gardening and planting

[conjuro]

Advice requested please. Lived in Spain for some years and now retired and bored. We moved to the costa tropical just east of Motril a little while ago. The idea was to develop my hobby in garnening
such as veg, fruit etc. Waited a while to try and understand the climate here and the result is that this area is so different from the rest of Andasulia. Love it to bits and would not want to be anywhere else. sadly, dont know what will grow in the heat etc.
Love to hear from anyone who has experience in planting in this Costa Tropical.
Hoping for a response

[wildside]

Hi,

Your first port of call should be a quick look over the neighbours (Spanish if possible) fence..... Not the fence to be Spanish, the neighbour .... What are they growing and most importantly what are they planting/sowing...

Next visit should be to the nearest cooperative or growing centre.... Not a garden centre designed for northeners full of oil burners on bamboo sticks!...

Down in your neck of the woods you have some of the biggest producers of ornamental and food plants in Spain... It's not called the costa tropical for nothing.... You will see all the plants coming into stock for sale at the right time of year... watch out for the plug trays... If the plant centres are selling plug trays full of onions then its time to plant onions....

Have a look at this website.....
http://gardeninginspain.com/

Most of all have fun in the garden and enjoy the "weeds" as much as your proper plants.... A lot of the weeds that grow here are ornamental pot plants in the UK that cost a small fortune...

[Sandramay]

Hi Conjuro, at the risk of boring you with a list, the following are some of the fruit trees we grow just above La Herradura, not far from Motril. Olives, Avocados, nispero, membrilla, navel oranges, grapefruits, lemons, lime, almond, fig, mango, mulberry, apricot, peach, nectarine, plums, apples, pomegranite, papya, persimmons, grape and asophaipha. The banana and plantain are struggling up the hill but do grow well at sea level. As we are not resident we tend to only have fruit trees and flowering shrubs. I think the dearest tree so far has been €22 I still want to get a cumquat and limequat and if I had a northerly aspect I'd try some Kiwis.

Our Spanish neighbour also grows potatoes, tomatoes, onions, radish, peppers, cucumbers, beans, pumpkins, melons, lettuce, cabbage etc etc. So you have a lot of choice.

There is a very good, and inexpensive agricultural outlet, popular with Spanish growers, just behind the petrol garage in Almunecar.

It's always exciting to visit and see what is ready to harvest, we are back out for November However, at the moment I'm still busy with produce here and although we had a wet Summer the Autumn is/has been glorious, even the black hamburgh grape vine in the garden has fully ripened. I heard that it is going to be a vintage year for English wine............ I don't think Spain needs to fear the competition though

Happy gardening Conjuro.

[conjuro]

Hi Sandramay, thank you for your response. I´m a lillle bit late picking up your message and this is due to not being too sure how to use this system (forums). Loads of very useful information from you.
I am aware that lots of fruit and veg are grown in this area and as far as Almeria, but I thought it was forced grown under plastic for the most part. Although I am a novice where plants etc., are concerned I don't want to and won't use plastic.
We live in Motril but have a finca just east of the pueblo at an altitude of about 500 mtrs.
Loads of space with a lot of the land terraced from times past.
We would love to see your garden sometime and pick your brains for suggestions.
Best regards
conjuro
PS. The name conjuro comes fron the mountain where we have the finca.

[Sandramay]

Hi conjuro, sorry for the delay in replying, we've been away for a few sunny days in Brighton Coincidentally, we nearly bought near Motril (Los Tablones)
We don't use any plastic tunnels and I understand they are forbidden in our area. Our land was mainly planted with avocados but my ambition is to have something ready to pick/harvest whenever we visit. My Spanish neighbour and an elderly Spanish friend are my mentors, but I think, they think, I'm a bit loco but I love the challenge, learning and sharing info. So I'll send you a PM before we come out.

[Sandramay]

CONJURO, I've sent you a private message. I see you are a 'newbie' so you need to go into your profile and open it. Regards, Sandramay