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Growing in Portugal - year one.
BarriedaleNick:
It has been interesting this year to see the differences in growing here to the UK. Of course a lot of knowledge is easily transferred but some things I am having to learn all over again.
Firstly my soil is massively depleted. Nothing will grow without ferts and even with them the ground is so hard that roots struggle to penetrate unless you rotovate. I am used to London clay but the heat here makes the soil totally brick like from April onwards. Irrigation helps but only to a certain extent and there is only so much time you can spend watering. Here the blue fertiliser is king - it is sold by the ton from local agri shops and delivered in lorry loads to the local farmers. I have tried it but without rotavating deeply it doesn't do much.
The solution is as it always has been - manure. So I managed to get 8 tons delivered only to find it way too hot and successfully killed my first sowings of virtually everything. I should have know as it was steaming and smelled terrible but I got over excited by the prospect of endless melons and chilis - they all died or went backwards. I found a stables and did a few car loads and that has really helped later crops and the addition of chicken poo both in pellets and from our girls has started to turn things around.
Water - it doesn't really rain from April to October and the day time temps can get into the low 40s. That and the wind means the soil is bone dry almost as soon as you water! Still we have a well and pump but working out the best way to use it is a challenge. It is so fast that it literally has lifted young seedlings out of the ground and it washed away our carefully made planting hollows. Everyone seems to use seep hoses, drip hoses or sprinklers but I need to work out how it will cope with the pressure. Meanwhile we have three 1000 lt tanks which we fill from the well and gravity feed with hoses - still takes well over two hours for both of us to do the veg and fruit.
Some things have done well - melons, chilis, peppers and aubergines will thrive. Tomatoes also but the wind takes its toll on tall varieties - next year will be more determinate bush types.. Sweet potatoes do really well but my traditional spuds were a write off - they just never took hold. Carrots and parsnips are difficult in the heavy soil but I managed in London so I will adapt. You can, with a fair wind, grow anything here maybe with the exception of blackcurrants but it is a question of investment of time and energy.
Fruit is amazing. We had hundreds of kilos of earl plums and are just getting the late coking ones coming on, apricots are great but blink and they will be gone, peaches have been good and the later yellow ones are just cropping. Sharron fruit, cherries, apples, pears all do well once established and of course we are in the capital of wine here so grapes do really well - most of our vines need replacing though as they are not producing fruit.
So it has been both invigorating and hugely disappointing but I feel we will do a lot better next year and we will develop systems to help us. Seeing what some of our neighbours have produced is hugely motivating!
Beersmith:
Fascinating!!
Thanks for sharing. Despite some disappointments you seem to be adapting very quickly and some real triumphs.
Things can only get better!!
ACE:
I noticed in some hot rainless places I have visited that they use dark chippings as a mulch, they take up the 'dampness' that happens overnight and it drip feeds the plants. The spanish islands use volcanic grit to the same effect I understand that volcanic dust is sold as a fertiliser so get to your nearest volcano and fill yer boots.
BarriedaleNick:
You might be on to something there Ace - night temps are not so hot so we go get quite a dew on cars etc...
Did I mention the snails?
Beersmith:
--- Quote from: BarriedaleNick on August 22, 2021, 11:37:03 ---
Did I mention the snails?
--- End quote ---
That's intriguing? What do they eat?
Do you have any native birds like thrushes that use them as a food source?
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