Cultivating The Land And Dinner At The Local Italian.

Pep has had to cultivate the land this spring more than any other year (so far, 4 times), due to the fact that we’ve had so much rain. Every time it rains the weeds think it’s marvellous and pop up their little heads again. This Sunday we thought we’d be doing it for the last time. And then on Tuesday it rained!! Again!! 16 mm in 10 minutes!!!!!

And by the looks of the sky at the moment we could be in for a drop more. We’re not complaining, anyone that has a garden or grows veggies in this area knows how important it is to have a good old downpour this time of year, water bills are sky high in the summer months and if anything can stop them from making a huge hole in our bank account, we’re all for it. Trouble is, he’s planted the watermelon seeds 4 times now and most of them have rotted because of the humidity, something that has never happened to him before. And getting out the rotavator for the 5th time in a few months, well that’s going to be slightly tedious.

*The sky looking rather ominous. Pep’s rain measuring system on top of one of our water tanks! I’m told it’s accurate.*

On Sunday morning, the boss from the John Deere garage in Orba came over as promised. After asking Pep exactly what it was doing (not very much really), he removed the petrol filter (I think, I’m no mechanic) and saw that it was completely blocked. A quick clean out and the rotavator started up in a flash. Thank God. As usual, the damn thing had something else happen to it on Monday but that’s another story. It’s sorted now so hopefully that’s the end of it, I’ll keep touching wood though just in case.

So once the lovely little darling rotavator was up and running it was time to put it to use in our “huerta”. Again!! Ok, I’ll stop moaning now. I have to help Pep with this task because the watering system is set up and there are hoses all over the land, which means I have to hold them up while he passes underneath with the machine and then try and put them back exactly where they were before (I get all the good jobs).

*Pep whizzing along by the tomato plants. My arm holding the watering system hoses up so he can pass underneath.*

We had to do the bottom and top plots, the middle one has all the pumpkin plants so that means, as well as lifting all the tubes I also have to move the huge leaves so they don’t get damaged. Doing this while the rotavator is blowing petrol fumes in your face is not the most pleasant thing (nor the most eco) but it has to be done. We were hoping not to have to do the pumpkin plot but by the looks of this weather it will have to be done shortly. Oh well, anything for home grown organic pumpkins and butternut squashes.

The pumpkin plants. They’re not growing quite as much this year, partly due to the cooler weather but also because it’s the 3rd consecutive year that they’ve been planted in the same spot. Next year they will be planted elsewhere and we will give this plot a bit of a rest

Once I’d helped him with the bottom plot I came in to clean my feet (Pep always tells me off for working in flip flops) and to make lunch. Just a salad today for quickness but it’s such a lovely feeling when nearly everything on the plate has been harvested here or at Pep’s casita in Pinos, summer is an amazing time for home grown produce. The only things that are shop bought are the sesame seeds (not sure how to grow them), sweetcorn (we are growing corn on the cobs but they’ll be a while yet) and the rice (I’ll leave that to the people in Sueca!)

*Even the nectarines were from one of Pep’s brother’s trees. Our nectarine tree is still very young so won’t be producing fruit until at least next year.*

Later on, once it had cooled off a wee bit we went back out to cultivate the top plot. This wasn’t quite as time consuming ’cause it’s not as big but it still took up most of the afternoon and evening, along with planting all the basil plants in between the tomatoes to supposedly keep the flies away, chopping down a load more old weeds to place around the bottom of the plants to keep the humidity in and harvesting the day’s courgettes (and anything else that is ready to be picked and eaten in the not too distant future).

*Cutting down the weeds and disappearing amongst the tomato plants. The “huertas” looking nice and tidy.*

*Lovely lettuces, or letti as I always want to call them.* *They’re one of the only veggies that Pep can’t seem to grow from seed, he’ll get there one day no doubt.*

Pep then informed me that, as it was our 93rd monthversary (I know, sad but sweet) that he would take me out for dinner at our local Italian restaurant. The Restaurante Plazoleta in Benissa does the best pizzas and pastas in Benissa (in our opinion, of course). Their Tagliatelle Al Pesto is my favourite, they put walnuts in it which really make the dish. Pep always has pizza. This time he settled on the Pavarotti which consists of tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms (champiñones), anchovies (anchoas), oregano (the same but with an accent on the “e”) and “guindilla” a type of green chilli. He always asks for less cheese (this is the only cheese he can stand as he says it doesn’t taste of anything much) and less “guindilla”, he’s not a fan of super hot and these chillies are pretty spicy.

Everything was delicious. It’s a plain little restaurant, nothing fancy at all but the pizzas and pastas are always very good and the prices are reasonable. They also serve you an appetiser of homemade bread with a tomato and onion dip. The bread is excellent (in my humble opinion) and the dip is fresh and tasty.

So that was our busy Sunday. We walked back home and collapsed into bed. Although days like this can be tiring the rewards far outweigh all the hard work, and if you get taken out for your favourite pasta dish at the end of it all, who’s to complain?!?!

I’ll be off now. See you in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading. Any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you. Love Georgie and Pep xxx