a garden walkthrough

a walk through the garden

May 19- The Garden

It's a fantastic time of year- everything is beautifully green. The frogs are calling, the hoopoes, cuckoos and nightingales are back and in full song.

The River Garden is a year on now and really establishing well- feels like we've got a 'real garden' again and we just love it.

Pascoa '19- Easter and Myrtle Madness!

We had a wonderful Easter with family visiting- plus a crazy little boxer pup on the scene!

 

She is fitting in brilliantly. The first few days were challenging- she seems to have no fear- and I needed to be watching her like like a hawk.
The Weasel wasn't too sure to start- and neither was Flea, but slowly they are getting used to having her around. Weasel seems to be happy to have a bit of backup again!

Myrtle

It's been a year now since we had to say goodbye to Twiggy. We've been missing her so much, but we didn't want to rush into any hasty or bad decisions. After a lot of thought- weighing up the pros and cons, we threw our caution to the wind and decided to go for a new boxer pup.
Our reason for not getting a rescue this time is for several reasons- the first and most important is The Weasel- she is 11 now, and we felt that bring in an unknown would be very unfair on her. We don't have fences or gates here- so we needed to start with a puppy which we could train, and one we know the habits/character of.
Paul and I have had boxers for almost 20 years and there was a huge boxer shaped hole in our lives. Plus we've had a hard 18 months and we all needed a little sunshine back at Velagota again....


So here she is........ Sweet Myrtle de Lareanus

Spring 2019- javali!

We had a visitor to the girls in the Spring- a huge male Javali- wild boar.
He jumped into the pig field, had a sniff about and jumped out again. The girl weren't fussed at all- all very calm and curious! He visited a few mornings in a row- which was quite inconvenient as he was super aggressive towards humans!!

Bees Knees

Paul's surprise from all the family was two bee hives (bees to follow in the Spring!). Very exciting for both of us. We have been thinking about the best place to put them- on the sunny side/out of the frost, but with shade from the midday sun. We've chosen a spot below the veggie garden- and at the weekend visited the local market to buy some more trees and then set about planting bee friendly trees around the area.
1 Liriodendron
1 Tilia
5 Almonds
5 Apples
1 Feijoa
1 Eriobotrya japonica (Loquat/Nespera)
1 Cherry

We also bought 5 olives for the terrace below the 'river garden'- which we've named 'The New Wedding terrace'. We want to keep this level nice and simple with green lawn and olives only.

Because it's the right time of year to buy citrus we also bought 4 more citrus trees- a Grapefruit, Blood Orange, Orange and Lemon- which we'll plant when the weather warms up a bit!

Pauls birthday

Paul had a big birthday this year, so we took a few days out and visited the Douro Valley (two hours drive north from here). Beautiful area to relax, walk and drink some local Douro wine.

2019

January we were straight back into the clearing below the house- also putting in new ramps so we can get the mower/tractor around most of the terraces now

Christmas 2018

We had a bit of a break over Christmas with friends visiting from the USA. We managed to do a bit of clearing below the house and our guests bought and planted two new trees! Alan the Almond- and Sunny D the Orange

New Trees by Road

It took us about 3 weekends to clear the mess from the loggers- and then we could get on to the fun bit!
We went straight out and spent the €300 from the logging company back on trees for replanting.
This is what we bought:

1 Liquidambar 6/8 2m+
1 Quercus phellos 180/200
1 Quercus rubra 150/200
5 Cupressus x leylandii 80/100
1 Sequoiadendron giganteum 60/80
2 Photinia red robin 40/60
3 Prunus laurocerasus (cherry laurel)
1 Vibunum tinus
1 Picea pungens Globosa
1 Cedrus atlantica
1 Platanus 160/180
1 Grevillea
2 Liquidambar
2 Quercus rubra/coccinea
3 Pinus pinea
2 Arbutus unedo
1 Ginkgo biloba
1 Quercus suber (cork)
3 Cupressus
1 Tilia

Liquidambar

Baby Sequoia

Pine Forest Clearing

We made the decision a couple of months ago to let the loggers take the big pines from the site- to save us a bit more work and hopefully put a bit of dosh towards replanting. We've had three or four people show interest, but they've never come back. This week there was a different log company clearing just across the road- so we talked them into clearing ours too while they were local. They offered a smaller amount of money for the trees- basically called them 'palha' which means straw. The longer we leave them- the less they are worth, and we just want them gone now.

They cleared them all in a day- one guy on the chainsaw, the second in the big machine, and a third with tractor and trailer. Fascinating to watch, but also quite sad!

Yesterday, the day after the loggers left- was a public holiday- All Saints Day, which meant we could have a day on the land and start clearing up the mess they left behind.

Beppie the boxer on holiday with us and having fun out on the land

Maggies tree

Just noticed this week that Maggie's (our first boxer) crab apple tree is shooting from the base. A year on! Just goes to show it's important to be patient!

Autumn 2018

Not sure if it is because we've gone past the year marker, or just the fact that autumn is here and things are greening up again- but we're feeling quite positive about getting this place back on track.
Had a brilliant weekend clearing with Spud. We've got a long way to go-  the task of taking out the dead trees is still very daunting to me- but we can only do what we can do and every week we make a tiny bit of progress.

Day 365- One Year On

So here we are- a year on. I guess we've achieved quite a lot with the recovery of the Quinta -  pigs, chickens, gardens, plus all the house repairs- new windows etc, but the fire still seems to be very much a part of every day with burnt trees everywhere reminding us of that horrific night.
It's been an extremely hard year for us personally, but hopefully we are starting to come out the other side and we continue to stay positive, making plans for new projects to try to get the old Velagota we loved so much back.

Day 364 - Hurricane Leslie

It was a year ago today the hurricane came through and fanned the big fire and caused so much devastation, loss and heartache. Last night it seemed like deja-vu with a hurricane coming through the area, and the bombeiros sirens signalling a fire a couple of villages away.
We've been through the worst case scenario here, fire-wise, and this year we can be re-assured that there's not a lot left to burn- but it doesn't stop the anxiety when those sirens start up!
This morning we've had a walkabout and there are a lot of trees down- better get the chain saw out...

Day 363

Day 362

Day 361

Olives on the new olive tree in the side garden

Day 360

Wednesday 10th October- the Bamboo, Wisteria and Liriodendron (tulip tree) are back from the fire and doing well.

Day 359