Permaculture and El Huerto

I am not sure why I haven´t been keeping on top of my blogging? I have been busy in the garden over the last year and there have been many changes but I don´t seem to keep on top of recording the changes. I also have been writing for a local paper on a voluntary basis about plants and gardening here in the Canaries.
I have links to each article on my main blog page if your interested.

Another purpose built plant room has been erected, a lot larger in size than the original one. I now use the small one for my little seedlings and plantlets and also to pot up, especially when it is windy.

The larger one was constructed by my hubby and I am very grateful. It has meant a huge change in the amount of fresh produce we manage to grow here. This shelter keeps the very strong rays of the sun off the plants and helps to conserve water, not to mention sheltering the plants from the wind.

A more recent change is using an old garden table for my pots of herbs. I have sited it just outside the back door, which makes it really handy for going out and snipping off little bits here and there, for cooking or making salves.

The pond is still one of the most successful additions and has drawn lots of wildlife to the garden that just wasn´t there before. The only negative is that the pond fountain is no longer being run by solar power. It was not a very good fountain and the new one is more efficient in keeping the pond reasonably clear of algae, which is very important to the health of the plants and the wildlife.

Around the pond, changes are afoot. On the left side the ornamental plants will remain, they attract spiders and we recently had an amazing spider making their home there.


On the right hand side we have removed an Oleander, which is not a very useful plant in terms of permaculture. It is very greedy and spreads rapidly, ideal as a wind break but this area is now sheltered with the erection of the fence and gate, it was certainly not the correct plant for the position. It could not be saved but it went on our now massive pile of cuttings that are a perfect home for the wild rabbits, lizards etc. I hasten to add that this pile is not within the walls of our El Huerto (kitchen garden) so there are no rabbits munching their way through our vegetables.
In the space that we have created we are going to plant a fruit tree. (See next blog about what fruit tree and other fruit in the garden)

At the moment we have lettuce, cress, milk thistle, swiss chard, broccolli, cauliflower, strawberries and potatoes coming along nicely in the large plant room.

This is one of the beds in the plant room, planted up a few weeks ago, which is now bursting at the seams.

Walk away from the Windy side of life

We have had our fair share of strange weather over the last week. Just like in the UK we have had winds and in some places the unbearable heat.
In Tenerife we get heat from Africa called a Calima and it is unbearable, you cannot enjoy the weather, merely keep out of it. After this we have been hit with horrendous winds that are causing terrible damage to my wee plants but to be honest this is nothing compared to the damage caused in the UK to people´s homes and gardens and worse in the USA, so I am not complaining.
We often get winds here so I feel the garden is almost prepared for it with various windbreaks and plant rooms to protect the food crops.
Yesterday we decided to get away from the wind and head off up into the mountains for a bit of peace, the heat had calmed down a little and there was a light cloud covering over the part of the mountains we were going to go to.
Vilaflor, it is a little town in Tenerife, just up the hill from Los Cristianos (a popular tourist spot), it is a nature lovers paradise. We have been there many times and know all the best spots for hedgerow foraging.
With little back pack, boots and walking sticks we headed off.
After a short drive we parked up and headed off to pick some Figs, they are always in abundance at this time of year and there are plenty abandoned trees to pick from.

This is the fig tree we picked from and as you can see there are plenty left after we picked our small bag.

I often manage to find some small pieces of pine resin at the foot of the amazing pine trees that are all around this area but on this walk I came across a tree with lots of resin oozing out of it so I managed to take a couple of chunks, it is a lovely scent and it is easily burned, although I put it in a sealed bag and pop it open now and again just to take a whiff, lovely.

It looks a sorry sight but it wasn´t, it was majestic and although burned in a previous forest fire it has regenerated.

After walking for just one hour the heat was starting to get unbearable so we headed back after sitting under the shade of an old chestnut tree (this is where we harvest in autumn) to eat our lunch.

The view behind us

Once back at the car I took these photos of the surrounding goodies in peoples gardens, the rustic charm of Canarian gardens never bores me, I just love them.

 a grapevine growing over some makeshift fence.

The beautiful Canadas and a huge geranium with the prickly pear cactus in the background (made a prickly pear brandy once, phew it was potent stuff!)

Back home, the wind was still raging but I was content to settle in the house for the rest of the day.

Following morning after Spain won the football, wind all gone for an hour or two so managed to get out and pick some delicious greens and see how everything has grown in the plant room and beds

My wee melon, it is so exciting watching it grow.

Feeding tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and melons with comfrey and seaweed broth (homemade a few months ago) once a week.