I can now recall the different effects on different crops.
Last year very wet conditions affected the olive growth to the point we did not get any crop.
This year the extreme warm weather (6 plus weeks of daily temperature around 40 degrees) has damaged the first cropping of vegetables. All of them except the potatoes.
Luckily the second crop has been productive so we can now enjoy a good variety of vegetables on our door step.
We certainly enjoy the dry conditions more than the wet. We can do more work early in the morning and late in the afternoon. midday is still a no-no as the heat is too uncomfortable.
We are now watering the plants every two days and fortunately we have plenty of water at our disposal thanks to last year's continuous heavy rain.
Before it does start to rain (better to anticipate it this time!) we have put in some more work on the troublesome roof over our sleeping quarters:
All the almonds have been collected and now are toasting under the sun.
Some low level pruning has commenced on the olive trees which are promising well in terms of quality. There will be not an abundant crop but quality should be on the plus side.
This week-end we are harvesting the grapes (again not much of it on our own land, but good quality) and crushing them to produce the well deserved wine for next season.
We are still waiting for an inspection on our vineyards in order to extirpate the old plants and replace them with new ones . This is a complex job with different stages to be achieved at different times and has to be coordinated well. If everything falls into place nicely we should have new vines at the beginning of March 2021.
This year we are trying to dry in the old fashioned way the abundance of figs. Last year in September there was nothing left on the trees but this year we are eating them on a daily basis and my breakfast so far is all fruit: peaches, figs and grapes together with yoghurt.
One new crop that we tried planting last November was lentils. We know that these grow very successfully in other parts of Italy and as Lesley is fonder of these than of meat, we decided to try for a protein crop! They were very productive and there was a bundle of dried plants awaiting our arrival in September. It took a lot of head scratching and internet searching to discover a simple way of extracting the tiny lentils from their flimsy pods and separating them from the dried plant.....no way as easy as shelling peas! We also now understand why you are told to 'pick over' lentils to remove stones before preparing a meal........
Seeking shade, we have occasionally been down to the stream at the bottom of our other field. It has become shady and cool and this year we discovered a number of tiny fish have returned to it. A good sign. We have also replenished the wood stock a little from fallen trees at the river side.
Another crop to think about and experiment with....
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| Gojo berries |
