Another garden feature ......

Everything here grows so fast, it's really time consuming and back-breaking and that's just keeping up with the weeds, not to mention the veggies!

Looking out from our veranda onto the garden the right-hand side there still needs a fair bit of work to finish it off as to how we want it. At a later stage we plan to build a brick summer kitchen down the wall side and we shall use the metal frame structure which was originally attached to the garden shed we renovated last year and turn it into a greenhouse. So with the pond, the BBQ and the raised veggie plots all finished off we need to deal with the "in-between" bits of garden.

I have just been looking at some photos taken in March last year and have amazed myself at the massive change in it's appearance over the last 16 months. The raised veggie beds help keep down the dreaded weeds but the "in-between" bit is a task and a half getting rid of them. During the winter they grow at a tremendous rate so we have dug out the weeds and will keep on doing it until later in the autumn we shall sow grass seeds to give it a more pleasant and appealing look and hopefully more easily maintainable.

This picture is looking at the garden from the veranda at the right-hand side, taken about March 2013.

Picture taken today.
We have just harvested potatoes from the empty veggie bed, so no more buying spuds for a good while! First time growing them and we are very pleased with the results. They taste lovely.
We have just finished off a little patio area, leaving a central hole to put up a sun parasol (which has yet to be purchased, hopefully this weekend). We used locally obtained granite sets and after laying a concrete base, cemented them in.

A few pics of the house and garden

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 !!!!

Garden Fish Pond

You may remember we put a post on May last year when we began the groundwork and foundations for the garden pond and then in July we did an update on our progress. We decided to put that project on the back-burner until the following Spring (now) so during a spell of lovely weather in March we took to the spade and started to dig out the earth. Shovel after shovel of soil began piling up which was useful as we needed to fill up some veggie beds and use on the back garden for a new border bed. Once the earth was dug out and tamped down we had a delivery of sand and began to line the pond with sand before fitting the butyl pond liner. Rob had previously installed the electric wiring and cables to fit the pump for the pond and the filter which sits inside the garden shed so it was a matter of connecting them up once the pond was filled with water (my favourite part!)

With the pond filled it was then onto finishing the cladding of the stone over the pond liner to seal it. Rob built a waterfall from concrete blocks and used the stone to clad it.
Some pictures showing the build stages of the pond:-

Rob has began entering fishing competitions and has won 2 of them! One on the matches he fished we were allowed to bring some small fish back for our pond. The main fishing season is closed at the moment but in May when my brother comes to visit they will go and catch other fish to add to the pond. And that makes Rob a happy chappy !!!!

Enjoying the garden

Last month on the 20th March we had our first BBQ of the year. We invited our friends and enjoyed the spring sunshine with a well earned "day off" and soaked up a few rays!

This time of the year I think the flowers are at their best. Mostly in other people's gardens though as ours isn't established yet. There are many fields displaying splendid shows of cherry and other fruit blossoms. Also lots of colourful shrubs, and garden flowers which are unknown to me. I am still learning which plants do well here as I have had to learn the hard way by finding out that some flowers I used to grow back in the UK just get burnt to death in the heat of the summer! Keeping them well watered is a major task in the summer and a lot of flowers just cannot tolerate the heat.

On the more productive side we are harvesting onions planted last October with another batch to harvest later which were planted in January, and very soon the next lot will be planted. We use lots onions either fresh or for cooking so I am trying to keep a succession of plants always in the garden, as thankfully this is one plant which will grow all year round here. Last month we planted a full bed of seed potatoes and this last week they are sprutting like mad! It is our first attempt at potatoes so fingers crossed we are successful. Garden peas are now planted, they don't seem to be growing as quickly as last year but they are up and on their way. Last week-end (5th April) we planted tomatoes and sweet peppers and in the small greenhouse we have courgettes and french beans waiting to be planted out. I know I am doing well with my onions as I can proudly say that when our locals pass by they always comment on my "grande cebolas" - big onions !!! Drying this batch out to use soon:-