Piglet in Portugal

This year I plan to photograph and record what’s growing in my humble vegetable garden on the 19th of each month. This will give me a better idea of what’s growing when, and how well. Hopefully, it will act as a record for next year and I can learn from my successes and failures.

The Portuguese cabbages (Couve Galega) which I use to make Caldo Verde Soup are now over 2′ tall. I love the way they grow skywards – a great space-saving crop for a small plot.

My favas (broad beans) planted from seed on the 24/10/2012 are now over 2’6″ tall. In fact I’ve pinched the tops out of some of them so their energy goes into the beans and not into leaves, stalks and even more flowers. There are loads of pods and we will be eating our first feed of beans this coming week.

Echalotes (shallots)…

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Piglet in Portugal

This year I plan to photograph the plants in my humble vegetable garden on the 19th of each month. This will give me a better idea of what’s growing when, and how well. Hopefully, it will act as a record for next year and I can learn from my successes and failures.

The broad beans (or favas as they are called in Portugal) planted from seed on the 24th October are growing well. The favas flowers are now forming into tiny bean pods – but only just!. I bought the loose seeds from our local hardware-come-garden shop for just 30cents – a bargain. If I’d bought in the bean seeds in posh packets they would have cost me three euros plus!

The baby broccoli and cauliflowers planted in December are almost ready to pick.  For some reason the broccoli heads never grow very big before running to seed. Any suggestions…

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Piglet in Portugal

My passion for gardening has taken a back seat during November due to my trip to France, illness and of course the National Novel Writing 30 day challenge. However, much to my surprise everything, bar the cucumbers growing in pots, survived despite being unloved and neglected. Temperatures in the day hovered around 18C and 12C at night. So not cold, but it rained, oh boy did it rain!

The green peppers planted in the raised bed, continue to thrive and bear fruit! I will certainly plant these again next year although I will not bother with the orange peppers as they took far too long to change colour. The pot grown peppers are now passed their best and it will not be long before I finally find the time to recycle them in my new composter.

I planted garlic cloves as an experiment at the end of October in the…

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Growing Chili Peppers in Pots

Piglet in Portugal

My container gardening diary continues…

The temperatures in July, after scorching winds, soared into the 30Cs and certainly tested my tenacity and ability to grow fruit and vegetables in containers.

Unlike cacti, succulents, hibiscus and the other variety of plants I grow,  container grown fruit and vegetables are certainly more challenging for the novice gardener. However, I am pleased to report the only casualty during July was my sage plant. Why did it die? I just don’t know. But as you can see it’s certainly dead. Not enough water or too much? I tested both theories as I watched its demise.

Chilies have to be the easiest plant to grow in containers!

Unfortunately, we do not eat a tremendous amount of chili, perhaps we should.  However, they will be put to good use as chilies are one of the ingredients in an organic insect deterrent…

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