My very own plot – This time 12A!

My very own plot – This time 12A!

As of 1st September 2011 I’ve become, officially this time, the new tenant of PLOT 12A! Just this morning, 3rd September, the papers came in the post & I’ve filled them out & sent them back to the Town Council offices with a cheque for £12 – the year’s rent till 31st August 2012.

I spent a disheartening/discouraging 15 -20 mins walking around them before deciding on one. I’d already turned down two plots on 2 previous occasions this year! I couldn’t go back with a negative the third time! So when I got home I immediately phoned them & told them I was interested in Plot 12A. I was told the paperwork would be put in the post right away.

Here is a view of my new plot taken from the central path & looking down the length of mine. The plot only goes a bit beyond the rusty barrel you can see:

I think I may have found the one with the least work to do on it & which I can make a go of. It’s “major” drawback is the out-of-control Raspberry bed, that will need digging out I’m very much afraid! That will be a major job as well! That will have to wait till they die back for the winter. It will probably also be a job over several seasons till I eradicate it all! They make a lot of suckers & the roots can go quite deep & extend a couple of metres to the sides of the bed! I’m not sure whether I’ll keep any plants as yet, I’ll need to examine them closer up to see if it’s worthwhile.

Raspberry bed:

Raspberry bed:

It’s not very far from Gerry’s plot either but on the other side of the central path for cars. No doubt Gerry will offer me the continued use of his shed/greenhouse/tools. When I thought I had plot 19A in June he said I could continue to use his things as I have none of my own, well who would need gardening tools on a balcony!

While I was checking the plots out I checked out 19 B. No work has been done on it in months! The Sunflowers, both Tall & Mini, are now flowering but, as they haven’t been watered in months & we have had little rainfall in that time, they are all stunted & the Tall ones are little higher than the Mini’s!

Here’re a couple of photos that I took:

Sunflowers “Mini”:

Sunflowers “Tall”:

Like in June I will continue to help Gerry with his plots, obviously not quite as much but after running 1 & 1/2 plots for almost 2 seasons my own 1/2 plot will seem very small indeed!

A couple of more views of the overrun plot I’ve taken on:

There are some runner beans growing up a framework:

I gave them a couple of canfuls of water as the soil was so dry.

I discovered a row of Beetroots & gave them a watering as well after removing the weeds. Likewise with a row of Carrot seedlings I also found. I also found what look like Spring onions seedlings – I say Spring Onions as you wouldn’t sow normal onions so late in the year. These also got a good soaking!

Where the plot begins, alongside the central pathway, there is a compost heap that runs the entire width of the plot:

I shall have to empty it & divide it in two, only it will have to wait for some time yet as I discovered that there is a wasps’ nest in it!!!

Gerry came down while I was digging a bed alongside the compost heap & brought a load of bags of horse manure in his trailer! He asked me if I wanted them & I accepted so we lugged them out of his trailer & dumped the bags on top of the compost heap for the time being – but away from the nest!

Well I shall be posting updates on my new plot in the future though until Spring next year there won’t be much to blog about! I’ll be posting a new blog on Gerry’s plot soon.

Valleys in Central Spain

Valleys in Central Spain

Where we lived in Central Spain, in Cuenca, there are two river valleys that converge in the city.

The wonderful valleys are called “Hoces” ; one, the Hoz del Húecar, is at its most stunning during spring & early summer. It´s a fair walk out of town but one that used to be quite popular when we went out along it for picnics during the early summer.

This is a summer photo of the Hoz del Huécar (not mine though)

I was always so absorbed in trying to discover wild flowers that were new to me or just the incredible diversity of life that abounded in what seemed to be just baked rocks & tinder dry grass.

I went for walks out there on my own sometimes just to see the beautiful flowers in the spring!

The other valley called the “Hoz del Júcar” didn’t seem to be so rich in plant life.

Here is a photo of the Júcar river much higher, in altitude & river course, taken by my wife a few years ago. The Júcar river is green its entire length, till it empties into the Mediterranean Sea at Valencia.

It is a wider valley than the Hoz del Húecar but it seemed drier, without the little streams that run down the sides of the Hoz del Húecar.

This photo is looking up along the Júcar river that runs through the Hoz del Júcar. The trees look wonderful in the autumn for a couple of weeks. Up in the “sky” is the highest point of the city where you can see the clock tower that, centuries ago, was a Muslim prayer tower (minaret?).

I first saw wild orchids in these valleys, the flowers were like black bumble bees! I was most surprised to find orchids flowering away quite happily in the most hard baked barren grass patches in the middle of a Spanish summer when temps easily reached 40ºC!

This photo (mine) was taken at the beginning of October, 2006, the day after our son got married. It´s very similar to the one at the top of this blog even though they were taken years apart!