I’m still in sunny (no really we have had one day of sunshine) Wales, feeling soggy (as you do). Realised I haven’t shared my potato experiment. So here goes…
The theory is we shall have New Potatoes for Christmas Dinner. We planted sprouting potatoes in September in large sacks, half full of well rotted compost. As they have been growing I have added straw and more compost in layers. The plants look fine (or they did when I left, so fingers crossed the Man About the Finca has been keeping an eye on them).
Even if the crop is not great during the winter, at least it has made me realise there is no point in growing spuds in our hard, dry ground again. For a start they struggle, and secondly we struggle even more just trying to dig them out without breaking forks, spearing spuds and inevitably leaving more in the ground to sprout again next year which of course is a big no no when gardening organically.
Well, I’m back to the mountain tomorrow so I can check up on the spuds progress then…
Okay, apologies to the Welshies in the rain…
But after a few days of blustery autumnal weather our mountain has decided summer is the best place to be. The dog’s are too hot,
the chillies and peppers are all fruiting like crazy and still flowering, the courgettes are still slowly fruiting, and yesterday we ate this…
Yes, we did actually share it, but come on who thinks the berries will actually ripen this time of year. And, I even had to brave the snake hiding in the wall directly behind them.
And, before you start to believe I am gloating… well I may be, just a touch, I am off to sunny South Wales tomorrow and am just trying not to get too upset about the prospect of soggy clothes and muddy walks!
One thing we both miss about life in rural Spain is that we can no longer light a bonfire whenever the mood takes us. Now we need a license and even then can only light bonfires during the day a certain distance away from the pines. The wind must be non-existant and it must not be a fiesta.
We were those annoying neighbours back in sunny Wales that lit a bonfire at every opportunity (we were though always considerate of washing lines and used the ‘its dusk so we can burn stuff” rule).
I miss it. But, when you are surrounded by highly combustible pine and no water it does make sense. Last night though was Bonfire Night in the UK. So we had to have a fire. No, we didn’t throw caution to the wind and light an illegal fire after hours. No instead, we decided to join the UK in spirit only and lit the log burner inside. It was brisk, windy with a definite nip in the air, so we thought we’d be extravagant and light the fire ‘just this once’ (the theory is we shouldn’t really need to light it till it’s much colder – his theory not mine).
In the spirit of cozy winter evenings I made a fish pie with way to much cheesy mash so we’d really feel like Brits in November. Indeed it was cozy. But, the problem with cozy is that it actually just became ridiculously hot in our tiny little finca. The wind dropped outside so it warmed up anyway, and with the wood burner and the oven on full blast it wasn’t long before we were back down to t-shirts and wishing the fire would burn itself out sooner.
Even the Evil Naruto Cat couldn’t stand the heat for long and needed to stretch out elsewhere.
Wierd though it’s the only night of the year when you definitely won’t hear fireworks or bangers going off somewhere. Next year I shall try to locate sparklers so we can get truly nostalgic for noisy old Blighty.
Definitely need to try not to relight the fire till it’s really cold.
Like now, I am currently typing with a big scarf and hoodie on… indoors. I mean of course I look ‘well gangstar – innit’ but its a bit sad for a 3? proper grown up lady… in glasses…
