The month of May was taken up by constant clearing of the brush and and weedy grass. Together with a little pruning and digging up unwanted stumps. I have been relying on the 900W Bosch electric strimmer and the little 150cc Einhell mower. With the assistance of these two little machines I have managed a decent job of ground clearance. I am able to run the Bosch AFS 27-37 on the Solar P.V/Wind turbine system during sunny days, which helps keep the electricity bill down. My motto - a little at a time but regularly. It is all turning brown and dry but we had an unexpected spot of rain yesterday. Hopefully the weeds won’t spring back up.

I had a decent harvest of favas (broadbeans) this year. I managed to retain 1.6 kg surplus as seed for next season. They are good nitrogen fixers. This year I used the leaves of the plants, after pulling them up and the empty bean pods to make liquid compost. I am planting a few during the summer under some shade. I will do the same with a few peas. I had a poor harvest of peas. They didn’t grow well in the mainly clay soil.

I have a single raised growing bed. The leeks and lettuce did very well in it. Something has been eating the leeks. Whatever it is, it shears them off at the base at the rate of about one a day. It could be either a rabbit or a mole. From past experience it is most likely a mole. I planted some turnips back in March but they simply disappeared.

This year looks to be good for almonds. The intermittent showers during spring and early summer have helped. Spring is an excellent time to see and

appreciate wild flowers in the Algarve.

I got apricots at the moment. I didn’t spray them so about a third have worms. The plums should start to ripen towards the end of June.

My main olive producing trees are having a rest this year. I may get some olives from the others. With prices escalating , I have an incentive to collect and press what olives appear this year.

Best foot forward 🙂