The six “P”s
This week: Where are we now?; Doors closing; The six “P”s; The mellow fruitfulness of autumn;
In just twelve weeks it will be New Year! An awful thought…
On Monday I was at my local tyre depot when they opened and ordered the replacement tyres for my car. They were fitted on Thursday.
I have to say that the Škoda looks very nice now the alloys have replaced the steel rims.
While the car was up on the ramps, I had a good look at the underside to see if I needed to do anything, for example change the brake, pads and the answer was no.
We have had a strong Bura, the cold northern wind, for two full days. On Thursday night I listened as the wind rattled the shutters and whistled around the wainscot. On Friday when I checked, fortunately there was no damage.
The rest of the week has been spent in the orchards. Our dry September has meant that the Sprouts and Cauliflower I planted at the start of September began to wilt, so I have given them water every morning.
The dryness also meant that it has been easy to rake up the dead grass and detritus of summer. However the cooler weather also means that I have had to wear a light sweater for the first time. The year is passing very, very quickly…
Where are we now?
I am still regularly irrigating plants. I have never had to irrigate in the month of October before.
It does remind me of the fundamental assessment questions used in inspection protocols: Where are we now? Where are we going? Where do we want to be?
I downloaded the September weather data on the 1st October. I recorded just 20mm or 20 litres per m² in September. Our ten year average is 60 mm, so just one third of the average.
In September 2024, I recorded 130 mm. But these are both extremes, however every year seems now to be more extreme, in one way or another, than the previous.
My olive trees are suffering and will not recover. The olive fruit resemble green raisins. Instead of being plump and full of oil, they are dry and shrivelled.
Everything I can possibly recycle, is recycled but not many people are fastidious about their waste.
This week I chanced across a place in Jelsa where thousands and thousands of glass bottles have been dumped in black bin bags.
Over a length of 100 metres, on the edge of the forest, someone has been dumping glass for quite some time.
Glass is one of the easiest and most cost effective materials to recycle and Jelsa has a superb public recycling centre. It is easily accessible and catering for every kind of product.
Many of the bottles seem to have the deposit scheme label, so are actually worth returning!
There is no planet B!
Doors closing
What I notice here at every equinox, is how quickly the weather changes.
Last Friday the average temperature was 20.1°C with a high of 26°C and a low of 16°C.
Yesterday I recorded a high of 15°C and a low of 10°C. with an average of 12.5°C, so a high temperature drop of 11°C in a week.
I shut all the windows for the first time since May and also removed the insect doors and replaced them with the storm doors. The warmth in my little greenhouse was immediately noticable,
Our cold at the end of the week has been because of an area of cold air sweeping out of the Russian Arctic and covering much of central Europe. Early on Saturday morning, the temperature was just 7°C, more normally a December temperature.
The weather will warm up again next week, however I think it is probably time to put the cover over the shade netting on the polytunnel, ready for winter.
The six “P”s
Perfect planning prevents profoundly poor performance! A management epithet I learned years ago…
With a perfect week of weather for working outside, I have been working in one of my neglected corners.
A few years back I built a retaining wall in the corner of the Top Orchard. My intension was to use the soil I removed for an ornamental pond to make a raised flower bed.
However as the summers have become hotter I have delayed digging the pond because of water evaporation and water being a scarce resource.
I have now made a decision not to make a pond, rather I will use the roof rainfall runoff in the same area to make a bog garden.
There will still be some soil to remove, but not as much. However I still need to put it somewhere.
Thinking about the process, I decided to plan this new project. but where I had made the retaining wall had become very overgrown.
My plan of action was ready to be implemented.
It is pleasant working in the warm autumnal sunshine. You do not overheat and because of the cooler temperatures, the mosquitoes do not bite until afternoon when the temperature is above 22°C.
I started by raking the dry material away. This left some deep rooted perennial weeds exposed and ready to be dug out.
The weeds in the background are on my neighbours land and he doesn’t clear them. Although I have been cutting wild brambles back, there were several I had missed. These have now been removed too.
All the detritus has been piled up ready to be put through the mulching machine. I will use the mulch around the nut trees and on the flower bed, so nothing will be wasted.
Behind the retaining wall I had to cut back a huge Bay Laurel, Laurus nobilis.
This is a Mediterranean tree whose leaves are used dried as seasoning. However left unchecked, the tree can grow to 20 metres or more.
Being a very thick evergreen, it provides shade in summer and acts as a windbreak in winter, but it must be kept under control.
Although books suggest that the tree is slow growing, my experience is that new shoots can reach a height of six metres in four years.
With the ground cleared, next week I can add in the underground irrigation and then start the soil removal and filling of the border.
The mellow fruitfulness of autumn
Everywhere the leaves are changing colour on our deciduous trees and plants.
Autumn is long and drawn out in Dol, with a parade of changes beginning in August, once the heat subsides and continuing through until November.
We do not have the tradition of “Leaf peeping” or “”Momijigari” because the vast majority of the forest trees in the Mediterranean basin are evergreen.
Of the rest, trees like Almonds, Persimon, Plum and Pomegranate all change colour at different times of the autumn. At the moment it is the peach trees which are giving the best displays. This will be quickly followed by the grape vines.
My Myrobalan plums have already lost their leaves. However they will be first into blossom and leaf next Spring.
My Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, is just beginning to change colour.
When you look at Dol, the majority of the treescape is evergreen. Our Evergreen Oaks are starting to drop the acorns, but the tree never loses its leaves.
In the orchards, the Pomegranate are ripe and I have early lemons and mandarin. My Persimon has a lot of small fruit which are starting to ripen. However our scortching summer sun has “burnt” all the fruits wgich were not protected by leaves,
There is always something to be seen, or picked and eaten in Autumn. NCG
