I live in Southern Spain, where I enjoy watching the view from my home over the mountains and the nearby villages. I share my life with my husband, our dog, our daughter's cockatiel and various friends and neighbours.
I love music, reading, laughing, anything creative, my little roof terrace garden and my solar-powered fairy lights.
It has been a busy few months, catching up with things that almost a year of enforced idleness had sabotaged.
Of course, not everything was put on hold, and with the help of William, Paco and Walter, the dogs have some smart new kennels and TIMEOF – The Ingham Memorial Executive Olympic Footspa – has been installed. Both have radically improved the look of the place and far more quickly than I could possibly have managed if I had been fit to do the work myself.
2019 is now well underway and I am enjoying better mobility. We have planted a few new fruit trees in the garden, along with some more shrubs and flowering plants. This morning I had a wander around and took a few photographs, so I could share them here on El Perro.
My hammock is installed under the quince tree near TIMEOFThe lavender and rosemary along the side of the acequia are well-established nowWe look set for a bumper crop of nisperos this year, as long as the birds don’t get them allThe quince tree is a feature all year round, either with blossom or laden with fruit. It’s a shame the fruit are not a favourite with us, although the dogs love playing with them.Signs of life on the grapevine. A couple more months and it will be a mass of lush green. The gnarled old railway sleeper is one of several dotted around the garden. They add vertcal interest and are a link with the history of the Almanzora ValleyGeoff has been installing a drip irrigation system. The plants seem to respond better to this than to one of us traipsing around with a hosepipe.The yucca is thriving now it is out of its pot. Having started off on our roof terrace in Canillas, it is now settled at Cortijo Limonero.The cherry tree has suddenly put on a spurt this year. For the first time, it looks really happy, and if you look carefully, you can see tiny fruit forming.A new climber on the ‘hitching post’ I’ve wanted one of these for a while. I think once it is a splash of bright orange, it will transform this part of the garden.
Plenty of blossom on the nectarine tree. We had a good crop last year, although it is still just a baby. It looks as if this year will be even betterGeoff’s walnut tree appears reluctant to do anything, but there are a few buds on there, honest!The fig tree is coming into leafThe pink pastels bed is mostly recovered from the harsh winter, but we have had to replace a couple of things. One or two shrubs still look dead, but I am unwilling to take them out, in case they are just slow to commit!The new lime tree lost most of the leaves it came with, but is sprouting well. Mojitos this summer, I hope.The cactus bed lost some succulents to the frost, but it still looks quite full.All the plumbagos suffered terribly from the frosts, but we are now seeing signs of life sprouting up from beneath the old, dead growth.New rosemary plants will make a sweet smelling border to the boules pitch.We have not even finished eating all the grapefruit from the tree and it is already ready to blossom again. If you look closely, you can see the fat white blossom buds. The orange trees are doing the same.
There is, of course a lot of weeding to be done at this time of year, but that gives plenty of opportunity to spot new things happening in the garden.
Meanwhile, the livestock are doing really well. I’ll try to get down with the ducks soon, so I can share what is happening there.
