Spain helps out neighbour France in green power surge

Spain has bolstered its credentials as a world leader in renewable energy by exporting electricity to France for the first time. Heavy rain and strong winds during 2010 meant that renewables - principally hydro, wind and solar power - met 35 per cent of Spanish demand.

Wind power rose by 18.5 per cent in 2010 and now meets 16 per cent of demand. Luis Atienza, managing director of Spain's electricity grid, predicted that "within three years wind power will overtake nuclear as an electricity source". At its peak, on November 9, wind power met 43 per cent of demand.

This greening of the Spanish grid has not benefited the consumer, with prices likely to rise by nine per cent in 2011. The government sets electricity prices which have no direct correlation with production costs. (The Guardian)

Electricity prices will rise 9.8 % in 2011 and that is almost 40% since 2002.

A Mediterranean garden in the Languedoc

We would like to introduce our blog readers to a new blog about garden and horticulture in a Mediterranean climate. The blogger in this instance is chaiselonge who has written  this guest blog by way of introduction.

A Mediterranean garden in the Languedoc

I grew up in Mediterranean countries, in North Africa and in Turkey, among olive trees, eucalyptus, oleanders and hillsides covered in thyme and rosemary.  After spending many years in Wales I persuaded Lo Jardinièr (the gardener, in Occitan) that I need to live where olive trees grow.  So now we're learning to garden in a Mediterranean climate and we've planted two small olive trees which will probably look lovely in 100 years' time.  Last autumn we harvested 24 black olives.  I followed the recipe for preserving them given by Tomás Graves in his book, A Home in Majorca, soaked them in spring water for a few days, then layered them with herbs in an earthenware jar and covered them with brine.  Two months later on Christmas day our son and daughter were here and the four of us shared them with aperitifs in the garden in the sun.

In our medieval village there isn't room for gardens around the houses, so for centuries the villagers have gardened on the hillside, using water from the spring at the top.  We've bought a plot there and in this small space we're hoping to create a mixed garden of vegetables and ornamental drought-resistant Mediterranean plants and to enjoy eating the food that we grow there and I'll be blogging about our progress.  We've got a lot to learn, but we get help from our neighbours and benefit from the experience that has been passed on through the generations here.  And best of all, we've got the produce.  This winter we've been eating our way through 50 jars of preserved tomatoes, full of the taste of summer heat.  We need never buy a tin of tomatoes again!

 chaiselongue,

Please visit my garden -

Olives and Artichokes - in Languedoc region of France.

Murs Végétals

Patrick Blanc creator of the 'murs végétals' was featured in a special report from the Chelsea flower show, London. The 'vegetative walls' is a really innovative technique designed to grow plants on vertical planes, one which he has employed on the exterior of Paris buildings,and is now an influence around the globe. A Frenchgardening.com report on the technique and creator can be found by following the link in this post. Having studied his technique it looks so easy you will wonder why you didn't think of it yourself.

The show gardens from the RHS Chelsea flower show can be seen here.



This little gem is on my wish list, look our for it in the Urban Oasis garden.