: Green Finger Brigade
Terri Anderson admits that she's no green fingers. According to her sister, she's the only person who can kill artificial plants. But with the help of her Spanish neighbour Dona Carmen, she's been trying her hand at gardening - and now she's hooked.
Having spent the majority of my married life living in flats in London, I cannot say gardening had been a favourite pastime of mine.
Not being conversant with gardening jargon, nor the various technicalities of gardening I would in fact say, I am useless! My sister, Beverley - she of the green fingered ilk, says I'm the only person she knows who can kill artificial plants. Of course, she only has to plant a dried up piece of leaf and it blossoms into a magnificent shrub or whatever!
When moving here and acquiring two plots of land with the house, I decided it was time to try my hand at this gardening lark.
Our two plots are not attached to the house. They are across a path and rise upwards to the main road of the village. At the top of one of the plots is a concrete tank where, I was advised, if I should so desire, I could do my washing on one of the concrete wash boards situated on either side! Strange as it may seem, I have in the summer used it. There are some mature vines which give it shade and in the heat of the summer it is very pleasant to wash, under the canopy of the vines, accompanied by the hum of the insects, the chattering of the birds and the sweet aroma of the ripening grapes.
At other times however, Eden is invaded by the harsh screams of the neighbours attempting to get their sheep and cows off one another's land and throughout the year you can hear the dulcet cries of "Tomar! Tomar!''
Another aural delight is the barking of the dogs that, snooze quietly during the day and thoroughly enjoy barking the whole night long. This is supposedly to detract foxes and other prowlers, although I think it's just their cursedness.
Don't believe anyone who says country life is quiet!
The previous owners had left all their implements, such as they were, and being the careful sort of person (miserly!) I took the view why waste money on new tools, if I could use those to hand.
Even the tools here are different. The one which I use mostly is a cross between a spade, shovel and fork. It has a long handle, and the head is shaped rather like a rounded triangle and is at right angles to the handle. With this, I set off to start to clear the six years' growth of weeds.
I now know, I should have sprayed the weeds to kill them first, but as a novice, I learnt the hard way. After what seemed like hours, probably more like five minutes, I was getting nowhere. Luckily though, aid was at hand in the form of Dona Carmen.
Dona Carmen, owns the land in between my two plots and with eighty odd years of experience she decided I needed taking in hand. Carmen, is deaf, of slight build and only speaks Gallego, but has the strength of an ox.
Explaining to me in rapid Gallego, (of which I understand not a word as I am learning Castillano) she quickly cleared a large area of land, which made my efforts seem futile. She eventually left me to have her lunchtime meal, and I carried on following her style.
The soil here is quite light and it seems the knack is to clear a furrow, then dig another furrow, fill it with weeds etc. from the first furrow, and then fill it with the earth from the second furrow. OK, so I'm no Percy Thrower!
I merrily continued for an hour or so. I had been casting to one side the various twigs, thinking this was the correct thing to do and was feeling quite pleased with myself. This was short-lived however as when Carmen arrived, she took one look at the carefully tidied twigs, grimaced and proceeded to put them into the furrows.
A little tear crept from my eye, but I said nothing!
Eventually, I got to the stage, when at long last I could actually begin to plant things and I soon had rows of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes, peppers, beetroot and beans. Now, why is it that that weeds need no tending, but the stuff you want to grow need watering, fertilising, pruning, singling out and generally nurturing throughout the growing season?
Somewhere along the way, my nurturing skills must have been lacking. The potatoes thrived as did the beans, proof of which are still lurking in the freezer, but the carrots and parsnips were miniscule. However, the tomatoes and peppers were a huge success and we had our fill of them throughout summer with batches put in the freezer and even green tomato chutney made.
All in all, I think I'm hooked, so roll on spring when I can start digging once more.
Joining the green finger brigade!
