Autumn Begins in the Garden

We are delighted to be gifted with some amazing helpers at the moment and the main activity is in the garden. We have Javi and Elisa who have come on an Erasmus Plus programme from Spain (though Elisa is from Ecuador) and are with us for 3 months, Mischa from Germany and Clara from Portugal.

Mischa, Elisa and Clara preparing the new raised beds in the kitchen garden.

New Raised Beds

We decided because of an invasion of an annoying grass that we would construct raised beds and invest in a cover for the paths. Many missions to collect goat poo from our neighbour and friend Antonio meant that we have beds that will be ready for Spring planting.

Mischa and Elisa – the beautiful dog is Punky!

The way we prepared the beds was to calculate the size we wanted, put down cardboard, wet it well, then the logs to make the edges, then covered with compost and finally a layer of mulch. We have a total of 15 new beds.

Herb Spiral

The first herb spiral here came to life over 10 years ago, so it was time to renovate and design a new one. Clara, a lady with much experience in all sort of permaculture practices made the new design after we chatted about what plants we want to grow.

The base of the herb spiral

Elisa did a great job of deconstructing the spiral and removing the stones, and then together we built it up again!

Clara directing operations!

We finished the spiral after a mission to collect larger stones, and it looks great in the centre of the garden – ready for plants.

Irrigation

A main priority was to develop a new watering system for the garden. Barbara and Clara took charge and the rest of us had fun learning and doing.

And the winter cabbages and leeks look happy!

More pictures and story to come! Apologies for not being online much, its been a busy summer season. Thank you for taking the time to follow our updates. Much love from those of us at the Mount of Oaks.

2019