Enjoy May – it’s the last month before the Big Heat.

It can also be the loveliest with so many colourful wild meadow and hedgerow flowers, and it’s still possible to spot the orchids. Listen out for the nightingales – they’re far more common here than in the UK; we can regularly hear them day and night. The cuckoos have been around for quite a time now. Meanwhile the elder trees are well in blossom so now’s the chance to make delicious elderflower cordial and champagne, the nicest of the (non-alcoholic!) summer drinks.

Back to the veg patch…

• Most things should be planted out now, including the sun loving courgettes, squash, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers etc. The nights won’t get too cool, and there’s certainly no risk of frost! Don’t forget that melons will do well here in Portugal too.
  
  
• Watch out for snakes. It’s the mating season and they’re lurking in the compost bins and long grass. Make a noise before entering the potting shed!
  
  
• Keep on top of the aphids. Check all leaves that seem to have curled up, and anything which has ants crawling around. Squash them with your fingers or spray with soap and water. (Don’t be tempted to use insecticides – they’ll kill off the ladybirds too.) I’ve killed so many recently that I now understand how the phrase ‘to have green fingers’ has come to mean that you’re good at gardening…
  
  
• If you’re growing potatoes it’s a good idea to earth up one more time so that the top ones aren’t exposed to the light (and therefore go green and poisonous).
  
  
• Don’t leave cloches over young plants or your polytunnel closed during the day; temperatures can soar under the plastic.
  
  
• The season for planting new trees has well and truly gone. They need a lot of water and they just won’t get enough now to survive the summer ahead.
  
  
• Talking of water – the veg patch is going to need a lot of it during the coming months. Watering with a can is fine if you have a small plot but even then it soon becomes a chore, as does dragging a hose around. We bought a sprinkler last year which initially we were pleased with but we soon realised how much water is wasted and it often got ‘stuck’. We have now spent some money and time laying down tubes for an irrigation system which uses the water from our well. We’re hoping this will be a real investment – the water only goes where you want it to and once set up it’s easy to use. Even using tap water it should keep those water bills down.
  
  
• Finally, cut back those brambles. They can spread like mad (underground shoots can pop up among the veg) and they don’t give any nice blackberries anyway.

by Jackie McAvoy (read her blog The Story of Casa Azul)