Mediterranean Garden Spain: June 2007

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I saw this old ceramic wine or water storage jar on display in a village centre. I particularly liked the ironmongery which looks like stitching. A few years ago these vessels were common place and cheap to buy. Nowadays they command bigger fees and pots with character are getting rarer by the day.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Back to Living in Paradise: The World on Fire

We are now entering the wild fire season and all ready the skies are buzzing with helicopters on fire patrol. For a funny and dramatic fire tale follow the link below. This site is well worth a visit.

Back to Living in Paradise: The World on Fire

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Nectar food of the gods

My favourite time of the year has arrived again. There is nothing better in gardening than that moment of hearing the first pod pop open to reveal those fresh garden peas. My earliest memories of vegetable growing are as a boy of seven visiting grandad's allotment with my father. Where I was allowed to pick pea pods while he did a little digging. The peas, as they are in all vegetable gardens, were eaten on site few ever made the journey home. Evidence of our feast was thrown into the chicken coup for the birds to squabble over.
Despite nutritionist's advice that frozen peas are better than shop bought peas, I prefer to pop a pod and if I have none of my own I will splash the cash.

Mellow moods

Every now and again several elements will combine to provide a moment of pure bliss. This was such a moment. As I turned into this little road within our small pueblo, the diffused sunlight softly bathed the mellow ochre coloured stone. The warm air, sheltered here and thus hardly stirred by the gentle afternoon breeze, was heavily perfumed with the fragrance of the jasmine blossom the vines of which were was clinging to the aged and crumbling masonry.

Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine
Blowing through the Jasmine in my mind

Unlike the title of that Isley Brothers song this was hardly summer but rather a day in mid April 2007. The combination was breathtaking and now that the jasmine is having a second flourish I hope to relive that precious moment.

ISLEY BROTHERS lyrics

Monday, June 18, 2007

Have you seen Mary Husey ?

Gladioli Mary Husey flower spikes soar above their sword like leaves and provide their blooms in a pleasing arrangement at height of around 3’ high; their habit thus sparing me another back bending examination experience. Very welcome that is too at the moment, as I am struggling with joint pain in the right hip and knee after one of my increasingly frequent tumbles amongst the greenery. I am thinking of having stabilisers fitted.

Criticism often heard about the plants is that they can be 'a little blowsy (blousy)'; they were out of fashion for a while, but it would seem that Gladioli are back in vogue. Pioneering work by Dame Edna Everage in promoting the ‘Glad’ has undoubtedly paid off. And I for one am more than happy about the news; in fact I have just planted additional Gladioli corms. Mediterranean garden pests, so far at least, seem to leave them alone.

Once the flowers have revealed their true colouration I am sure that I will have to lift some them and find suitable companion plants to tone with them. But that is no hardship when you look at the rewards.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Unblemished

The lily is one of Carol's favourite flowers and therefore always welcome in any bouquet that she receives. The pollen from the lily though can be problematic if it comes into contact with any clothing or furnishings. The usual advice for lily recipients is to cut away the flowers sexual parts which whilst it does prevent the pollen stains also removes much of the plants impact. If you do manage to contaminate your clothing or furnishings with the pollen do not rub with a damp cloth which will make matters much worse; instead use adhesive tape to lift away the pollen from the affected article.

Farming Malarkey

This Farming Malarkey is not as easy as it appears.

Chances of a fig from Figueres are looking quite slim at the moment, with little evidence of fruit having formed on our lone fig tree. The tree looks healthy enough and has good leaf coverage after the late winter rainfall. I enjoy the figs direct from the tree for the freshest of tastes or served with the Iberian ham of Spain’s signature dish. Carol prefers dried figs and lunches on them almost daily with Fazia her friend and fellow fruit-bat. We dried out the figs produced in 2005 and 2006 using a combination of sunshine and the low heat of an oven. In the short term the jammy dried figs were a success but they did not store well.

Pruning carried out by us and as advised by our Moroccan tiler friend was light and should not have damaged the fruit production; further pruning as performed by Francisco’s sheep has only refined the shape of the fig. It is I suppose possible that the previous year’s drought has stopped this year’s fruit from developing on the fig tree. On a positive note there are tiny fruit buds that have set and will go on to produce next season’s fruit. The abundance of fig leaves means that we will have to seek out recipes which use those leaves. Any leaves that remain could be supplied to the naturists who cavort upon the Costa Brava beaches.

Our solitary almond tree survived the drought despite some pillock having excavated the embankment on which it stands. The guy who sold us the house had dumped his manure pile on the embankment, and somebody had dug out the stash whilst we were away from the property. The tree had only four nuts this year but a crop is a crop is it not? Now though that crop has been decimated by either weather or predator and only half the nuts remain.

The pomegranate tree we planted two years ago is flowering again but alas it has not provided us with any fruit to date. Last year I struck half a dozen cuttings from the original tree and although they are now thriving they are not yet flowering. As they mature and flower cross pollination should ensure a healthy crop.

The olive cuttings are now established young plants though their shapes are wildly different. One is almost a standard whilst the others savaged by the severe weather are shrubbier. Pruning should sort out the shapes and we will try to propagate the material we have to remove. Who knows in a thousand years or so they may all be beautiful old trees.