Since the deluge of early October it's been a pretty dry month with just the odd shower but quite a lot of wind, mostly westerly. Temperatures now down to about 10C at night, up to between 12 and 14 by day. The centre of the island, by contrast, has a range more in the region of 7 - 16, with clearer skies and without the moderating effect of the sea.Most of the time I've had to work on the land has been clearing of one sort or another. My uphill neighbour, or rather his tenant, has given me
permission to clear pines on his land, and I've
been trying to get as much done as possible in case his landlord doesn't agree. It's a strip of olive groves all along above the house, getting colonised by pines which are now up to 25cm trunk diameter. They can be cut easily now, but if allowed to get bigger there's the danger of damaging terraces when they are felled. The olive trees are very neglected, but there is also other vegetation growing up: encinas, arbutus, mastic and lots of giant heather. By removing the pines the encinas have a chance to take over, rather than getting yet another pine wood, in this case one that would eventually overhang the house
and much of the land.
Veg doing OK, but discovered the peas I have grow much taller than indicated and flopping all over the carrots. Zuccola wins on taste and not a bad cropper either, on a par with the regon and way ahead of norli. Cut a few reeds for the next lot to try and keep them upright. Broccoli, all varieties, heading up, but the green spear and gai laan more productive than the regular calabrese. Chinese cabbages turning out mostly OK but a bit slug and caterpillar mauled. Daikon are huge and un-mauled, and cos lettuce sprouting back nicely after being cut. In the past I had followed advice of an older gardening book and always pulled up whole lettuce, but the cut and come again approach seems to work fine on this variety (Batle lechuga rubonea).
