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New garden + gardener in the Algarve
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Posted by butterflower (My Page) on Mon, Sep 18, 06 at 12:18
| Hi there
I have recently relocated to the Algarve in southern Portugal and I am keen to start my first garden. The trouble is, I havn't the faintest clue where to start. I would like a garden with lots of flowers and flowering plants. I have already had some success with vegetables, and plan to grow a wide variety of chillis, but I am wanting to nurture something a little more visually stimulating.
I am located on a lovely orange farm, with good access to water and the soil is a deep red and seems very fertile. I also have several esablished olives, tangerines, grapes apples, plums, pears, walnuts, almonds, pomegranates and bay.
Any ideas of some good flowers/plants to start with?
Thanks in advance for any advice! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: New garden + gardener in the Algarve
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- Posted by possie Algarve Portuga (My Page) on
Thu, Sep 28, 06 at 9:16
Hi Butterflower,
I have a place in Luz de Tavira and in January I planted 50 Rosa Rugosa. They grew very fast and started flowering in July, they are insensitive to anything that will attack other roses and should flower from July to November. You can use the buds to make a delicious jam, full of vitamins.
You can find more information on the net and I think they are certainly worth planting.
Have fun,
Possie |
RE: New garden + gardener in the Algarve
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- Posted by eduarda Z10 - Portugal (My Page) on
Sat, Sep 30, 06 at 11:47
| The stars of Algarvian gardens, as far as flowers are concerned, are bougainvillia and hibiscus, which will thrive with low care and bloom virtually non-stop year round. There are a lot of colors and you can build a whole garden around them, if you wish so. The really mild weather of the Algarve means you can basically grow anything you like, probably with the exception of things which require a prolonged spell of cold in Winter to flower well, such as lilacs. Given that water is a scarce commodity in the region and should be used sparingly and well, I would suggest you concentrate on things which can cope with the dry warm Summers and are relatively drought tolerant - salvias, plumbago and pelargoniums come to mind. As for roses, the Algarve is the right place to grow some of the old roses which are tender for most northern climates - old teas (not hybrid teas), chinas and noisettes. You will have to import them from England or France, though, since they are not available for sale in Portugal. Ordering from England over the Internet is dead easy, though, and the roses are delivered as bare roots at the right time of the year (November and December). Another must to successfully start a garden in Portugal (not just in the Algarve) is to do the plantings at Autumn, to take advantage of the rainy season, and install a watering system, unless you want to spend the entire Summer hose in hand... Where in the Algarve are you? I know the area pretty well and I'm a regular traveller there. Eduarda |
RE: New garden + gardener in the Algarve
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i cant wait to get back to my little cottage near Lagos whatm i tried to establish a garden was to mark out a sensible area about 12 meters by 12 metres scraped back the soil and cleared ground of weeds, then coverd the whole area with the black sheet you can buy from the garden centre or hardware shop which will stop all the weeds coming up again .----
in October i planted shrubs into the circles i had cut out of the black sheet and dug the ground and watered them in well for the first 2 weeks, i have used bark to cover over the black sheet. and created curving paths using local rocks and white quarry stone bought from the builder yard for abot 40 euros per ton delivered. this has left me with a easily to maintain garden free of weeds and i can plant things when it suits me simply by cutting a circle through the black sheet and digging down . i now have lemon, orange trees flowering shrubs palm trees etc . i dont claim to be a gardener but this looks good in our casa... |
RE: New garden + gardener in the Algarve
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| Thank you for your responses - plenty to be working with! The black sheet solution to weeds sounds interesting as the land is covered in weeds at present. Does anyone know if mulching is a good alternative, and how I might go about it? |
RE: New garden + gardener in the Algarve
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- Posted by eduarda Z10 - Portugal (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 29, 06 at 18:33
| Mulch won't help much to prevent weeds coming up in this climate. I'm afraid when the warm Spring and Summer temps hit, the weeds will jump as well... I have never used the black material described above, so I can't commment on that. I would be somewhat careful to use it, though, if your soil is heavy clay - which I suspect it is, given that most of the Algarve is clay. Whatever rain it falls there you'll want to catch - believe me - and I'm not sure how this material works with it. What you could also try to help smother the weeds, and save your back, is a method called lasagna gardening. Basically it's a no dig method by which you cover the area you wish to plant with heavy cardboard or a thick layer of newspaper, then add whatever goodies you can find on top - good topsoil, shredded leaves, spent coffee grounds, homemade compost, etc. To plant you just cut a hole on the piles to insert the plant. It works well and saves you the back breaking exercise of digging in the Algarve, especially in Summer. If you google lasagna gardening you may find quite a few hits describing the technique. Mulch is a good thing mainly to conserve some moisture in the soil. Don't count on it too much to help supress weeds, but it does help with water retention, which you will find will probably be your most difficult problem while gardening here. Do as much as you can right now. The warm temperatures and rainfall we are having are pure bliss to start up a garden! Eduarda |
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