes
The cherry tomatoes bought from the local village shop look like plum tomatoes – strange I could have sworn I specifically asked for cherry! Another “lost in translation” frustration. I remember the guy saying they were cordon and “BOM?” as he smiled and nodded his head enthusiastically.
Orange Bell Pepper Plant
I transferred a couple of the orange bell pepper plants from their containers to the raised vegetable bed as the leaves were turning yellow and beginning to curl. I think the pots were probably too small and the plants were not getting enough nutrients. They certainly look much happier now. The next batch of peppers will be planted in much bigger containers!
However, I hope these are orange peppers and not green. After the tomato misunderstanding they could be anything.
French beans – variety, contender
French beans are really expensive here in Portugal so I planted a couple of rows of “Contender” This is a dwarf bush variety. I can’t grow anything up tall canes here on the coast as they would just blow away. I grew this variety last year and they were perfect.
Aubergine seedling planted 16th June
I bought these Aubergine plugs for just 20 cents each from the local hardware shop. They were already in flower which I’m not sure was a good thing? They struggled for several days after planting, but now seem to be holding their own. The flowers are dying off and maybe, just maybe a baby aubergine will appear shortly. I decided against planting in containers on this occasion as there was room in the raised area.
I’m still pulling carrots planted from seed earlier in the year, and the green and red cabbage continue to do well.
Fruit
One of my Olive trees
I discovered, one of my olive trees has lots of tiny olives. However, not so delighted to discover fluffy white bugs, possibly mealy bugs, have taken up residence!
My first orange tree
This is my first attempt to grow an orange tree and so far, although the odds are stacked against success as they dislike salt winds, so far so good. This is a winter fruiting variety and already it has several tiny oranges. Fingers crossed!
Nespera tree
The harvest from the Nespera tree was extremely disappointing this year with only six fruit. Someone kindly pointed out there were to many stems coming from the bottom of the tree and it resembled a buh, not a tree! After some drastic pruning we have our fingers crossed for a more successful harvest next year!
Food From Seed
5/6 Planted some of Joan’s black carrot seeds. I’ve never eaten black carrots before so it will be an interesting experience. In fact, I’ve never seen a black carrot!
7/6 Planted Mexcla Baby lettuce leaf seeds (Ensalada Asiatica) purchased from the Horticultural centre in Portimaõ.
11/6 planted spinach seeds
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