We’ve got a few chores done in the last month.  It’s been lovely doing some springtime stuff, like sowing seeds again.  So what’s occurring on the vegetable plot?

• Chillis, carrots, peas, spinach and rocket have been sown.
• Carrots are starting to come up under their polythene quilt.
• Potato plot dug and seed potatoes bought – they’re sitting in a crate in a not too dark room continuing to chit (they’d been started when we bought them, cheating a bit I know).
• Sprouting broccoli should be pulled up – failed miserably but I can’t bring myself to give it to the hens yet – just in case!

• More puppy proofing of the veg plots has been achieved.  We have an ongoing battle with excitable dogs who enjoy ‘helping’ while we garden.  Usually they help by play fighting their way across the veg plots.  We have tried several methods of deterring.  Repeated shouting, spraying with a watering can and them just growing up and getting more sensible all work but slowly.  In the interim while they’re still young and bouncy we’ve got a beautiful wrought iron balcony edge which keeps them off a small area (still waiting for more villagers to throw out these beautiful bits of metal work) and the rest of the veg plot is covered in olive sticks.  It looks a bit odd but the sticks get in the way of the dog’s play and remind them where they’re not supposed to go.  I guess the approach would work for deterring deer and the like too.
• The onions have straightened up and seem to be growing at last.
• The garlic’s all sprouted but now I’m not sure if I did enough – 110 bulbs is that enough?  It sounds enough, but it doesn’t look enough!
• Have spent quite a lot of time moving water.  The depositos at the top of our plot are full of water pumped from the cisterna under the house.  The water collected by our shed roof has been hand bucketed up to the vegetable plot terrace.  This is a faffy job and one day we’ll have another pump to automate the process, but in the meantime its cheaper than joining a gym!
• A batch of manure tea and soapy insecticide spray have been made up.
• The fruit trees have all been given a mulch of rotted compost.  And lots of time has been wasted staring at the buds on all the fruit trees – willing them to burst into flower!
• Project ‘Citrus Fruit Preservation’ is underway.  I’m trying various new and old recipes to have a marmalade taste test and will be reporting back shortly.  Today we’re making lemon cordial and tomorrow the lemoncello production will begin – can’t wait!

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