Planting, growing and cropping seasons

[Whiteswans]

I am moving to my new house near Velez Malaga this June and am keen to start growing my own vegetables and plant fruiting trees.
the summer is so dry I can't see this is a good time to start planting. How do the seasons work? When is the best time to do what in the garden and any tips on water conservation?

[Mariacristina]

I am surprised that there haven't been any replies to Whiteswans posting as we have many keen, experienced and knowledgeable gardeners on the forum.

Perhaps a little more information about your new garden would be helpful. I say this because I have quite a small south facing garden in a village in the Sierra Subbetica and talking about what works for me here probably wouldn't help you at all. How much garden do you have? Is it an existing garden that you want to change or are you starting from scratch? What aspect? What altitude? What are you hoping to do with it? How much gardening experience do you have?

It helps if you have had some gardening experience before, though I have always been a keen gardener and found I had to ditch many of my preconceptions.

Water conservation: How far are you prepared to go to do this? I'm neurotic about it but always go for simple solutions. Some forum members have come up with very good, but more sophisticated ideas. So . . can you be a bit more specific ? I am sure you'll get lots of help then.

[Enrique]

Hi Whiteswans,
Planting trees best done in the wet season ie November thru to February.
See what and when the locals plant their vegetables in your area. Go with the flow , example last year after a dry winter we had no water so didn't plant.
As Marinacristina said it can be different what we do up here(provincia de Jaén) and at circa 900mtr, to a possible warmer place on the coastal strip.

[Footprint]

Good advice. Also - see what plants are being sold currently in your local agribroker or viveros. If available then will be the time to plant.

[Whiteswans]

Thanks for the replies. A bit more detail. I am 10miles inland at 200m above sea level on sloping land in a grape growing area. The house and areas around it are the only flat places where I intend to build a vegetable garden. The soil is poor and goes hard in the summer. It can be dug when wet, has little humus and broken pieces of rock. Because of this I am thinking of building raised beds either with rocks or scaffold boards, then infilling with whatever good stuff I can find like horse manure. I will have to rig up some kind of semi-automatic irrigation to each bed so I don't spend my evenings walking around with a watering can!
Looking at what the locals do and what's for sale in the local Plant Centre sounds good advice. Any tips folks?

[Martin Page]

I think what your asking for is ..... There are two growing seasons a year in Spain

The First is about now *just after the last of the heavy rains where you can dig and prepare you soil/ most gardeners buy 'plugs' to steel a march on the growing season .... Things like salads, tomatoes. Peppers, onions beetroot strawberries . Things that need heat. You grow through the dry season but you have to remember to water copiously so irrigation is almost a must have

The second season starts in September/November when the rains return. this is the time for brassicas carrots, potatoes, spring Onions etc the more typical English garden growing season. there is another sort season at the end of this one ... from about December its the time to plant Garlic (plant shortest day , harvest longest day )

Obviously this is open to local interpretation , but it works for me.

Also see if you can locate your local 'cooprativa' .... then if they have plants for sale ... you know its more or less the right time. that is not true for the veveros that will sell any plants at any time , including the wrong time

I hope this is what you were looking for

[Mariacristina]

There, I knew you'd get lots of useful information.

Might I suggest that your first priority should be a compost bin and to situate it as far as possible away from the house /outside sitting area. Organic waste turns into good compost very fast in the warm months but can smell quite ripe while it is happening. Great for shovelling into clay soil though.

What you plant should be dictated by what you like to eat. You are close enough to the sea to avoid the real extremes of temperatures we get here. Citrus trees are good and are evergreen. After all the years I have been here I still get a kick out of going out into the garden in January and picking oranges to squeeze for juice for breakfast. They also provide shade in summer for things that don't like being roasted in the summer sun, Check out what your neighbours' have in their gardens. There is not much point in planting a lemon tree for example if all your neighbours have mature lemon trees and everyone is trying to give them away at the same time. The same goes for grape vines - wonderful for shade but everyone is trying to give the grapes away at the same time. I have a couple of nectarines , and a couple of avocados and a chirrimoya all grown from the stones but I will be dead long before they are mature enough to fruit and I have to haul them into the garage at night in January and February.

You shouldn't have any trouble growing those where you are and irrigating with a drip system.

You ought to be able to grow salad greens almost all year round and lots of lovely cherry tomatoes and masses of lovely aromatic herbs.

Gardening in Spain is exciting! Sweaty and hard work but exciting.

[Mike.M]

Hi Whiteswans,

Checkout this URL -> http://www.euroresidentes.com/Alimentos ... rduras.htm

It shows the seasonal fruit / veg, month by month.

I can't swear as to its accuracy but was a link I saved, as I want to start planning more 'seasonal' cooking.

Regards,

Mike