No Waste in the Creative Garden

Some rights reserved by London Permaculture

"Everything can be put to use within the creative process."

Shaun McNiff, Trust the Process - An Artist's Guide to Letting Go (Shambhala, 1998)

We've just harvested a good number of large buckets of compost from our rickety makeshift compost heap. There is nothing quite like the joy of reaping such riches from a process that takes almost no effort at all - just a stroll down to the garden with the kitchen scraps and the leaf fall from the patio, an occasional desultory stir and a bit of water in the summer and, voila, free topsoil full of nutrients!

Contrast this with the constantly irritating process of collecting all the waste supermarket packaging that we seem to collect despite our efforts to the contrary followed by the reward-less trip to the nearest recycling point with bulky and unwieldy parcels (no kerb-side recycling here!) of a product that probably should never have been invented in the first place and that will be with us for millennia to come (i.e. plastic in all its myriad shapes and forms).

A major benefit of an organic garden is that it is a closed-loop system that has no waste products, everything sooner or later rotting down and returning to whence it came. Its useful to think of our creative lives in the same way.

All to often we feel we have 'wasted our time' when we make something that doesn't fulfil the criteria or expectations we had in mind for it but this is erroneous thinking because, as in the garden, everything we do in our creative lives contributes to the whole: A tiny corner of a painting we don't like sparks an idea for another work; a misplaced brushstroke sets us to wondering how it would be to paint a large canvas with broad, dripping brushstrokes; An unfinished novel that has lain in the drawer untouched for years, is recycled into a series of short stories which get published; A week spent blocked with a work in progress eventually leads to the realization that we are bored with our process and we need to experiment with new techniques...

Our minds and psyches will function very effectively as virtual compost bins for recycling creative ideas if only we will stop inhibiting the process by our negative thinking and dismissing out of hand every aspect of our creative lives that doesn't seem to fit nicely into the 'product' category. Like the making of compost in the garden, this process requires no great effort on our part; We only need a little diligence and patience and in a short time we will be rewarded with buckets of rich ideas with which to dress our creative gardens and help them grow.

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Mysterious Bugs v Fragrant Blooms

This summer the garden has been literally plagued by problems. For the second year running a mysterious bug has attacked the tomatoes and the peppers causing the fruit to rot on the stems. Another disease has also variously affected the honeysuckle, one of the rambling roses and the cherry tomatoes (not affected by the first disease) this time causing the leaves to wither.

As if this weren't disturbing enough, the normally robust snapdragons have been covered by what appears to my untrained eye to be some sort of rust and the indestructible hollyhocks have been so extensively attacked by the beetle that always eats their leaves, they they all but gave up flowering altogether!

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Water

I re-entered our potager with some trepidation after leaving it to the mercy of our newly set up drip irrigation system for our holiday fortnight. Typically we only got the irrigation set up a couple of days before leaving despite having talked about it for months so we didn't have time to thoroughly road test it so this was trial by fire or rather, water!

Despite my fears, most of the garden is in better shape than it was before we left with the exception of the snapdragons which though they have always appeared to survive very well with little water obviously need more than we allowed for. Most of the potatoes have had it as well but that's probably due to the same insect that has been affecting the tomatoes rather than lack of water. (Interestingly the tomatoes we grew from seed seem to be resisting the disease much better than those that we bought as plantlets so that's definitely the way to go although it means waiting longer for the fruit.)

Although it took a few days to set up the watering system, now that it is done we are happily reaping the benefit of the saved hours spent with the hosepipe to say nothing of the efficient water use :)

Another investment we are reaping the benefit of is our tiny reconditioned water deposit. The rainwater we collected in it over winter has all gone now but today we filled it with clean water to use for cooling off during the heat of these hot summer afternoons. We picked up a solar fountain pump going cheap a month or so ago and we are hoping that by using that to aerate the water and the addition of a tiny amount of copper sulphate we will manage to keep the nasties at bay. Ideally we would like enhance the efficiency of this by using the water to irrigate and then topping it up again and so creating a regular renewal of the water but I'm not sure about the copper sulphate going on the plants. I've used it before as a fungicide to spray tomatoes and peppers (copper sulphate is an ingredient in Bordeaux Mixture, accepted as an organic fungicide) so I guess it will be ok but I'd love to hear from you if you have any experience of this.

In the meantime, if you want me I'll be in the splash pool!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Loja

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The Plum and the Cherry

Both the plum tree and I are being attacked by a bug. We're neither of us looking so good but still valiantly fruiting ;)

The plum should be looking more like this:


And as for me....

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Before and After: The Story of My Emerging Potager

Since we moved into the house three years ago and surveyed our weed-filled plot (below), I've had it in mind that I want to turn the garden into an 'informal potager' – or cottage garden – where vegetables and flowers are mixed together in the same beds to create a riotous display of colours and shapes, with bees humming and butterflies fluttering in and out amongst the blooms.


This year more than ever before– to the untrained eye at least – the garden is beginning to resemble what I saw in my mind but – as is inevitable when growing anything, regardless of horticultural philosophy or style – there have been some failures alongside the successes.


Amongst the failures are the broad beans, which though they began normally enough (as you can see in the photo) – and in previous years have been a resilient staple crop – this year fell prey to some mysterious disease which caused many of the pods to wither almost as soon as they began to form, the stems to bend over and the leaves to become brown and shrivelled. We've harvested a few beans but probably only a fifth of what we normally would have.


The other major concern – and who knows, perhaps not unrelated – is the plum tree. This tree is probably around a hundred years old. We used to have two but the younger one succumbed in the first year to another mysterious disease that attacked members of the prunus family in the area where we live, causing them to leach sap and dry up. We managed to save the other one by digging a trench round it and filling it with soaked cardboard, balled up newspaper and manure and then planting garlic and peas around it. Even so, it was still clearly not a very happy plum and despite a gardener friend's warning that it was too old to prosper, last year we gave it a severe prune and a good feed and were rewarded in early spring this year with the sight of its branches dripping in blossom.


Unfortunately, although there are now lots of small plums, the leaves have curled and shrivelled and the poor dear is looking very sickly once again.

Another normally dependable staple – the hollyhocks – which were growing up very nicely and just about to flower have, this very day, been devastated by severe winds which have caused them to bend in half. What the result of this will be I don't know but since its still a waning moon, if they look very sad, I'll prune them down to below the bend and see if they sprout up again.

Having depressed myself – and you fellow green-fingers – by talking about these failures, its time to cheer us all up again by showing you some of the marvels that have occurred.


Due to the intense rain this year, just about everything has doubled in size - particularly the mulberry, the snapdragons (which I wasn't even sure would over-winter, given we had a bit of snow), this purple shrub that I don't even know the name of but that was given to us by a fellow greenie (you know who you are!) and my other half has now divided into two plants and the little lemon and orange trees which after years of languishing (in another garden before here) are finally beginning to get up and at it!


The wild rocket, as usual, has gone mad and providing great ground cover and the mint is, predictably taking over everything and I've had to start pulling it up but we're really enjoying our regular cups of 'hierba buena' and are able to give it away as gifts as well. Apart from the fact that it smells divine when you walk amongst it.


Its been our policy so far to let anything run riot that will until we need the space because our experience of gardening in Spain so far has taught us that evaporation of water is generally the greatest enemy so we want as much ground-cover as possible. Its probably a dangerous policy to follow as I know that plants such as mint and wild rocket are impossible to stop I still prefer it to bare ground or rampant grasses and weeds which is what we had before and are gradually taming into submission. In other words, I'd rather have a weed I can eat or drink than one that just irritates me! The calendulas have also finally taken hold and are spreading themselves – with a little help from me – around the garden.


The other successes so far are the seed potatoes that another greenie friend gave (thank heavens for friends!). Previously we've only ever used ones that we bought to eat and have sprouted in our kitchen drawer and the difference is very noticeable.


As you can see, I've begun my experiment with growing tomatoes upside down in buckets. I read about it somewhere and this year seemed the perfect year to try it – partly because we are getting short on space and want to try and make more use of vertical space to compensate, and partly because last year the tomatoes were hit by a disease that hit all the tomatoes in the region and so we didn't want to plant them in the same place again and in a garden our size that doesn't leave so much choice!


I've also done my first, properly laid out companion bed – made a lot easier by purchasing the plantlets rather than growing them from seed: The lettuces are interspersed with Italian green peppers which grow very tall and bushy and will shade the lettuces from the fierce summer sun. They are surrounded by onions which I hope will provide a living fence to keep the cat – and her neighbour friends – off the bed (a perennial problem, temporarily solved, as you can see by the strategic placement of some very prickly rose prunings).


We've also reclaimed the old water deposit for a rain collection point and we've got a new 'lean to' – which my other half and his brother built from left over materials from the bits of the house we had to rebuild. One of the side benefits of this, apart from the cat having an extra snooze spot is that we have somewhere dry to stand and watch the rain or to take cover from the baking summer sun as well as a much needed place to store all the usual garden paraphernalia.



With the idea of writing this blogpost, I went and took a new photo of the garden from more or less the same vantage point as the original, what a difference!

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CLEARED SPACE - Why Emptiness Allows Growth

"If all space were filled with matter, nothing could move… A type of space can also be filled with all the assumptions you have made in your life. If you go back and remember how your structure of understanding (of what is going on in this world) was built, and how those assumptions have affected your life, you see that a different set of assumptions would have led to a very different life. The ability to understand that you can change your life by changing your assumptions is a kind of “movement.” Allowing for possibility that alternate assumptions may also be useful … emptiness allows for personal growth."

From p67 of Movements of Power by Bob Klein

My garden is rather neglected at the moment to say the least. Partly its due to winter malaise, partly its due to the backlog of other things that have built up over the last nine months of works in the house and partly its due to inclement weather conditions and partly its simply due to it not having been the right time to plant very much.

I did clear various beds in the autumn ready for February planting but as a consequence of my temporary abandonment, those beds – that at other times of the year are overflowing with luscious veggies – have been gradually squatted by nettles.

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Chuck the Green Tomato Chutney?

Because we live in a continental zone where the summers are scorching and all but the hardiest plants withdraw into themselves, our best time for tomatoes is actually autumn when the days are still balmy and the night-time temperatures don't fall too low. As a result we are able to still pick fresh tomatoes for salad right into November. Unfortunately this year at the end of November it was very cold and bucketing down with rain and salads had really lost their appeal to be replaced in our affections by steaming bowls of hot broth or curry. As a result the tomato plants were left languishing. It was too wet for any but really hardy types - of which I am definitely not one - to go out in the garden anyway, so although I had that nagging feeling of something left undone, I consciously pushed any thoughts of dealing with the tomato plants to the back of my mind for 'When it stops raining.'

Now, almost a month later, the rain has finally stopped and we are able to return to the garden to assess the benefits and damage this unprecedented rainfall and unseasonable cold snap has had on the plants.

At first sight the tomatoes looked a sorry sight with their leaves wilted and many tomatoes on the ground but closer inspection revealed a great number of healthy tomatoes - albeit green ones - still on the plants. I decided to dismantle the tomato patch ready to plant something else when we return from holiday after New Year and at the same time salvage as many tomatoes as possible. It was easy to spot any that had frozen as they had a sort of transparent appearance but in fact there were extremely few of those and apart from that there were a number which had been burrowed by insects but not that many given we don't use any pesticides. The final count of the haul was a hefty two and a half kilos - not bad for an abandoned tomato patch in at the end of December!

Had we been staying at home I would have taken some of the green tomatoes into the house to redden - done in the dark on newspaper contrary to what common sense might dictate - but since we are going to be away I decided that haul was best turned into chutney. Since I am a hopeless addict of Indian food, I scoured the internet for an Indian green tomato chutney and after rejecting a few for containing ingredients that are expensive or difficult to obtain here in the Spanish hinterland or that ones I'm allergic to - I finally settled on one which I found at The Cooks Cottage which is a site worth visiting just for the visuals!

Unfortunately the recipe proved to have way too much vinegar (or, perhaps it was simply that malt vinegar is much less sharp than the wine vinegar I used? We don't have malt here.) and the result was less than happy. I scoured the internet for solutions to getting rid of the vinegary taste and was slightly comforted to find that this had happened to many more people than me and with a variety of chutney recipes from across the web. Solutions included everything from adding the same amount of ingredients again - minus the vinegar, of course - to adding fresh coriander, more sugar, apple juice or more apples. I tried just about all of them and also added some more chilli and bay leaves...

The result? Well, its touch and go. I've bottled it and decided to leave it for a few months to see how it tastes then. Will I chuck the chutney? Watch this space!

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Washing Pots

As I go about the garden, I see empty posts scattered here and there unwashed and abandoned after the plants they contained have long since been transplanted to new homes or have left the land of plant life to go to the great compost heap in the corner. I know that what I need to do is to gather up the pots and take them to the sink to be scrubbed; then to leave them to dry in the sun and tidy them away in an easily accessible place ready for use when something next needs potting up. But while I am rushing around, busy with the myriad of gardening tasks that must be done, I find no time for washing pots.

One day, however, a hiatus comes: The seeds are all planted, the weeds have been hoed, the bushes and trees pruned and its not yet time for the next season's work. Or, perhaps, it is simply that I feel tired or lethargic...I sit on the front step and feel the warm sunlight gladden my face and my soul. I should do something, I think...I decide to wash pots.

While I wash, I daydream about what I will plant next year, the new path I'm going to make, the pergola my partner is building...I wash and enjoy the sun and soon all the pots are washed and drying. Soon after they are stacked and put away ready for use.

Washing pots is what we do when we don't really feel like doing anything and, in not really doing anything, we find that after all, we have done something very important.

Image adapted from photo courtesy of stock.xchng free stock images

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Why Plant Trees?

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Did you know that one large tree produces the cooling effect of 10 room-size air conditioners? And if you did, do you know why? The latest podcast from What We Grow.com explains all the benefits to be had from the planting of a humble tree.

You can download the full transcript for this podcast here.
If you prefer you can download the MP4 version here.

Music for this podcast is from the album Manos Unidos by Santiago Louvet. It is distributed under a Creative Commons License and available from www.jamendo.com

For a fuller discussion of this topic please visit www.coloradotrees.org and www.mongabay.com


Subscribe to What We Grow podcasts:  in iTunes   Miro   BlipTV  

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...And in health

THE CHICKEN BLOG: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM THE GROUND
July 2008
I was down buying chicken feed from the shop and saw a tiny notice offering Andalusian hens of all colours for sale. Of course this had to be followed up and one evening I went with Paco to a rural cortijo up in the hills. I was amazed to find I now had an introduction to Almuñécar's main breeder of speciality hens.

Although he sells surplus birds, he assured me it was his hobby and was keen to show me the hundreds of birds he keeps – mainly Javas and Andalusian but with plenty of pretty bantams. There were also birds who could only be kept alone as they are fighters. The Andalusians came in all sizes, and the cockerels as always were very showy – standing almost a metre high with very long wattles hanging down.

Although the notice had only been up three days the breeder had already sold out of grey hens and almost out of grey and white mottled ones – but luckily there was still a small one left (plus all the males) so we agreed a price of 12 euros and after resisting pressure to buy a puppy or two, at 10.15pm I left to settle special one in…

You would think that one hen is much like another and that they’d adapt quickly to new and improved lodgings, and although she seemed keen to become part of the flock, the older members were very put out and have behaved in an extremely unfriendly manner. They have chased her unmercifully and attack her beautiful feathers at any opportunity. So much so, that I have had to separate her most of the time. While she is in the special pen, the others glare at her through the netting and march up and down the perimeter fence in an intimidating fashion, while she makes a pathetic squawking in a vain attempt at getting sympathy. The other five are real bullies, and the dilemma now is whether to attempt further integration – and risk a bald chicken – or keep her in isolation and continue to stoke the others’ jealous mood?

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In sickness...

THE CHICKEN BLOG: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM THE GROUND
March 2008
Illnesses can crop up but generally if chicks are kept in good conditions you just have to keep an eye to see if they have worms or if they have trouble eating or drinking. Sometimes they look poorly, with droopy and colourless combs and wattles but usually they recover, especially when fed on yoghurt garlic and extra protein-even tinned cat food is recommended!

Occasionally they hunch up their shoulders and seem depressed – usually briefly just before laying a poor quality egg…For the beginner it is inadvisable to look at all the sites on the internet relating to chicken health and sickness – it makes very frightening reading for the small hen keeper.

Of course there comes a time in every hen's life when a decision has to be made about her future. For two of our first hens, I think I made a mistake due to lack of knowledge of the local conditions here in Spain. With the best of intentions I allowed them to free range but forgot that among the weeds there were also poisonous seeds and plants – very common in this area – such as castor oil plants and datura, and they both died after a few days of getting weaker. One of our first hens was savaged by a wild dog before we had built the reinforcements necessary – this is very important when deciding to keep hens here.

More recently one of the younger hens had a severe prolapse and after much worry and consultation with the other hen fanciers on line, I decided she could not be healed and needed to be killed. What to do? I was unable to take action myself, but luckily in the campo there are always people who know how to deal with this and our good neighbour's son took her away to do the deed. I always think now that if I can’t even put a hen out of its misery, how could I possibly deal with a close friend or my partner asking for help to die….

The other dilemma is what to do when their usefulness – i.e. egg production – goes down after a couple of years, and there’s only so much room in the hen-house? (They need several square feet each for comfort.) Some of our hens are indeed getting older and we are now getting some poor quality eggs, though two seem to be laying ok. It could be the stress caused by a snake, or rats, but most likely the combination of the menopause and hot weather! Although we get enough eggs for our needs, we haven’t sold any for ages, As the girls (or should I say older ladies?) have molted and had to grow new feathers they are also eating huge amounts, and definitely not earning their keep. Mrs. Black, as oldest, seems to be in her prime with a gorgeous back/blue feather coat but clearly has better things to do than lay eggs these days! As our hens are pets we’ll probably keep them until they die naturally. Although we don’t eat meat, we would be happy if anyone wanted to use them for soup – they are not fed for meat eating, so they would be too stringy!

But I do go and look for new members of our little flock and am keeping my eyes open for one or two special breed hens, such as the Arucanas which lay blue green eggs, or the original andalusian blue grey hens. It remains to be seen if they will assimilate easily, be bullied by the rest or even rule the roost?

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Tree of Heaven

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The first in our new series of podcasts

This week we talk about the Tree of Heaven and try to decide if it is a pioneering shade tree or simply a noxious weed.

You can download the full transcript of the podcast here:-)

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Routine Tasks

Routine tasks are the jobs that need to be done on a regular basis in order to keep our patch spruce, healthy and productive.

Keeping the weeds at bay

Washing Pots

Reaping Harvest

Pruning

Look at the Pretty Flowers, oh how fast they fade

Watering

Daily Tasks

Sharpening Tools

Felling Trees

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In Search of the Perfect Fertiliser

THE WORM FARM: THE POWER OF THE SMALL: 1
After practising organic horticulture for a number of years I have come to the conclusion that if you want big green cabbages, lush spinach, enough mint to make mint tea every day for all of your friends and tomatoes that taste of something, you need a good fertiliser.

Compost, in my experience, is good but mainly as a soil conditioner or mulch; as a fertiliser it just doesn’t do the trick. To buy organic manures works well but can be costly and generally you need to go and get it in the car, which is fine but I’m also trying to be conscious about my dependence on the car as a solution to my problems. This basically leaves keeping animals. Horses, goats, cows and sheep were out as I didn’t have enough space; they are also costly to buy and would need buying in food, paying vet’s bills and a constant care which could make going on holiday difficult. I pondered on the idea of chickens as they need less space and I could probably grow most of their corn myself and I would get the additional bonus of the eggs but the thought of not being able to nip off for a spur-of-the-moment holiday because I couldn’t find anyone to feed and water them for a week, weighed deep on my mind. It was all too much hassle and so I continued to buy in the manure.

One day my neighbour - a professional olive farmer (or not so professional depending how you look at things) - took a break from squirting his land with herbicide to have a chat with me. It was the usual one way conversation about how once you have paid for the herbicide, insecticide, fertiliser and diesel for the tractor to plough the land you are left with nothing…hardly worth collecting the olives. As he was saying this to me I couldn’t help but think that if he didn’t squirt that herbicide everywhere he might have some worms that every child knows help with the fertilisation of the land. They also help dig the land and so he would save money on herbicide, fertiliser and diesel and make money on his olives. Being a coward - and knowing better than to say to a 60 year old Catalan farmer what’s good for the land - I didn’t say this. But it got me thinking…

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Feeling Broody

THE CHICKEN BLOG: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM THE GROUND
The one thing you can say with certainty about broodiness, is that it passes! Just as well really, otherwise we’d live in a totally overpopulated world full of millions of babies and chicks. Our two broody hens have been on an off for about 3 months now. At first it’s difficult to know why the hens start losing tail and neck feathers and stop laying: Are they ill? Have they got parasites? It soon becomes clear that ” something is up”. As we don’t keep roosters, there is no chance of fertilisation i.e. baby chicks. (N.B. the Spanish word for male chicken and the one eaten is “pollo” - it is most important not to use “pollA” as its´ meaning is very different!)

Both Mrs Black and That One retired behind their curtain where most eggs are laid, and waited. And waited. In fact they would have preferred not to emerge at all, especially when the others tried to find a place to lay. There was then a bit of a contest to see who could take charge of the clutch, with both getting very upset when the eggs were removed. (Apparently this discourages broodiness, though I fail to be convinced, as the two continued in their resolve.)

Twice a day I would dislodge them and push them outdoors as its important, at this time, to get them to feed and see to their other needs. At this point both would cackle loudly, fluff up their remaining tail feathers into a fan shape, fall over (pins and needles in their legs from too much inactivity?) and do a huge and very smelly poo! After a brief snack they would dig holes in the dust and roll around - a useful activity as it helps dislodge mites and cools the overheated birds down. But all too soon they spot another egg and go into purdah again.

Interestingly, broodiness is a trait which has been largely bred out of domestic fowl these days, though there are certain breeds which are used to incubate eggs, such as the Silkies. Others tend to lose interest after a few days and are generally considered unreliable. Most breeders seem to use incubators. I intended to beg a fertilized egg or two from the man down the road as an experiment, but did not catch him in… There are various suggestions as to how to deal with excessive broodiness. It’s possible to keep the broodies happy by marking an egg and leaving it in the nest, or use a china one. Some birds are separated from the flock and put in a hanging cage, but this seems harsh to me. After all they are only following instincts…

In our case, as the whole hen house under the pool needed a good clean out, the birds were shut out in the run all day (which always causes alarm and despondency.) I changed the curtain for a new one, and suddenly both broodies had lost interest and were back with the rest.

Still the bout of broodiness has taken its toll and Mrs Black and That One are still not yet laying. Either they are going into moult or they are building their feathers up again - apparently they can´t manage both at once. Mrs Black features in the photo before she lost her feathers - she has refused any press coverage in her current state!

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The Chicken and the Egg

THE CHICKEN BLOG: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM THE GROUND
Bingo! It’s midsummer day and there are six eggs in the hen house. Well actually there are five behind the curtain (a favourite spot) and one from the rugged individualist (there’s always one!) who insists on leaving her offering just inside the door on the floor to see whether I am clever enough to avoid stepping on it in the dark.

This is the first time for ages there has been a full “clutch” due to seasonal affective disorder (not enough sun, too much sun) broodiness or young hens wanting to gad about before settling down to their main purpose in life.

It is getting quite hard to give away the eggs as many expats are going to the UK now and the neighbours mostly have their own. There are two elderly Spanish neighbours who take them, but insist on paying 50 cents or a euro to contribute to the feed. They are both useful sources of information about hen care, but neither really understand the concept of hens as pets: If they don’t lay, they should be eaten….

Anyway, back to eggs. There are numerous sites on the web which give interesting views on egg shell colour. As a general rule, hens lay eggs the colour of their ears (yes, they have ears but definitely no teeth) which means that red hens lay brown eggs, white hens lay white eggs etc., but I have not yet encountered a black or grey egg, so it doesn’t always work out that way. Last year I was more or less able to tell which hen laid which egg but now it is difficult as the amount of sun also makes them lighter in colour. Incidentally the black hens lay white eggs and the greys, light brown.

About once a week there is a double yolk-er, or at least two that are about twice the size of the others. Sometimes there are eggs with no shell, which are jellylike, and occasionally there are broken eggs - I presume a fit of jealousy …. I have also found the odd egg right at the back of the pool equipment where an enterprising rat (or snake??) has rolled it, but has been unable to hoick it over the pipe to its private quarters.

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The Other One says she’s heard it said a lot lately that if you want to reach a certain goal in life, first you should imagine all the side benefits that might come along with the achievement of the goal; then you have to think of different ways you might get these same benefits or feelings. Apparently, The Other One says, creating these conditions first puts you in the right mindframe to have your goal become a reality. Sounds just like the chicken and the egg to me…
Mrs Black

Next blog will cover broodiness. Mrs Black is not interested in pursuing this topic at the moment!

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The First Tomatoes

Not so long a go a couple with a mule and hens lived in this old house; whilst we have had to knock the mule shed down, so far the chicken coop remains (see photo) and the quality of the soil is a living reminder of those past times when the world went slower and people didn’t so much choose to live in a natural way but simply lived the only way they knew.

The first tiny tomatoes have appeared on the plants under the plum tree in our new garden. They had been languishing in pots on our tiny, sweltering apartment terrace so I took the opportunity of the last waning moon to transplant them. We haven’t moved into the house yet so the tomatoes go many, many days without water but they seem to be thriving in the rich soil there.

The occupants of the house and their animals are long gone but the legacy of their rich soil remains. I wonder if, digging the light, dark brown soil, I will be able to tap into some of their innate and earthly wisdom?

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The View From The Hen House

THE CHICKEN BLOG: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM THE GROUND
We’re just a small flock of six hens. We still consider ourselves young though admittedly we are not spring chickens any longer. I’m not sure we are what you’d call free range but we’re happy enough with a large house for nesting and roosting (under the swimming pool) and a big outside fenced run. Baby One did get out last week but she didn’t get far.When she came back she said we were better off here due to the large numbers of abandoned dogs roaming the area…
Mrs Black (Head Hen)

On choice
The first problem is how to stock the henhouse. Do we go by age, colour, breed, gender, laying form? In the end some are definitely more beautiful than others; some are better at laying - either more often or bigger eggs.

Do we need a rooster for them to be happy? Definitely not! As I said to a (male Spanish) neighbour passing by who suggested we needed a ¨good cock around the place¨ they are generally greedy, noisy, lazy and too much trouble.

On Feeding
What hungry birds our hens are! They eat loads of grain but also most greenery from the garden. In fact what they really like is Bermuda buttercup (clover-like with a yellow flower) and they jump up to get the freshest morsels from my hand. It’s then we discover that some can jump, and indeed fly higher than others. Hence the bareness of the terrace wall of any green weeds at all!

The different chickens make very different choices when given a variety of food. Some kinds of fruit and veg are always popular but some are rejected. Why are melon seeds a favourite whilst pumpkin seeds get stamped on? Beak wiping seems to indicate disgust with an offering but maybe it’s the equivalent of a napkin?

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Green, Green, Green

An overview on six months cultivation on our 20sq m terrace

The radishes, now in small window boxes are much bigger ad more lush-looking than any we ever managed in the baked earth at our previous mountain residence. Whether that means they are putting all their energy into leaf and not into the edible root, its too soon to say.

The chillis and peppers haven’t taken off the way I’m used to. Did I plant them too soon? Its much colder here…or did they just like the mountain better?

The carrots - despite my optimistic companion planting of onions - have got the fly. Well, some sort of fly anyway and at least one bunch have died…but that’s the nature of enclosed spaces. Plagues are hard to get rid of. On a wild mountains stuff just blows away (our plastic swimming pool, for example, and our compost bin) and there is generally enough eco-balance to keep most diseases at bay.

The tomatoes are starting to come on but then I’ve been growing them in pots and boxes for several years now given that on the mountain they just withered away anywhere but in deep shade. This is the first year I haven’t started them in small containers and then transplanted them. I just stuck them in the big pots and they are doing fine.

Right now there are potatoes, calendula and a large, transplanted-from-the-mountainside lavender, side by side in a big square crate. Up until last week a couple of bulbs were flowering in there too.

The beans and the peas are coming on, again in large pots. I don’t think we’ll get more than a meal out of them but then we didn’t do too well out of them up yonder either, largely because of the black fly I think. None of that here. I grew them more for the flowers than anything this year but I will have a serious attempt with them in our new garden.

The lettuces look like they can’t make up their minds. I put them in a bit late and its already too hot for them but I’m keeping them well shaded and so far the are still growing. The mustard patch is really gathering speed now - again in a window box - and we have a huge mountain thyme in a pot next to our favourite aloe vera.

The banana has come back to life after its rather frightening winter but the bourganvilla looks like its gone for good.

P has four avocadoes in pots and an olive and a fig and a pine. The latter three will go in the new garden, the former will have to stay in pots in the to-be-built glass porch. No sub-tropical climes here…

All our usual succulents are doing well and the jasmine is returning to its former glory (i.e. from when we got it in the garden centre). I’ve recently planted some coriander, basil and rocket but only the basil is through so far. I have no hope for the rocket since I’ve never got it to sprout yet but a girl can’t give up can she?

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