sexta-feira, 24 de fevereiro de 2017

Limpezas de primavera / Spring cleaning


Chegou aquela altura do ano, a altura em que temos de fazer limpezas no jardim. É impressionante a quantidade de ervas que crescem todos os anos no jardim. São principalmente oxalis, que cobrem e abafam as plantas mais pequenas do jardim. Depois de limpo de ervas o jardim parece outra coisa. Os caminhos ainda precisam de ser limpos, mas as plantas e flores nos canteiros já se vêm.

It's that time of the year. The time when we need to weed and prune. It's just amazing the amount of weeds that have grown inthe past weeks following the rain. Most of them are oxalis, one of my pet hates, they grow over everything and smother all the smallest plants. The garden looks a lot better after all the weeds have been removed. Still need to weed the pathways though.

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Algumas plantas precisam também de podas de rejuvenescimento ou controlo de tamanho. Normalmente costumo fazê-las mais cedo, mas este ano só agora consegui tempo para isso

Salvia leucantha was in desperate need of a good pruning. The plants were overgrown and full of woody old branches. I usually prune them sooner than this, in October/November but this year I didn't have the time or will to do it.



Uma das plantas que precisa de podas para controlar a sua dimensão e rejuvenescer é a Salvia leucantha. Grande demais já começava a abafar as plantas ao seu lado. Além disso as astes velhas, lenhosas, não produzem flores tão abundantemente.

Most of the flowers were lost, its true, but the plants will soon recover and star flowering.


Todas estas ervas arrancadas e ramos resultantes de podas não se perdem. Vão directamente para o galinheiro onde fazem as delicias das "miúdas". Grande parte das ervas será consumida pelas galinhas e tudo o resto será transformado em composto que posteriormente será usado na horta e jardim.

All the weeds and prunings end up in the chicken pen. The girls will eat most of it and what isn't eaten by the chickens will be transformed into rich compost that I will use in the garden and vegetable garden.

                           

2 comentários:

James disse...

What georgeous chickens...and they look so happy to get the weeds. It's a pity we can't train them just to eat the things we want them to eat and not the rest.

gintoino disse...

Hi James, welcome to the blog. Yes, I like to think my chickens live a happy life. They are not allowed in the garden because they would eat most of it but also because my dogs would hunt them and kill them. I'm still trying to figure how to build a tunel that leads them into the vegetable garden where they could eat the weeds, fertilize and move the soil while beeing protected from the dogs. Its a project for the near future.