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Earthy Beginnings
“Each soil has its own history. Like a river, a mountain, a forest of any natural thing, its present condition is due to the influences of many things and events of the past” Charles Kellogg, The Soils...
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Stone the Grows!
Beautiful Weeds It’s Spring! A very busy time of year for gardeners. The heat and drought is fast approaching and soon enough we’ll be relaxing looking at the fruits of our labours, but for now...
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Garden Wars! Weapons of Mass Obstruction
Dawn breaks over the Battleground War has broken out in the garden. It’s me versus the Pest and Diseases. And I intend to win! I shall fight amongst the carrots, I shall fight amongst the...
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There are Easter Chickens in my garden!
Donna Frango It’s nearly Easter and time to turn our thoughts to chickens and eggs and which come first in the garden. I have four chickens and a rooster. I’ve always wanted to have chickens, but...
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What dangers are lurking in your Algarve garden?
An Algarve bean field, full of poppies Over the past few weeks, we’ve had friends with small children staying. It’s wonderful to have them, but it’s made me think quite hard about safety in the...
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Thanks very mulch! Keeping plants happy in dry spells
A happy pomegranate bush “Horse manure is for stiff and cold ground; sheeps for hot and dry; ashes for cold, stiff and moist; old woolen rags for poor and dry; lyme is most excellent for moorish and...
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Green Fingers and Helping Hands
A beautiful salvia So, you’re about to come to live in the Algarve and you want to make a garden? Or perhaps you’ve been living here for a while now and are struggling a little? The plants you’ve...
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In The Night Garden, Algarve Stylie!
Perigee Moon from my garden The summer is here and as soon as the weather gets into the thirties as has been promised over the next week, we’ll be out watching the stars instead of “Quem Quer Ser...
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Pop your cork and wave your olive branch!
An Orange Grove with wildflowers near Silves You may not notice it at first but the Algarve is full of trees, and almost all of them are used for something. If you drive into the Serra, just 10 minutes...
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Are you being bugged?
A Praying Mantis I’m being bugged. By a horde of insects which descend on us here in the Algarve at this time of year and make gardening a trifle uncomfortable. It’s hard to face up to the...
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Gardening thoughts from Home and Abroad
English Rose “New Dawn” I have just returned from a trip to the UK, which was clothed in its full English Summer glory. It gave me a chance to dwell on what I miss in having a garden in a dry...
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Rich Portuguese pickings!
“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then...
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No sweat gardening for your holiday home
Our holiday home when we first bought it Although I live in the Algarve all the time now, it hasn’t always been the case. We bought a ruin here some 15 years ago and spent many happy years...
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Is your garden an uphill struggle?
We have the good fortune to have a garden on the side of a hill with beautiful views, a reef knoll to be precise. Mind you, I didn’t know it was on a reef knoll or what one was when we bought it....
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Digging and Delving – choose the right garden tools
Portuguese garden tools bought in Portugal Christmas is over and a New Year beginning. Santa brought me some gardening gloves and a big load of reindeer manure, so I’m happy! Some of you may be...
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Gardening in the Algarve – Is your garden designing you?
A Calendula flower brightening up my January It’s nearly the end of January already and one of the busiest times of the year in the garden, unlike in the UK, where the frost is hard on the ground....
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Here’s a High Five Garden Surprise!
I’m quite a fan of the social media tendency to give you 5 tips on something or other. I’ve taken to thinking like this when musing around my garden: “5 plants which you should never try and grow in...
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A Spring procession to avoid – the dangers of the Processionary Caterpillar!
Caterpillar’s Nest If you look up in the pine trees from January to May in Portugal, you can often see pale, web-like cocoons at the top . They look quite magical in a way, like a fairy’s kingdom,...
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The best things in plant life are free….well nearly!
Beautiful weeds in our garden-completely free! It’s a wonderful feeling to get the keys of your first property in Portugal. It really is a dream come true and for a while it’s like being on perpetual...
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Introducing, the great, the amazing, the one and only Algarve Spring!
The Algarve countryside in the Spring is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Obviously I haven’t been everywhere in the world and I am biased because I love Portugal so much, but I defy anyone...
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