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H is for…
… flower buds on the honeysuckle. May 1, 2013.Filed under: Garden Tagged: Andalucia, garden, living abroad, Sandra Danby, Spain, travel
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Winter jobs
This is the busiest time of year for the olive farmers around here. In December and January the olives are harvested. Pablo’s harvest is finished and taken to the cooperativa, he is now waiting to hear...
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Winter white
A white rose, in winter. This is a rose out of time, flowering in February despite frosty nights, but very welcome. 5 to remember una rosa – a rose [flower] el rosal – the rose plant florecer – to...
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Bumblebees and blue flowers
A few days of sun and warmth and the flowers are out on this marvellous evergreen silver-leaved hedge. And it is a magnet for bees, mostly bumblebees but also honey bees and the jet black rumbling...
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Sprinkled with blue Vinca
In the UK, you can buy Vinca Minor and Vinca Major at garden centres, but it doesn’t even get a listing in my Mediterranean Garden Plants book. I’m sure Pablo regards it as a weed and would be amazed...
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Ivy, reaching for light
Ivy. Climbing up a walnut tree, shaded by the river. There’s something human about the stretching shoot, reaching for the sun, fingers of pale green. Ivy. Doing the thing that nature has programmed it...
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Golden fluff
These golden balls of fluff are the seed capsules of the oleander, our most prolific shrub. Oleanders – or ‘elfas’ as Pablo calls them – grow wild everywhere here. They are tough as anything and seem...
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The pomegranate flowers burst open
Pomegranates are always the last to burst into life. Their flower buds are the last to form, the last to open, their fruit the latest to appear and last to be picked. I like the way they are out of...
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Baby apricots and peaches
In May, the growing fruit changes shape and size almost daily. Baby apricots [above], distinctive because of the definite curve cut into their shape, almost like buttocks. Baby peaches [above and...
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The veggie patch in June
At this time of year, the huerta always looks neat and ordered. The veggies are easily distinguished in their lines, growth is young, fresh and green, the soil looks full of goodness. Watermelons…...
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The huerta in August
This is the most productive time of year in the huerta, but also the messiest. We have surrendered to the weeds, in acknowledgement that the veggies are growing healthily and who cares if the weeds are...
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Chillis
More chillies than we know what to do with. A few plants have yielded enough chillis for the entire pueblo. So, we do what we always do with a glut. We pick them, eat some, and preserve the rest....
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Excited… our first lemons
One of the reasons we wanted to live in Spain, was the dream of picking a lemon off a tree. We fell in love with our secret valley, and then realized we were at the borderline altitude which made...
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W is for…
…a watermelon in the huerta. Oddly, they need hardly any water. Not like melons which need lots. August 17, 2013.Filed under: Garden Tagged: Andalucia, fruit, garden, living abroad, Sandra Danby,...
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Fresh life
At this time of year we look for every sign that winter is ending and spring is on its way. The nights are still cold, though we are not high enough for snow it does dust the high peaks of the Sierra...
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The first blossom in the valley
The blossom is late here this year, colder temperatures have delayed the almond and cherry blossom. I know it doesn’t look like much, but this is the first in the valley and so is a cause for...
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From green to yellow
The lemons are beginning to look like lemons now, rather than large limes. The colour progression is a like watching a colour wheel in an art class, the gradual transition, shade by shade, deeper...
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X is for…
…xoconostle is a Mexican persimmon. This is one of ours, August 17, 2013. Sorry, I couldn’t find anything else beginning with ‘x’.Filed under: Garden Tagged: Andalucia, living in Spain, nature, Sandra...
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Baby almonds
Almonds are good for you, they are an excellent source of vitamin E, calcium, phosphorous, iron and magnesium and also contain zinc, selenium, copper and niacin. They are my favourite nut, the easiest...
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Spring leaves
No matter how long I live in this valley, I will always getting a kick out if seeing the new leaves unfold each spring. The tightly-wound bud, the first hint of green which broadens into a broad line...
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