KATHY'S SPANISH GARDEN BLOG

RECYCLE !!!
PLEASE DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR USED AND UNWANTED PLASTIC PLANT POTS!
I CAN ALWAYS USE THEM - PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I'LL ARRANGE TO COLLECT THEM.
THANK YOU.

7TH JUNE, 2008
Here it is, then - Summer at last! After such a good start, the weather was mostly a bit rubbish until this last week. Usually, May is a lovely month, not too hot, but we had a lot of rain and clouds. Consequently, the weeds have grown like fury, so I will have to enlist some help to clear them in order to have a clean and pleasant garden this summer. I have also had a poor little dog dumped on me - someone's just thrown her out of a car, on the road at the back of my house,and driven off as often happens here - still a bad trait of many locals here, and they just leave the stupid soft Brits to pick up the pieces and pay for vets, rehoming etc. I have to find a home for her as she's causing havoc in my garden-pulling plants out of pots and chewing up my trays and pots.
Meanwhile, I have some spaces to fill when the weeds are gone, so will have to attempt sowing some annuals, or buy some large plants for immediate effect. However, these will need a lot of watering every day - preferably early morning, as if you water in the evenings as I would prefer to do, the snails love that, and spend the night demolishing everything in sight. The snail population has been massive just lately with all the rain, and I have lost quite a few plants, as I really don't like slug and snail pellets or any poisons in my garden, but I barely saw any of the flowers on my Clematis 'The President' this year, so I'll chop it right back this week and hopefully should get a second flush later in the year.The other pest here is earwigs - my least favourite insect, and they really bite chunks out of particularly petals ruining the appearence of many colourful plants. I intend to get hold of some tougher shrubs from the garden on my next trip to UK as it will take too long to grow them from seed, and I may not be living here by next Summer.
I hope those of you who bought Tomato plants from me should by now seeing flowers and small fruit forming on the plants. The tall varieties will need a bamboo cane to support them, and in a large pot, you can grow it on until it's 6' tall here then pinch out the growing point to enable the fruit to ripen, as the growing season is much longer than in UK. Most plants will respond to the longer hours of light intensity here, rather than heat, and with regular liquid feeds once or twice a week, should give you lots of fruit, which will taste fantastic. Pinch out the side shoots which try to take over, but leave on the ones with the flowers, because this is where the fruits will form. Try to keep your watering even - the same amount each day, or the fruits can split, and if possible with tepid water - a good idea is to fill the can with water in the morning, then leave it to stand all day, when in the evening, it will then be the same temperature as the plants -just perfect. If you bought the 'Gartenperle' variety, these are for troughs or hanging baskets and have a trailing habit. They look nice grown with nasturtiums and you then have a completely edible trough! If aphids become a problem on your plants, a good organic method is to spray them with a soapy solution, as they breath through their bodies, so this will get rid of them quickly without chemicals. You can also, if you're not squemish, just rub them off between your fingers and thumb - they're just water, so nothing horrible! If you see ants on the plants as well as aphids, don't assume they are eating them, they're actually 'milking' them for their honeydew, so that's no help to the gardener. If you manage to avoid these and other problems, you will have a lovely crop of fruit, and keeping them in pòts on a sunny patio is much easier than in the open garden.
My wonderful Plumbago Capensis is just now coming into bloom. This plant has been the biggest surprise here to me, as one has to grow it in a greenhouse in UK, (in the North) but it's really tough here, evergreen and will be covered in pale blue flowers now until the winter. A good way to propogate these is by root cuttings, as new shoots come up from under the ground. Carefully scrape away the soil near the main stem and you will find one or two new shoots growing much straighter than the older ones. You can carefully sever these from the main plant provided they have a number of their own roots. The resulting plants will grow away really strongly, much more so than taking ordinary cuttings. A number of shrubs can be propogated this way, if they have spreading roots. My fairly new Wisteria flowered quite well this Spring, and now is the time to tie in the stringy shoots which will carry next year's flowers. If you're not sure when to prune Wisteria, which should actually be done twice a year on mature plants, you can just clip it back hard to the main framework immediately after flowering, then it has all year to make new flowering shoots and stems.

1st MAY
Sorry I didn't have time to do a blog last month, but let's start now. The weather now is very warm 20° in the shade at noon. Bright, sunny days from now on most likely, with just the odd cloudy day.
The two plant sales I staged at June's cafe were a success, showing that many of us do want something a bit different from those available at the local garden centres.
This is again the time for wildflower walks in the countryside. At Los Caños, just above where the pipes come out of the mountainside, you will find around this time of year a field full of wild red Peonies - beautiful - and again like the field of wild blue geraniums (Cranesbill) they are in the shadow of the mountain, so the meadow remains lightly damp for most of the year. There is also yellow saxifrage growing out of the vertical cliff face, and together with other wild flowers it is a wonderful sight. It's also a good idea to take empty water bottles with you and take home the fresh water to drink - straight from the source!
This year for the plant sale I grew 8 different varieties of Tomato, and look forward to feedback on the relative success of each type. Two are very new - Sungold F1 and Suncherry F1 from Thompson and Morgan, and only six seeds in the pack - so it's to be hoped they taste out of this world! They are said to be the sweetest ever cherry types. The other varieties are: Gardener's Delight; Marmande; Roma VF; Gartenperle; Golden Sunrise and Brandywine. The last one is a Heritage variety, over 100 years old, and not grown commercially as it doesn't produce as many fruits as others, but came out in taste tests as the best!
Amongst the flowering plants, I have grown two different special nasturtiums; Strawberries 'N Cream, and Peach Melba. I found sowing them straight into 3" pots and growing them on until their roots filled the pots, they were then strong enough to be transplanted. So that was a worthwhile experiment, as they have made really nice strong plants. Another surprise was a variety of Cosmos calles 'Candy Stripe'. Strangely enough, some of the plants came out self-coloured deep pink, and the individual plants were not of uniform size either. (If you like uniform plants for bedding schemes you need to buy F1 seeds, then they will be the same size and colour et.) However, I prefer the more 'cottage' style garden, so I thought they were all lovely! On 'Gardener's World', coincidentally, they are trialling many different varieties of Cosmos this year (they were just sowing them last week!) and one they are growing - along with many viewers who were sent free seeds, was 'Candy Stripe, so I shall be interested in seeing what results they come up with. My seeds were from 'Mr. Fothergill' but other companies sell them too. Mine are doing well in the heat here, as they have finely cut leaves which don't transpire easily, and of course being single daisy types are very attractive to bees and butterflies. Other types of plants which will do well in the heat are basically those with very 'leathery' or spiky leaves, and those with silver/grey foliage - such as some varieties of perennial Gazania or Lavender. The ornamental Pelargoniums of course do very well with little attention, but their cousins the hardy Geraniums should be given shade in this climate - although they like the warmth, they can't take the fierce direct sunlight in the summer.
I had hoped to have some specially bred trailing Petunias for sale, as many sold here as 'trailing' are not, but stick out at ugly rightangles, which is OK for bedding, but not for baskets or troughs; but I'm afraid the snails had other ideas! Most were snapped off before reaching maturity, leaving me only six plants, which they are still trying to demolish. So, they definitely need to be in hanging baskets or troughs when they recover, but will be another few weeks now before they reach flowering size. I have to examine trays and pots every morning and evening, because the snails are very good at hiding, but I don't find the game very amusing! Still, I haven't the heart to kill them, so toss them into the trees where hopefully, they will help to feed a bird family or two.


15th MARCH
Having spent most days last week potting on, it looks like a proper nursery now, and have moved trays of pots to the back garden. Lots of watering ahead now, as they dry out so quickly here, and of course, the smaller the pot, the quicker it dries out. I like to use a general purpose liquid feed - a tomato one is ideal for flowering plants, and rather than feeding once a week, I add a little to each daily watering - seems to work well. The osteospermum are already in bud, and I pinch out the first bud in the middle to stimulate branching early, therefore getting a bushier plant with more flowers instead of a taller one with fewer flowers. A few days ago I saw something new again - thought it was a cabbage white butterfly at first glance, then realised it was much larger - and creamy white with black stripes! So far, my investigations on line indicate this was a Spanish Swallowtail - fabulous, and it was feeding on the abundant flowers of a pink argyranthemum which flowers all year. Of course, I didn't have my camera, so had to borrow this photo from 'Iberian Wildlife Tours' site.

SPANISH SWALLOWTAIL

2nd MARCH 2008
Still no amount of rain for the time of year. Today was again warm and sunny. The seedlings sown during the past couple of months on the balcony with no covering are mostly through now, and some have already been transplanted into pots ready for my hopefully successful plant sale this Spring. The past two years I have attempted to have a plant sale, but due to illness - one year Richard, another year me, I lost my plants due to neglect. So this year I hope to manage it! Growing from seed is a particularly rewarding part of gardening for me - the first signs of a tiny seed peeping through is so exciting, and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly they progress and become mature. When I can I use F1 hybrid seed, more expensive initially, but you know that each plant will be a uniform size and colour, and also that they will almost all germinate and at the same time. Other seedlings can be frustratingly hap-hazard, appearing over a long period; some colours for instance in a mixed pack, will germinate faster than others, making the pricking out stage very fiddly. All the tomato seedlings are through now - amazing that they have germinated with no artificial heat at all, and a fluctuation of temperature day and night - quite interesting, but it is an unusual year here, normally nights would be much colder. This year I haven't needed any heating in the bedroom at all, just an extra blanket over the duvet, and waking up to sunshine practically every morning - great! Today I had to get another 50 ltr bag of compost to pot up the next lot of young plants which are now around 2inches high and well rooted. I shall also sow within the next few days a selection of herbs, as many of us enjoy using them in cooking today - probably the most popular being Coriander, which can be tricky to grow well. It prefers quite a deep soil as the roots go down a long way, and you have to keep chopping it back to prevent it going to seed. I have some different types of Basil too, which all seem slightly different, one is a lovely lemon flavour, so I look forward to those too.

10th FEBRUARY 2008
I can hardly believe we still have had only a sprinkling of rain recently, and the days are so warm -15-18° c. in the shade on my windowsill at mid-day most days. I even saw the Hummingbird Hawk moth again yesterday, feeding on the Osteospermum nectar around mid-day.The seeds sown last month are mostly showing well now, and I have already pricked out the Erysimum and Osteospermum into cell trays. The precious first sown old seeds of geranium Buxton's Blue and Crocosmea Lucifer were unbelievably upset during the night in the back garden by the cats! I might be able to rescue them but don't hold out much hope as they were so small. Of course I don't know who's responsible as they all look innocent and beautiful. I have 3 rescue female cats, Nikita; Tabitha and Isis - plus an adopted ginger tom, Nobby, and they don't like being shut out at night so obviously this was their way of telling me! More weeding done today, but the ground is hard as iron, so not very pleasureable, so I do it in short bursts. The plan is to cover the ground with beautiful plants so there isn't room for weeds, but one beautiful 'weed' is looking lovely at present the so-called 'Bermuda Buttercup' an Oxalis variety with large yellow flowers and clover like leaves, which gently self-seeds here and there, so that will stay for the present.

BERMUDA BUTTERCUP
This week I also sowed seeds of 7 different Tomato varieties. I like to have a selection of shapes, tastes AND colours in my salad bowl, so sent for some rather unusual ones this year. Last year I grew my first 'tumbler' variety called 'Tumbling Tom'. It grew well, but the taste wasn't that brilliant, so this year I'm trying a different one with the same habit - 'Gartenperle' so I hope this is an improvement, as they can be great on a terrace or patio in a tub or hanging basket. Another curio is a heritage variety over 100 year old called intriguingly 'Brandy Wine' A large, almost purple skinned fruit which is reputed to have a superb flavour. Often, these old varieties were virtually abandoned by commercial growers only because they don't yield as many fruit - therefore 'not commercially viable' as they say. However, we home gardeners can choose flavour rather than other criteria, such as supermarket uniform shape and size. Another favourite of mine is 'Golden Sunrise' a lovely yellow fruit with great flavour and RHS award winner. In addition to the tomatoes, I'm also trying the Cape Gooseberry - Physalis - this enjoys the same conditions as tomatoes, so shouldn't be too difficult, and has a lovely sweet taste to add to a salad, or just enjoy alone!
An item I hope to invest in shortly is a waterbutt with a rainwater 'diverter' these are sold at the Olive oil factory shop where they sell all manner of basic gardening items, so that will catch any rain we may have and save it for use on the garden instead of running down the drain. I continue to dig in my kitchen compost, and some improvement is shown - particularly in one spot, where I have some very healthy looking potato plants appearing from the peelings beneath! They are in the veg plot, so no point in removing them, I'll just work around them. I shall be sowing some veg shortly direct, as last year I had some lovely Mange Tout peas really early in the Spring. The only thing that worries me is that we may have a hosepipe ban, and one doesn't really have enough 'grey' water in the house to sustain plants in the summer here when they need drenching to survive. To pre-empt this possible problem,I shall also purchase a couple of large tubs to plant a mini veg patch, and this is an ideal way of having some fresh, homegrown produce if you have only a small courtyard or balcony. The trick is to choose the right varieties which don't get too large, so that will be interesting. The pepper plants from last year are sprouting again, although I must watch them in case we have a frost. Otherwise, I should have much earlier peppers this year as the seed grown plants took until November to start fruiting, having been sown early in the year. One variety of chilli which we expected to be quite hot when red is actually really fruity and not too hot, but a delightful flavour - it's a strange shape and called aptly 'Bishop's Crown'.
Finally, amongst various caterpillers which have appeared this last week, I found one individual sitting happily on the Osteospermum shrub carefully munching its way around the petals of one of the flowers, I'm not sure what it is, but I'd like to think it may be the Hummingbird Moth as it's a similar colour, so that would be nice, although it's disappeared now, so I may never know.

MYSTERY CATERPILLAR ON OSTEOSPERMUM "INK SPOT'

18th JANUARY 2008
Here we are now well into the new year and still not much rain, only the odd couple of days here and there. I must say, it's nice to have these sunny winter days, but we do need the rain as the reservoirs are still low. I feel as if this year I might actually make some headway on getting my garden fully planted this season, making it a pleasant sitting out place for the coming season. Today I pruned the fig tree quite vigorously, as they do get very ungainly if not kept in check. Also, one wants more fruit, not more limbs or leaves! Firstly, you must cut out the branches which cross over another, taking out the weakest. Then remove or shorten any others which maybe reach to a wall or other obstruction, so you can sensibly reach the fruit that forms, and get to them before the birds! Although I do leave one or two high branches for them to gorge upon. This tree was inherited with the garden, so is quite mature, but don't plant a new fig in too rich a soil, or feed it, or it will make tremendous growth, and not much fruit - remember, it grows in quite arrid terrain naturally. The new bare-root fruit trees are in the shops now, and are very reasonably priced. If you can't get to a garden centre, and want to patronise your local shops, Lucia the florist has a selection; €8.50 for a quince, for instance - a wonderful tree which I hope to get, as it also has very pretty red flowers in the Spring - just hope it's a dwarf variety. The Spanish tend to just make 'Membrillo' jam with them, as they do have a lot of pips, but when we lived in Cyprus, there they made the most wonderful preserve 'Glyko' from the fruits, in a thick, clear sugar syrup and served to be eaten from a pretty dish with a tiny fork along with your Greek/Turkish coffee - mmm lovely. Mail me for the recipe.
My experiments with seeds continues, although I seem to have again been too eager to transplant the Buxton's Blue geraniums which germinated, and now only two look as if they will make it. This is a thing which I must curb - I have lost seedlings before by pricking them out too soon, but hopefully these two will survive. Also, still only two of the Crocosmea Lucifer seem to have germinated, and I have carefully pricked those out into 3"pots where they will stay for a while, and I mustn't water them much at this time of year either, or they will rot. When I do water plants on the balcony, I keep a rectangular plastic tray of water with a little liquid plant food added, and stand the trays or pots in this, so the plant just takes up as much or little as it needs. Watering needs to be carefully controlled at this time of year, as there is a lot of moisture in the air at night - especially for the cacti and succulents, which collect sufficient moisture on their spines and leaves. As I have ordered so many seeds this year, I am sowing only around 15 or 20 seeds of each item rather than a trayful of one item. I economise on space by sowing five rows in a half-tray and carefully lable each row. I also sow just annuals or just perennials in each tray, as the annuals usually are much quicker to germinate. Half-hardy annuals, on the other hand, need more warmth to germinate, so will be sown indoors. Some of these half-hardy annuals will become perennials here, as we have a much shorter period of cold and wet. So plants such as Antirrhinums and Stocks can be chopped back neatly after flowering, and will flower again either later the same season, or the following Spring. After that, they will get too woody, and are best discarded, but collect seed from your favourite colours and start again!
Sown outside the first week of the new year, and just showing now are Aubretia; Dianthus; Hardy Geranium mix and Erysimum Helveticum,( a lovely yellow perennial wallflower.) I shall resist the urge to prick out these seedlings until I'm sure they are well rooted and growing strongly! My late Father never used to prick out seedlings until their leaves were touching each other, which is a good adage to follow - if in doubt, follow the old gardeners!

2008


31st DECEMBER 2007
What a wonderful Christmas Day weatherwise here! The sun shone all day, and even at night it wasn't too cold. A couple of days before we had some heavy rain, but only for 2 or three hours, then it cleared again. I can't help thinking we've still got some heavy stuff still to come in the new year. I was of course tempted by those wretched seed catalogues - it's not shoes anymore, but seed catalogue weakness - I must be getting very old! Of course, it's also so easy sitting here at the computer and ordering on-line too. However, I am re-organising my seed sowing for the coming season, and will do some experimenting. Speaking of which - I had some seed which I collected at my Southport garden in 2002 from the lovely hardy geranium wallachianum "Buxton's Blue" - just five seeds, which I had put in a small brown paper envelope and sealed immediately. I sowed these outside on my balcony uncovered albeit for some fine ground cork which is sold at the garden centre here, and it's great - lightweight, like vermiculite. Well, these seeds have all germinated within two weeks, and are looking strong, so I'll keep you posted on how they go on. Regarding the cork 'mulch' I might have a go at grinding some of my own in the blender - always the recycler, I do have a few corks hanging around!!! I have also germinated some of the lovely dainty Portulaca HA, and these have already stood up to some cold wind and rain on the said balcony, even a light frost, but I won't push my luck, and will bring them in at night if frost is expected. I shall sow a few more Hardy Annuals outside - the ones you can normally sow in Autumn in UK, and see how they fare. If I'm successful, we should have lots of early spring flowers. The Cerinthe major has self seeded everywhere, but I found last year they don't transplant well, so no point in potting them up to sell, as it would be a disappointment to the customers. Still, I shall keep a few thinned-out plants around as they are the most wonderful bee attraction in Spring. I had meant to plant some hanging baskets for the Winter/Spring season, but I can't find any baskets here! If we go down to the coast in the next few days I might just find some at the DIY or large garden centre there, as I have seen them used in the floral displays in Malaga city. Otherwise, I may have to have some made, as there are a couple of British friends here who do metalworking. It's not worth having hanging baskets in the summer here, as it is so hot you can't keep up with the watering, even with ones in the shade - some have tried and failed! As I may have mentioned before, we live at altitude, so this is not a Mediterranean climate as on the coast. It would be I suppose classed as Alpine, as we do have some frost, usually January/February - even some in March sometimes, so you have to be quite vigilant with young plants. However, This year I had some work done on a funny little 'cave' room we have at the back of the kitchen. It is below the level of our back garden and originally dug out of the hillside, as are many village houses in the area. It does make our house warmer, however, as only part of the outside walls, although the house is detatched, are open to the elements. This 'cave' just had some horrible blue corrugated plastic on it, which we have replaced with some strong double walled polycarbonate, which lets loads of light in, but doesn't get too hot in the summer, and I plan to use this as a propagating house, as it's now almost as light as a greenhouse, with the walls painted white. How far I will get with this plan remains to be seen!
Today I received a parcel from Richard's brother Geoff containing some lovely gardening magazines, which I can't get here, it's nice to keep up to date with what's happening in the gardening world - new plants etc. One of the things I really miss from UK is visiting gardens which we used to do regularly in the Horticultural Society. If you have the chance, whilst visiting the UK, and you would like to see some gardens not usually open to the public, get hold of a copy of the annual 'Yellow Book' which is published for the Gardener's Benevolent Society - caring for elderly and infirm ex-professional gardeners. This book is a treasure trove of places to visit - private gardens all over the UK who have a special open day each year for this charity. Large and small, town and country gardens are on show by their owners. Entry fees are minimal, and there are teas and plants for sale - a lovely day out, where you can pick up lots of ideas which you can implement in your own plot. The book is in every library, so you could just pop in to the reference section and note down the opening dates of gardens near you.
Meanwhile, back in Trabuco, my experimental germination continues, and again, using seed collected in 2002 from a beautiful garden, and freshly placed in a paper envelope, I see two out of the eight seeds of Crocosmia 'Lucifer' have germinated. This is a splendid plant, a winner of the RHS AGM (award of garden merit) Larger than the common Crocosmia, and vivid red to match it's name! So, here's hoping the others germinate too - I've never seen it used here, but it would look suitably exotic and it flowers mid to late Summer, providing a large splash of colour, and grows up to 3ft tall providing wonderful long stemmed blooms for cutting too. Tolerant of most soils, it should be tough enough for my poor clay clag! I have however, continued over the past few months, digging trenches here and there and tipping in my kitchen veg. waste, shredded newspaper, etc. then covering it over, as I don't have a compost bin here, so when we do get the next rains, it will rot down and improve the soil somewhat, but it's a slow process.

I hope the new seedlings romp away as things usually do here, but not sure if I would get any flowers this coming season as they are related to gladioli and make little bulbs, so I may have to wait. Cold nights now, but glorious warm sunny cloudless days, today 14° in the shade, not bad for the end of the year!

20th NOVEMBER 2007
Well, the forecast Autumn rains still haven't arrived, and up to press the weather is still beautiful, but just a little nippy first thing in the morning. Ah, I've just looked at the weather forecast, and tonight 19th there is a 90% chance of rain, and 100% chance tomorrow! Our house seems to be quite warm enough for us, and have only had a heater on the last couple of evenings. The plants in the garden have put on a wonderful show as I mentioned previously with very little attention, and the Mammalaria cacti have started to bloom again on the balcony - they seem to have a rest during the very hot weather. You will notice also, that roses do the same thing here waiting until the severe heat has gone, as their delicate petals would shrivel quickly in the sun. I received two very tempting seed catalogues last week from England, and these are my favourite reading at present! I really must not be tempted by the exciting array of seeds as I still have loads from this year and previous which I must use first - although I may just have one or two which I know will do well here. This year my daughter and I grew chillies for the first time, a few different varieties. It was a surprise to me how long they take to grow and fruit. Having been sown Feb/March, only now are they fruiting and beginning to colour from the green. We look forward now to trying them out, the funny shaped "Bishop's Crown" and the very long "Pinnochio's Nose" amongst them! We grew them totally organically, using no chemicals, and they are fruiting well in spite of the leaves being ravaged by what looks like some leaf cutter bee which has taken chunks out of the edges. Jessica and I also grew a selection of tomatoes in large pots; RomaVF - a plum type; Marmande - beefsteak; Golden Sunrise - a lovely yellow fruited variety, Tumbling Tom, a variety for baskets or tubs and the very popular small fruited Gardener's Delight, and the latter did particularly well, still fruiting now on Jessica's balcony. Speaking of organic growing, I mentioned earlier in the year I was going to try mothballs to deter the small butterfly which kills the pelargoniums (geraniums). Well, I did try and it was useless - it totally ignored the smell and again laid eggs on the plants which turned black, then keeled over. I examined one stem by cutting it open, and found the large green fat caterpillar inside the stem, and the gritty black poo it left behind - ugh! Fortunately, the local plants are cheap at the market, but I obtained some seed of special varieties from England which I hope to raise this coming year, so I don't want to lose those. At the weekend, I noticed what I thought was a bee flitting around the flowers of the blue Plumbago. On closer inspection, I was delighted to see it was the aptly named "Hummingbird Hawk Moth" What a beautiful little thing - the first time I've ever seen one, brown furry body, transparent wings, and the amazing proboscis which resembles the beak of a hummingbird. I looked it up on the internet and found it's one of the very few moths which fly by day, feeding on nectar of certain plants, particularly phlox flowers, and the Plumbago has that type of flower. I found a picture too, as I didn't have a battery in my camera - of course - so here it is, and looks like this one is feeding on Buddleia:

I already have seed of a double white Buddleia - the same variety I grew in England. It is the most superb plant for attracting butterflies, and commonly known as the 'butterfly bush'. On one heady summer's day in Southport, the bush was full of butterflies at midday, then in the evening, full of moths! I intend to collect many more plants for attracting beneficial insects, as there seems to be a distinct lack of the pretty butterflies around here - I saw more in Southport. A plant I was surprised to see self seed like nobody's business this year is a variety of 'Datura' (Angel's Trumpet) I bought a plant from a lady at a carboot sale, but it wasn't the variety I had hoped and was rather ungainly for my border. The Trumpets are enormous, white, but only last a few hours. The trouble is, it's springing up everywhere, so it will have to go. It would probably be better in a container on a patio, where the seeds wouldn't drop on to any soil. So,I sent for some specialist seed of the relative, 'Brugmansia' which is the one I wanted, as the trumpets hang down, and this makes a small tree, rather than a shrub. So, I look forward to starting that too. One of the strange failures I had this year was the supposedly easy nasturtiums. I grew them and transplanted them into containers, but Oh dear, how poorly they became, probably they need to have their roots cool, and don't like transplanting as they grow very easily from self sown seeds or even in between rocks, so a lesson there! So, if you like nasturtiums, here they will have to be sown direct into the container or the garden where they are to flower, and not disturbed. The reason for many seemingly easy plants to be sown directly in flowering position is that they may have delicate or very long tap roots, which if disturbed just die off.

22nd AUGUST
I didn't realise how long it has been since I last updated this blog. The reason is, I have had yet another disasterous season due to family commitments throughout the past couple of months when I was unable to keep up with the watering and feeding of my (too many) young plants and seedlings. Within two days most in small pots were dried up beyond rescue. I had planned to have a plant sale at June's but was unable to fulfil the promise I'm afraid. However, to be positive, it has shown me what plants can survive here in the blistering summer heat as well as the winter frosts with little or no attention. The new Wisteria is still romping away making some good long tendrils this year, so I hope it flowers next Spring as it has a lovely perfume with the mauve and white flowers. Don't forget to tie in those tendrils on horizontal wires to encourage good flowering for the following year, then prune it back to the main stems after flowering, as it will make lots of growth during the summer and then flower on the new wood. Nearby 'The President' Clematis has made some good progress this year - I shall cut that back to about 2 ft. shortly, so it will make some new strong shoots for next year. A new honeysuckle hasn't fared too well, it made lots of growth early season, but shrivelled in the heat so I'll have to find a more shaded spot for that and move it at the end of the year after the Autumn rains. (Incidentally, very very heavy rains are forecast for this Autumn, which is needed to fill the reservoirs.) My favourite blue Plumbago has been flowering constantly since June - it does take some time to get going in the year, but lasts ages - a wonderful climbing or trailing shrub, which doesn't need any pruning. The Osteospermums responded brilliantly to their severe pruning and are now bigger than ever and flowering wonderfully. I also did the same with the pink 'Marguerites' as they call them here, so don't be afraid to chop those back if they're getting leggy - right back to near the ground above the little shoots - although not in frosty weather! Water and feed and you will be rewarded by a much neater, shrub - and have lots of cuttings too which will root easily in gritty compost. Another plant which has done very well is Nicotiana Sylvestris. At 5ft tall and with rather large ungainly sticky leaves, it is best placed behind some rather more decorative plants where it will attract and catch aphids, protecting your treasures from the little blighters. Beautifully scented white flowers will perfume the area in the evenings, so well worth using near the back of a border, in front of Hollyhocks for instance. In the wild areas of the garden the red flowered creeping 'ice-plant' "Aptenia"quickly covers any bare ground, so is very useful and decorative, just chop it back to a managable size and it will keep most weeds down - except those blinking wild oats which are extremely difficult to eradicate, along with some of the more rampant grasses. I continue to derive a great deal of pleasure from my Cactus collection, which have spectacularly flowered intermittently all year due to constant watering and feeding. They just revel in the bright light here, and are on my South facing balcony so get all the sunshine in the winter, but are protected from the heavy rain by the overhanging roof.(As I've mentioned before, I don't water them at all during the cold months in case of frosts, but they do stay outside all year round.) Roses seem to do very well here, also,so I hope to add some to my garden in the future, as they don't need much attention once established. Lavender of course loves the sun, but you must trim back the plants regularly, because they don't regrow on the old wood. There are a few different varieties available here, but I rather like the French or Spanish Lavender, which grows in the hills here and has the lovely little 'rabbits ears' Collect some seeds, sow them in the Autumn, they'll be ready to plant out in the following Spring.

25th MAY
Well, this month has been very strange. Mostly lovely sunny days until the middle of the month, when we had some rip-roaring thunderstorms; then the last few days when we have had some more hammering rain mostly during the night, and one woke up to find young plants drenched and flattened - besides being ravaged with snails. I really want to grow the annual Zinnias here as they love the sunshine and will produce a bushy plant with lots of colourful flowers until the frosts. However, when young, they seem to get hit with everything going - in my case, snails and earwigs. I have moved them to various places in their pots outside, but still the villains seem to find them and take a chunk out of a leaf - or worse still, bite out the growing tip. However, they are coming along, albeit slowly, and I will be glad of them to fill some gaps shortly.
I was hoping my beloved hardy geraniums would be showing well now, but there is not a sign of any of them. Mostly, they were a present from my friend Margot in Southport who is our Horticultural Society expert and avid collector of the genre. I can only surmise that it is just too hot for them during the summer here, when they should be at their best. I did see, however, a field full of the beautiful, original pale blue wild geranium (Cranesebill) near Los Caños a few weeks ago, when mine should have been in bloom, but it's possible the meadow was quite shaded by the mountain there, so I'll have to try and replicate that situation if possible.
A favourite plant of the 'designers' which does very well here, is Verbena Bonariensis, which grows up to five or six feet tall, on strong stems which need no staking, and topped with pretty mauve slightly scented flowers, loved by bees and butterflies. This looks great at the back of a border with hollyhocks, and is pest-free.
Last week, my family and I all went down to the coast for the day, as I wanted to look at what flowers were in bloom on a plot of land we have in Entrerrios, in the hills above La Cala. Near the old ruined house there were remnants of a garden, and a few herbs, also some lovely pale blue Iris Germanica and some miniature iris too, which I haven't yet identified. However, further down the slope, Jessica discovered a rather peculiar plant, which I didn't know grew here. A variety of pitcher plant (Dutchman's Pipe) not like the massive tropical brightly coloured carnivorous ones shown this week at Chelsea, but this has small, dark purple pitchers on a delicate vine with heart-shaped leaves. This was firmly rooted under a dead almond tree, and in quite dappled shade. Also on the vine was an enormous seed pod, two to three inches long, like a small cucumber. So, in a week or two, I must go back and see if it has ripened, then I'll have a go at propagating it; again replicating the habitat as closely as possible. However, we are at a considerably higher altitude in Trabuco, so I may have to give it winter protection, or just grow it in a large pot as a 'conversation piece'!
I shall also today chop back the enormous Osteospermum 'Ecklonis Ink Spot' which has become very leggy, but it has lots of new shoots near to the base of the plant, so will benefit enormously from a severe trim! Don't be afraid to do this, it will be in flower again very quickly. All the 'daisy' type plants do well here and make large specimens romping through the winter with no trouble at all. I have a beautiful bronze coloured Gazania which is looking gorgeous at present, and another larger flowered cream one just coming into flower. There are various colours in these, so collect them all when you can! If you want to plant something near a swimming pool, these are perfect as they don't shed their leaves and stay very neat close to the ground.
On her return to Trabuco next week, June will be planning another 'attic/table sale' on a forthcoming Saturday morning, when I shall take some plants I have raised so far, so see you there!

30th APRIL
The weather has been all over the place the past few weeks, but today was beautiful so I got on with some serious weeding. The one thing you do notice on living here - the weeds grow at a trememndous speed after just a bit of rain - goodness knows what it's like in a tropical climate. I have had a great deal of pleasure watching the self seeded Cerinthe Major plants flowering away since late February attracting so many bees all day long. I really do fancy the idea of keeping bees, there would be plenty of food for them with this wonderful plant. However, in my restricted flower beds, it had become a bit of a thug, swamping everything else which is now coming into flower. It had grown really tall and lanky, harbouring snails - then the cats decided to lie in it - so it had to go. I kept a few tidy plants of it, and threw the rest on to my 'wild flower path' - an area I don't quite know what to do with, but this seems a good idea, as at this time of year there are lots of delightful hedgerow plants popping up, especially Viper's Bugloss, the most beautiful purplely- blue spires and spotted leaves on tall bristly stems - a worthy garden plant in a herbaceous border in UK I would think. It flowers for about a month in May, probably would be June-July in UK.
My hopes of receiving interesting plug-plants from UK were dashed this week when they arrived mostly dead. They had been sent to me on 2nd April, but not first class, and I didn't receive them till last Monday! We had had the Easter Holiday in between, so it was so disappointing seeing the poor things in such a state - I may be able to save only three or four out of 50 plugs. I shall write to the company, but don't hold out much hope of a replacement; I must find some other way of getting interesting plants here - or just raise all my own in future. This may be possible now, as my funny little 'cave' room off the kitchen now has a new double walled transparent polycarbonate roof and is almost as light as a greenhouse, so I will be able to propogate things much earlier now indoors, then with an additional cold frame outside, should be able to be much more organised.
After clearing some other enormous weeds, I discovered two plants which I thought had died, are alive and well and starting to sprout once again. One is the plant beloved here, called Dama de Noche, a shrub with rather a nondescript appearance and tiny green flowers, but the most stunning evening perfume, similar to gardenias. It dies right back in the winter here in the mountains, so you chop it back almost to ground level after the first frosts, then not until May does it make an appearence again when it grows to around 6 feet tall in one season, a great back of the border plant.
Don't forget to go on wild flower walks for the next few weeks. Just yesterday, I went to look at the curious little bee orchids near my house in a abandoned vineyard, and also found the most beautiful of wild orchids, the so called 'mirror orchid' not as prolific as the other, but grows in similar dampish, meadow like conditions. I only found this as I was 'repatriating' a slightly injured rabbit to a safe place and placed him in a cardboard box in the shelter of a shrub, and there on the shaded side of the shrub were just three little mirror orchids. I might well have missed them if not for Mr. Rabbit. I hope he's OK now as there was no sign of him today, one can only hope it's a positive outcome.

OphrysLutea(Bee Orchid)

OphrysVernixia (Mirror Orchid)

1st APRIL
During a mixed week weather-wise, I managed to get quite a bit done. However, a couple of evenings ago, in pouring rain,a stray sheep appeared in the garden,which I had to manhandle as it was stuck on a steep rockery area - they really are stupid creatures! It managed to trample a few plants down whilst panicking, but I eventually rescued it by attatching my big dog's collar and lead and virtually dragging the poor animal towards his companions and safety, where it didn't seem to want to be for some reason! Incidentally, my big dog is a sheep-dog, but is terrified of them, so he was in hiding!
My balcony is getting a bit full now, which is a slight understatement! many small seed trays now getting full, and quite a bit of pricking out to be done. We have had a couple of nippy days, so I hope it hasn't checked the small tomato plants too much. I already have a tray of 'Marmande' pricked out and coming on, and 'Roma' is just now germinating. I had sent for some other varieties from UK -favourite 'Gardener's Delight', 'Golden Sunrise' and trailing 'Tom Thumb' which aren't showing yet, but were sown at the same time as 'Roma' so they won't be long.
Rather than watering from overhead, I sit the trays in a deep dish of water, with a weak feed added. When the sun does come out at this time of year, it can quickly frazzle small seedlings with wet leaves, so have found by trial and error this to be the best method. The compost is covered by a layer of 'grit' (cat litter) so a crust doesn't form on the surface as it would if left bare. Also for the vegetable garden, I have sown 'mange tout' peas, which are just coming through; courgette, green and yellow; squash - 'cobnut', sweetcorn; aubergine - purple and striped; salsify; spinach beet which is still cropping from last year, so have increased the space for these lovely fresh healthy spring greens. I hope to have room for some parsnips, too - and as these take a long time to show, it's a good idea to oversow with quick maturing radishes,so you know where the parsnips will be and the radishes will be gone by the time the parsnips need the space. I also was delighted to find some onion 'sets' (onions sown last autumn which will mature this summer/autumn)at Lidl's a couple of weeks ago. Plant them with just the tips showing about 9" apart, and sow a little onion seed between, then when the sets are mature, you will have more onions to come on in between - pull as required for 'spring' onions.
I'm trying a method of composting this year which I haven't tried here before in this type of climate, but it should work well. I have a wonderful book - 'Companion Planting' by a great organic gardener, Gertrude Frank. For the vegetable garden, she advocates never leaving the soil bare, but to create paths between the rows by laying down chopped grass and wild flowers to form paths, which will eventually rot down. I have taken this method and used it to create a compost heap! Having collected all my kitchen waste - except cooked foods, bread or citrus peels, I have laid it in a row on some uncultivated ground, and covered it with mounds of wilted weeds and grasses cut before they created any seedheads! If you like a very 'tidy' garden you can simply collect your weeds in bin bags, tie them up and hide them under bushes or shrubs, where they will rot down nicely in a few weeks. Nothing should be wasted or thrown away in the companion garden, and plants are grown in a certain order to protect each other - too much detail to go in to here, but carrots with onions for instance, to deter the pests which are attracted to these plants. (the scent from one or the other confuses the fly.) I can thoroughly recommend this book, the health of the plants grown with this method are proof enough, and you need never be carting bags of garden refuse to the tip - all is used!
I really would like a wormery, as there is a distinct lack of these wonderful creatures in my garden.The very interesting TV programme 'It's Not Easy Being Green' is I believe next week going to build a wormery from recycled materials, so I might just have a look at that - the information should be on the BBC website too. A friend in England had a commercial wormery and it was very good, providing quick disposal of kitchen waste, giving beautiful fine potting soil and liquid manure too from a tap in the base, which could be diluted to water your plants. I, at present have a plastic dustbin full of water containing a pierced plastic bag of horse manure dangling within! The measurements to fill the can are a bit hit and miss, but it's better than nothing! Snails, however, still seem to thrive, so be wary if you have rocky areas as I do, they hide during the day and do their worst at night; I must make some beer traps for them - at least, they'll die happy!

15th MARCH
As the weather was a bit cloudy and cooler today, I took the opportunity to do some more strenuous work in the garden - preparing part of the veg. patch. Since the rain a couple of weeks ago, the weeds are already knee high, and the wild marshmallow plants have just shot up. There are some really beautiful varieties of Malva, and I'm growing one this year called 'Braveheart' - but this wild one is nice to see on the roadside, but a beast in a garden, the leaves suffer from 'rust' like the old Hollyhocks,and the roots go down to Hell!! There is one root left that I just can't shift, so I'm going to try an old remedy of my father's for tap rooted weeds: Make a clean stem cut near the ground, then sprinkle common salt on the wound. It takes a while but should eventually turn black then gradually die away. Best of all is Sulphate of Iron, which works much quicker - but I wouldn't know where to get that here. I've now got some more sustrata seed and potting compost, so I am getting on with the sowing of my new seeds. Some of the seeds are relatively quite expensive - mostly £2 or £3 a packet with only 6 or 9 seeds in a large colourful packet! So, I have to be very careful with them and when they first emerge, keep them out of direct sun as they very soon shrivel up and die off. Fortunately, eventually we are having the problem part of our house renovated - a 'cave' off the kitchen. It is below ground level, and had an old corrugated roof at upper ground level which was neither use nor ornament. With friend Alan's help, he is converting the room for me to use as a propagating sort of greenhouse for the winter which will be great. The clear, perspex sheeting arrived today and it lets so much light in, it will be fantastic to work in there, putting seed trays on shelves to germinate, then when big enough can be transferred to a cold frame or cloche outside after the frosts. Fortunately, this winter we haven't had too much frost, although some folks who live in the campo would dispute this - as lovely as it is to live in a detatched house in the countryside, you are very exposed to the elements and it can be much colder than a village house - to be comfortable you really probably need some central heating for a few weeks. The self sown seedlings of the wonderful 'Cerinthe Major' which I transplanted into pots are looking rather sickly, this means it's better to collect the seeds and sow them direct into pots to get a sturdier plant. However, they may pick up- I hope so, I would like this to be more popular.

3rd MARCH
We have been enjoying glorious Spring weather the past few days, and preparing the garden is taking preference over housework (nothing unusual for me!) Any 'digging over' has to be done quickly following the rain, or the clay soil just sets like concrete, and however much I add to the soil, it is a very slow business improving it. This year I really want to encourage more butterflies to the garden, as I'm sure there's not enough nectar plants for them in the area. The best plant I found in the UK for attracting them was a white, double flowered Buddleia, and it makes a lovely big shrub, which if dead-headed will flower all summer. One warm day in Southport, I counted seven different species of butterfly on the plant at mid-day, then a wonderful surprise, in the evening, just at dusk whilst the day was still warm, it was covered in as many varieties of moth! Fortunately, I have found a seed supplier of this variety, so will be sowing some shortly. The plant will grow in poor soil and loves the sun, so I have great hopes for it's success.
I really should have obtained some manure during the winter,as June at Los Lobos said there was plenty available! and now it's too late to spread 'muck' as it should be done when plants are dormant or if it isn't well rotted, it can burn the roots. Also it might be smelly if not well rotted (at least a year old) when you want to use the garden.There always seems to be at least one job one doesn't get around to in the gardening year, but that was a big one - mustn't forget next winter. During a trip to a Carrefour store, I picked up a big sack of what I thought was organic potting compost, but found out on returning home it was organic soil improver compost. You are supposed to spread this on top of your poor garden soil, and as it's very fine, it makes seed sowing easier. I tried it for potting, but it's just not substantial enough, so that was annoying as things need potting on now, and I shall have to get another bag of substrata until I find an organic alternative. I still haven't found any fine grit for top dressing the cacti, but the cat litter seems to be holding up pretty well - I also use it for top dressing the seed trays after sowing fine seeds, so the compost doesn't dry out so fast.

21st FEBRUARY
Hooray! some of my fresh seed order arrived today - always an exciting time, in spite of the cold grey skies. Lots of water in the 'river' today, coming down from the mountains, so let's hope there isn't another hosepipe ban this year.(Although I have heard it's actually still in force from last year but don't know how true that is!) I have only ordered varieties which I know will do well here, given the massive contrast in the seasons; this is not a Mediterranean climate! Amongst others I am sowing some 'Alpine' trailing carnations. As many of the houses here have balconies, these should be more popular than they are. Those who have visited the Alps in the summer will have seen balconies overflowing with these beautiful plants which flower all summer, when regularly deadheaded, well fed and watered. They should be cut back at the end of the season to keep them bushy and tidy, and most water and feed withheld until the Spring, when they will burst into bloom again, also giving you a bonus of a wonderful 'clove' carnation perfume. I hope to have some plants for sale at June's café in a couple of months time.(I'll put a notice on the Forum when they're ready.) Amongst other perennials I shall have available are a stunning Dahlia with dark stems and rich deep red single flowers - similar to the famous "Bishop of Llandaff" but much stronger.There is a beautiful dainty Dianthus deltoides with white flowers and a red eye, great for ground cover, or containers. Also, a new variety of the very popular Aubretia which loves an alkaline soil and is great tumbling over walls or ground cover - flowering here should begin I would say around now, and continue until the hot weather arrives. I also have some new varieties of double flowered Hollyhock, a pale pink, a yellow and an unusual apricot shade. I was also sent a complimentary seed packet of a fabulous plant - Echium, which grows 10 - 14 ft high with spires of blue flowers; it probably won't come into flower for a couple of years, but should be wonderful if you have the room. I also will be sowing some lovely annual climbers which should do well here, but I've never seen them used: Cobea Scandens; Tropeaeolum Azureum; Lapageria Rosea; Mutisia Ilicifolia and Murandya Barclaiana. All these will be stunners, and some are tender perennials, so will appear each year provided you keep the tuber frost free. If you would like to reserve any of the aforementioned, I can do that for you and inform you when they are ready. Incidentally, if you like visiting gardens, there is a list of places in the Malaga region on the website of Andalucia.com.

18TH FEBRUARY
Lots of plant pot washing today, and the weather eventually improved in the afternoon, following another 'Brigadoon' morning. Richard has set up my temporary seed tray shelves in the back garden, as I didn't get a greenhouse yet, so have found a sheltered place out of direct sun for the 'growing on' of seedlings. It was a good place last year, then I lost the lot when I was rushed into hospital for an appendix operation, and poor Richard couldn't manage to look after all the plants as didn't realise how much attention they needed in June, and look after himself and the animals too. Still, we gardeners are resilient souls, and keep persevering through the vageries of the weather, pests and diseases, but what joy when we succeed! I sowed more seeds today in trays, some are out-of-date, but I find it hard to throw them away, as some may germinate - albeit a little slower than when fresh, and you won't get as many - but worth a go when they are unusual plants, many which I got from the Hardy Plant Society member's seed library. So, fingers crossed, and I'll let you know how they go on.

17TH FEBRUARY:
The weather forecast was right - wet today, but an e-mail brought some good news; another site I tried in UK for plug plants WILL send them here first class post, and looks like a good selection. I will have to move fast when they arrive, but at least I will have something different to what we find in the shops and garden centres here. My first sown seeds of this year have germinated well, albeit at a cooler temperature than recommended; the very colourful Zinnias - only annuals, but will flower until the frosts, and love the sun. I used to grow these in Cyprus, and the climate and altitude here is very similar. Received some donated plant pots from my neighbour Barbara, so these will be good for my intended plant sale - more small ones needed if anyone sees this appeal!

15th FEBRUARY
The weather now is much milder, I don't think we'll have any more frost from now on, but best not to risk any important plants or seedlings yet. Incidentally, I have placed a link to the official Trabuco Weather Forecast on the Home Page. Today I got on with some weeding, and prepared for some new plantings - also will try sowing some seeds in situ as an experiment, as I have improved the soil in one or two places, making it a suitable tilth for tiny seeds. I was also delighted to see the emerging buds of a clematis 'The President' just pushing through the ground. There was no top growth left at all from last year, and I wasn't sure it had survived, but it seems it has. I placed gravel and tiles around the base of the plant to keep the root run cool during the summer months which is paramount for clematis - especially in these hot summers. A Wisteria and a Honeysuckle have also started in to growth, I hope for a good show this year as they were only young plants put in last year. An e-mail brought some disappointment, though; I had hoped to order some plug plants from UK of more unusual varieties, to grow on for an intended plant sale. Unfortunately, I was informed they do not send them outside UK, and there doesn't seem to be any Spanish sites which do these.

8TH FEBRUARY

Mixed weather at present, some mornings you can't see the mountains at all as the heavy misty cloud comes right down to the village - looks like Brigadoon! apart from the sneaky wind, however, it's not too bad, and I do intend to do some outside work in the garden. There are some interesting fruit trees on offer here at present, including one I might try - Persimmon. Also here there is a white fleshed fig with pale green skin - quite different from the purple. Friend Sylvia here grows it and says it's lovely, very delicate, so I'll have a go at that one too. I must this year get myself a lemon tree and maybe a clementine - I might go a bit mad! This week saw the delivery of some new cacti which I purchased mail order from the internet. I know of a number of excellent nurseries in the UK, and used to buy my plants at the shows, but what with the exchange rate and the postage, I decided to look for some closer to my present home. As my Spanish is virtually non-existent, I didn't fare very well, but came accross the university of Valencia site, which had held a world-wide winter trial of cacti. Amongst those nurseries taking part was one with a website in English with lots of cultivation information and showing wonderful photos -"Cactus Art" I spent about 2 hours trawling their site, then discovered it wasn't in Spain, but in Italy! So I decided to give it a go, and ordered a number of varieties - not rare species, but new to me, and restricted myself to the lower priced ones too - none was more than €3.50. The parcel duly arrived here within five days, all were expertly packaged - albeit in kitchen roll and sellotape round the roots with a detailed lable, then finished off by wrapping each in the Italian pink sports paper! Quite charming - obviously a 'home business' by a real enthusiastic expert. I have potted them up today, and look forward to seeing them develop, although as I can't get hold of the small gravel which you can get in UK, they have been top dressed with kitty litter, hope they don't mind! Incidentally, cactus growers in Eastern Europe, where they have long, severe winters, remove their specimens from their pots in the Autumn, wrap them in dry newspaper and store them in a frost-free cellar, as it's so expensive to heat a greenhouse for the whole winter. The plants don't mind at all, and are repotted in the Spring!

SNOW ARRIVED 25TH JANUARY - BRRR!

UPDATE 24th Jan: Well, it looks like we've done with the mild weather for a while, as we now have the usual January weather; sunny days but with a biting cold wind blowing off the mountains. There should be some good skiing by now up in Granada, although it's not for me! I've been busy doing some more propogating, of a lovely Marguerite (as they call them here)-probably an Argyranthemum - with beautiful, blue/green leaves which remained all winter, and is just now starting to flower again - very pretty pink petals with a double centre, which will last all year provided you keep dead-heading - a very nice neat sub-shrub, only about 2ft. high. Other 'daisy' plants which do well here are the Gazania. The leaves are evergreen/grey and are now making flower buds. I have a large flowered white one and a bronze one with a smaller flower, which seems to be more prolific, and I shall be dividing those clumps to make more 'free' plants! The small white flowered clematis "Cartmanii Joe" has remained evergreen too, and should be flowering by late February. A very pretty rambler or climber, given support, I must try and propogate it this year but suspect it might be a bit tricky! My friend Jean in Southport propogates many varieties of Clematis, and advocates some sort of 'bottom heat' for guaranteed success. I used to love my UK greenhouse during this time - sowing seeds and rooting cuttings, and would love to have a greenhouse here, so might get a temporary one which can be put away in the summer. I did last year get a polythene cloche, so I will be able to sow some early veg under cover whilst the weather is cold.

WINTER 2007

This so far is the mildest winter since we came here over 3 years ago. Today, 19th January, it was 25C at midday, with cloudless skies - perfect. However, reservoirs in some areas are low, due to the unusual lack of rainfall at this time of year, so I hope we don't suffer for it later. It is, however, time to plant bare-rooted fruit trees here in this area, and the choice is tremendous - even if you just have a courtyard or balcony, the dwarf modern varieties will do well in a large tub given sufficient water and feed during the growing season. Why not try something ornamental and unusual with lovely little egg-shaped fruits, the Calamondin -one of the many newish varieties of citrus fruit. Or a variety of pear, perhaps - nothing beats the taste of a pear fully ripened on the branch. Don't forget, all the fruit trees will give you beautiful blossom in the Spring too.

Why not have a go at growing some of your own vegetables this year? Packets of seeds are available here in the village, at (where else) the Pet Shop! A nice selection are displayed in the window, and things such as courgette and aubergine are very decorative plants, together with climbing cucumber and tomato in a large tub with a cane 'wigwam' to support them. I know they are cheap here, but there is a special pleasure in growing the more unusual items, and you know what's been sprayed on them!. Keep any aphids at bay by spraying with a nice soapy washing up liquid with water, but not in direct sunlight. If you do have the room, grow your own Artichokes, they give great value. Rooted cuttings will be available soon at Lucia's florists or the markets, and give you fruit this year. I have just four plants, giving me enough for us and to give away too.This is of course a perennial plant, so fruits every year! Cut with about 6" stem and just knock the ball on the wall or flags, to remove any earwigs - they like to hide in artichokes. Soak in salted water for about half an hour to remove any other unwanted pests, then simply boil in fresh salted water till you can peel off a layer easily - about fifteen minutes, and holding the pointed end of the leaf, dip the other end in mayonnaise, melted butter or whatever, and enjoy!

Today I've been taking cuttings of my most succesful plants from last year. One varietyof Osteospermum has done particularly well, I think in UK it's known as 'Ecklonis Ink Spot', but here had no name. It has a white flower, with deep purple/blue underside to the petals, and a beautiful blue eye. I watched it carefully, during the past few months, and unlike many daisy type flowers, this variety doesn't close up in light shade, only very slightly, so you can see it's happy face all day and all year long. Had I known it would do so well, I would have chopped it down at the end of the year,to enable it to bush out more, but it just kept on flowering and I hadn't the heart - then I forgot! So it has got rather leggy, but has begun to tumble over the low wall and looks very pretty still. I took loads of cuttings, about 6inches long - discard any buds which might be forming at the top. Strip all leaves off the bottom leaving around four or five at the top make a clean cut at the base, just below a leaf node (joint), and insert into a tray or pot of gritty compost. Add a little sand (or, unperfumed cat litter) to the compost - I haven't come accross any John Innes here yet! and after watering in, keep the cuttings in a sheltered place, out of direct sunlight, and bringing them in at night in case of frost. They will have rooted within three or four weeks, when you can pot them up or plant directly into the garden for lots of colour in the months to come. The same goes for Pelargoniums (Geraniums) Buy one plant of each colour you like now - only €1.50 for a good sized plant. Move the plant straight away to a bigger pot and start feeding regularly.When the side shoots get to around four inches long, carefully remove them with a sharp knife - the plant will make even more, so don't worry! Treat as aforementioned, and you will have a nice collection of plants in a couple of months. They grow very fast here once the Spring comes, so you will have a great collection for very little money.

No sign yet of my clematis making an appearance, it died right back last autumn, and as we haven't had much rain, I'm afraid it might have given up the ghost. Rain is forecast for next week I believe, so some things might appear following that. However, my plants have really had a baptism of fire here, as I've done very little watering, soonly the strong survive in my 'experimental' garden. Famous gardener Beth Chatto has a fabulous garden in Essex, which I intend to visit one day, and she made a 'Mediterranean' garden in an area which was a car park previously. Adding lots of gravel to the soil, she doesn't water the plants at all, so they only get rainwater, and it is beautiful with many varieties of plants you don't see here, sadly. I'm struggling to improve the 'soil' in my borders, but it is difficult, given the terrain. Still, in my English garden back in Southport, one had to keep up the watering in a hot summer, as only 18inches down, you hit pure sand! So, who has the perfect garden, soilwise? Not many of us,that's for sure.

I hope to visit my friends in Southport some time this year, and will be 'on the cadge' for cuttings - we used to have a great time seeking out and propagating unusual plants, and ran a very successful plant sale each May for the Horticultural Society, when all plants were donated by members, and sold to raise money for the society. The public came in droves to seek out any new plants for little expense. Many plants I know would do well here, can be bought online -one of the best companies I have have used is called Hayloft Plants, which do mail order to Europe, but can be quite pricey - especially if like me you can get carried away. I may wait until I visit my pals for some freebies!
I'll close here with an amusing snippet of information for my friends in Southport: If you are a lover of the'weed' it is legal here to cultivate just three plants per house for one's own use - but still illegal to sell the stuff! Personally, I get happy enough with a drop or two of wine!

SUMMER 2006

Having been a keen gardener for most of my adult life, I was really looking forward to making a brand new garden here in Trabuco. I was prepared for somewhat of a challenge, but really! For a start, there was no garden here at the top of the village, just a cliff face, which had been hacked out to accommodate 4 old sheds. So we spent a long time and a lot of money terracing the whole thing and making planting areas. Instead of tiles, we chose to use the 'crazy' slate paving as on the village streets, and the builders patiently laid these and it does look nice and natural.
The main problem here was - no soil! so we had to bring it in to fill the planting beds. of course by now it has settled quite a lot and really needs refilling. The underlying base is limestone rock covered in clay, and when it rains - wow! Still, I carried on regardless, and planted my favourites, some brought from England, which in theory, should have survived well here, as I knew this is not the technical Mediterranean garden area because we have such cold and frost in the winter. What I was not prepared for was the summer desert wind, which this year has been horrendous, shredding everything in sight for almost two months. Even the popular tough pelargoniums have stopped flowering - looking around the village, only those balconies which are sheltered have still got colour showing. Due to my being away in hospital for a few weeks, I also lost ALL my seedlings which I'd sown in the Spring with some of my favourite hardy plants, so I'll have to start again in the Autumn and rigg up some sort of temporary greenhouse to protect them during the winter.
Still, it wasn't all bad news - some surprising gems really did well, my most favourite climber, the beautiful blue Plumbago Capensis is looking glorious with virtually no attention and very little water. Also, my few varieties of Clematis seem unpeturbed by the lack of attention. Earlier in the year I had a fabulous show of the newish 'in' plant in UK - Cerinthe Major, and it was covered in honey bees almost all day. It came through the cold and frost last winter totally unscathed and flowered from February up to June, then self seeded freely. I have since discovered that this plant is a native 'wild flower' of the Mediterranean, so no wonder! All the grey-leaved plants do well of course, such as the lavenders, and also roses do well here, given a good depth of soil, as they appreciate the dormant period in the winter. My greatest successes though, have definitely been my cactus collection. Some came with me from England, and are now on our sunny balcony in their element! The balcony does have an overhanging roof, so they are not subject to heavy rainfall. (See the pictures at the top of the page - these were small single plants bought four years ago, and have clustered beautifully.Contrary to common belief, they don't need a lot of heat, but do require the brightest light possible, the cause of many failures in England when people try to grow them on a windowsill and never get them to flower.So of course here in the mountains it's wonderful for them, and with regular feeding during the growing period will flower many times during the year depending on the variety. Just be careful not to water them much during the winter, only maybe once a week, because if they get too wet, then have a frost - that will see them off!
Do, if you have the room, obtain some of your own fruit trees, modern dwarf varieties of various fruits are freely available and very cheap for a tree that will fruit the same year! (around €6-10) If you can't get out to the garden centers, Lucia at the florist's here in the village is a lovely girl and has a good selection at the beginning of the season, and will order anything for you specially, and speaks a little English.There are a couple of larger garden centres on the outskirts of Antequera. Also, at the Trabuco Wednesday market there is a good garden stall, and a couple at the Tuesday market in Antequera. For hardy plants, look out for Janet at the inland markets; she like me, is a member of the UK Hardy Plant Society, so we had a good natter when I met her! she and her husband have a selection of home grown hardy plants of the English style.
If you have any comments, hints, or favourites which do well here, let me know and I'll spread the news!

Kathy@trabucotimes.com

UPDATE:
I've recently learned through Maz that the main culprit for your pelargoniums dying during this time of year is a very small black butterfly, which lays eggs on the stems and the grubs burrow inside and the whole plant collapses. One of the surprising things here is that there are so few butterflies, and the only one we do see does this! So, as an organic gardener I plan to try placing old fashioned mothballs near the plants as a deterrent early in the season - maybe that will protect them - such a shame as they were at their best.