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[suzy]

Well, it´s here, August, a nightmare for all us gardeners in Espana.  Water, water, water.  As on a previous post, I am gravelling one side of my garden and putting pots there, apart from the rosemary, that thrives, which will have it´s own little space in the gravel.  I find it so hard to see my beautiful space, so lovely in spring, gradually strangling from the heat and the hot, hair blower wind we have every afternoon this time of year. 

Still, come September and, hopefully, some rain, not to mention tormentors, we will be blooming again.  Let me know how YOU cope with August??

[Campo Girl]

That is why I didn't write much for August gardening as there is little to do except pulling weeds, irrigation and making sure nothing dies!

I cope with August by being pretty much naked all the time (we are very private here) and watering when the sun goes down

We have some rubble to clear and some gravelling of our own to do

[suzy]

I spent this morning rescuing and potting up the plants from the side of the garden we are gravelling.  A lot of the problem is that this side has a large jasmine hedge which steals all the moisture from the other plants this time of the year.   Boy, was I ever glad to collapse into the pool by midday    Still the tomatoes are thriving and we are enjoying them and the Morning Glory up the fence has been, well glorious!! 

[Campo Girl]

Ooo morning glory, I have one of those outside my front door and it is just lovely, the purple flowers are a delight to look at, this is placed next to a Red Rose of China which I also adore

Simone

[suzy]

I started mine off to cover an ugly place between our neighbours fence.  English seeds, "Cambridge Blue". started it off. This year we mixed them with purple and magenta, the result is magnificent.  CB have seeded themselves, amazingly, and mix in well with the others.   Can thoroughly recommend for our Spanish land.

[suzy]

We had to go to the garden centre the other day to replace a pot which had blown over and broken, to save the healthy cypress tree that´s growing in it, but that´s another story.    Hey guess what I couldn´t resist the temptation to buy a plant.  It was a solanum, which I have seen growing prolifically here, and thought I´d give it a go, only 3.60 euros for a quite big shrub... ganga!  From reading up on them they are related to both the potato and deadly nightshade, is this true?  Any tips how to look after it would be appreciated...

[Campo Girl]

Hola Suzy

I have never even heard of it and just looked in my book and cannot see it there either - tis a new one for this forum

I think you may be the leader on caring for this plant before long hahaha

Simone

[suzy]

Hi Simone,
Just looked it up in my RHS encyclopedia, Solanum rantonnetti is the one I've got, it is also knows as Blue Potato bush.  The potato genus is actually called Solanum tuberosum, which I didn't know before. 
I'll try and get a photo of it to post when it's not so boiling hot    you might recognise it then.

[suzy]

Here is a picture of the solanum, the flower colour is actually more mauve than the blue it looks in the photo!

[terry]

I find August a relaxing month, just a little preperation for the winter crops, some gentle weeding and spending the rest of my time trying to keep the critters off of my plants. My main problem at the moment is trying to keep some of the figs for myself. The birds have discovered that they are just starting to ripen. Last year I thought we had a pact, they could have the figs at the top of the tree and I could have the lower ones, but they lied to me; again. The tree is far to big to net even though I am trying to net the lower branches but is an uphill battle. However I am very happy in the heat below 38 but above that I start to wilt just like the plants. My garden deposit is now empty so I am having to use mains water and that comes expensive, however we are promised some rain in the next 2 or 3 days for which my deposit and my pocket will be extremely grateful.

[suzy]

Hi Terry
Have you tried hanging unwanted CD´s/DVD´s from your fig tree.  Our neighbour finds this works very well in distracting the birds, we tried it on our cherry trees and didn´t lose any fruit.   We used old ones that were free with the newspapers and had a laugh as one was a Vinnie Jones film with his picture on the disc, we reckoned that was what scared them most 

[Campo Girl]

Hahahaha @ Suzy with the Vinnie Jones CD!

[Alec]

Well, it's over now, although the past few days of that hot blast from Africa were hard to bear. At least we're back to something more normal now, and we can start preparing for more of the same in a year's time!

How did I cope? By spending the month in the UK! But that wasn't any help to the garden of course. We had to get a house-minding service to look after the house, garden and pool, while the cat went into a luxury cat-hotel. Expensive, but then after all it was our holiday, and you expect to pay for a holiday.

Now I can start saving for NEXT August!!
Alec

[suzy]

Very sensible Alex but unfortunately not an option open to most of us... I would have settled for the luxury cat hotel    did it have aircon??

We are still very hot here, with forecasts of 35 plus for the next 2 weeks.  A lot of the self sown seeds like  Nigella, Aquilegia, the unstoppable Marigold, etc. are putting in an appearance.  Thanks, no doubt, to my constant watering.  Thank heavens for the well, which was refilled aplenty with all the rain over the past two winters.   Our friend Antonio´s water melons weigh a good 15 kilos this year and are much tastier than in years past!!

[Campo Girl]

Hola Guys

I am sure a welcomed break Alec, we have AC at home so that has been on a lot lately hehe, although Monda is very coolo at night even in August so we are lucky there

My seeds failed that I planted which you sent me Susie, I am gutted, glad to hear yours are coming up though

My garlic chives didn't even bother and I was so looking forward to those, I still have some left though so I will try again when the season is ready for me

Simone