Garden update and Cherry Festa

Just a little update on our latest garden produce with a few pics showing how the veggies are coming on. We had a little rain last week and a cool breeze with sunny periods, but boy, did that rain make the veggies grow like crazy! (I first drafted this blog about 2 weeks ago and forgot to post so now the heat is really on hitting 33 today and heating for 36 degrees by the week-end) Although we water regularly, almost every day now, we were amazed at the growth spurt, particularly the beetroot, parsnips, courgettes and strawberries.

The tomatoes are doing well, still green but hopefully will soon start turning red and ready soon to start picking.

I planted 10 cauliflower plants four weeks ago and they are already shooting up, which after our bumper crop reaped last winter, I decided to plant less and hope that again they would do me proud! We are still munching our way through the cauliflowers along with the parsnips and leeks which went into the freezer.

Even though this is my first ever attempt at growing potatoes, I know full well they are not ready to harvest yet, but my curiosity got the better side of me when I saw a potato protruding through the soil and so I just had to get out the garden fork and dig up a boiling for sunday lunch!!! And, I have to say, they were delicious, but I do have to be patient and wait for them to grow bigger - even though I'm not sure the taste can be improved !!!!!!!!!!

My attempt last year to grow green runner beans died a death at the last hurdle, having plenty of leafage and beautiful red flowers they failed to produce the beans as the sun was just too hot for them, killing them all off. I later attempted to grow dwarf black french beans and had some success with those so have again planted this bean and have just had two boilings so far.

My favourite delights at this time of the year are the cherries and the first strawberries! Every year our village has a Cherry Festival where the locals have a stand to have the opportunity to sell their cherries, arts and crafts and home-made jam, honey, lemon curd, etc., We also have lots of local dancing groups who perform and a band playing until the wee hours in the morning followed by a DJ and dance party for the more younger people of the local villages!!!!!!!!!!

The last dance is fun when the unsuspecting locals (me) are encouraged (dragged) up for a dance. Not a good move when wearing flip-flips and the beat is fast and dancing backwards. At least I managed to keep upright and didn't make myself look a "complete fool" !!!!!!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE .........

Firstly apologies to all our followers for being a little neglectful regarding new posts,it's been a rather hectic couple of months but, this time in the best of ways, as we have had family here from the UK, which was, of course, lovely and also the Festas have kicked in with our village's Cherry Festival being one of the first and then they go on and on.
The weather has been fantastic this year with cloudless hot sunny days from the beginning of March with perhaps maybe only a week's worth of dodgy weather in the last twelve weeks.
Anyway, now on to the topic of this post which is all about fishing - sorry folks!!!
I have started to fish the competitions here in Portugal now as I was a very keen match angler in the UK for well over 25 years, and the returns have been excellent so far.
I have fished 8 competitions up to date and have won money on six of them with 2 first places 2 second places a third and a fourth place winning between 40 and 80 euros per match, around 250 euros so far, which considering it's my first full season of fishing here, to say I am over the moon, is a big understatement!!!!
My best weight so far was 51 lbs but as the weather keeps getting hotter the weights will get bigger as the carp here eat copious amounts of bait mainly trigo and sweetcorn, but I am having successes with luncheon meat too.
The match anglers in my club at Castelo Branco are amongst the the friendliest I have come across, and Antonio who runs the matches is a very accomplished angler having represented both Benfica and Portugal in the fishing world, so there is always more I can learn, never one to rest on my laurels, you can never know enough information regarding competitive fishing and local knowledge is a must. I am always picking their brains, but alas they, like me, will never reveal winning methods!!!!
We are getting good average attendances with around 22 anglers per match, so you need to be on the ball in regards to competing.
Finally, now I have bored you all to death, well those of you who have no interest in fishing, here are few pics of the last few encounters:-

Rob and his friend "Bob"

Enjoying the BBQ lunch after the match !!!!