My farm is only 7 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea, which climatically frees us from the extremes of temperatures that can exist inland, and gives us lovely sea breezes every afternoon. But for the land, the sea has left some unwelcome traces. At several times in the past, what is now my farm was seabed. Before the containing wall was built to stop corroding of the 6 metre high bank on the west boundary of the farm, one could see two distinct deposits of sea shells. These were separated by layers of alluvial silt.

So the soil is a heavy fine clay that becomes easily compacted and has areas with a high concentration of salt.

The salt is more of a problem than the clay. With the addition of lots of organic matter and some serious deep digging, the clay soil can be improved. There is always a problem with drainage and you learn fast not to try to do any work at all after a good amount of rain. I have been so stuck in the wet soil that it took two male friends and a rope to pull me out!

With a good amount of the irrigation water used here coming out of deep wells, this water generally contains some salt, add that to soil with salt residues and it limits the plants that you can cultivate. The technical experts in this area can tell at a glance the concentration of salt in the land by the wild plants that grow on it. When we bought the farm, our first plan was to plant vines and make wine, and with that in mind we built a beautiful wine cellar, but on analysing the soil and finding the levels of salts too high for vines we realised that this was a dream that would not become reality.

For growing vegetables one can pamper some small areas of the land, but for a big crop you have to go with what the land can support. Citrus will tolerate a small amount of salt in the land and the irrigation water, and olives will tolerate a slightly higher concentration. So we decided that for our main crop we would go with citrus, but as the farm is not so big at 7,000 square metres decided to plant limes which are not traditionally grown here. The price that small farmers in this region get for lemons and oranges is very low, so limes are a more profitable option.

Today though, I want to talk about the pampering that you need to do to successfully grow organic vegetables in this harsh soil and climate.

The first, second and third things that you need to do are dig, dig and dig. Then you add lots of well rotted manure, ash from any bonfires and well rotted compost, and then you dig some more. Investing in a small rotavator helps hugely with the digging.

Before planting any vegetables the land has to be shaped into furrows with a v at the top along which will run the irrigation pipe. As I said in Spring Planting Part 1 – Water, everything in the garden here has to be irrigated. There are several reasons that the vegetables have to be grown in furrows apart from not wasting the irrigation water and they are all to do with the combination of soil and weather that we have.

When we do get rain here, it often is a heavy deluge rather than light gentle rain. When this deluge beats down on the heavy clay soil it compacts it and sits on top of the soil, waterlogging it. Then, generally warm weather follows which quickly bakes the clay surface of the soil into a hard crust. If you had your plants in flat land, the soil would see-saw between being waterlogged which would rot the roots of the plant, to being dry and constricting on the roots. All plants need oxygen to be available to their roots, but if the soil is compacted and with a hard crust this denies the plant its oxygen.

So by putting your plants at the top of a furrow you are lifting them out of waterlogged ground and stopping the soil contracting around the roots of them. Also what rain there is collects in the valleys between the furrows and does not get dried by the sun as quickly as it would on flat land so continues to irrigate the plants for longer.

What makes it worth while to overcome the difficulties of the soil here, is the ability to grow vegetables all the year round. Although I have titled this spring planting, in reality I am sowing, planting and harvesting throughout the year. I grow different crops in each season.

In January and late August, potatoes go in, to be cropped in May and December respectively. March is the planting time for courgettes and summer tomatoes which have been started off in small pots in the greenhouse in February. Spring onions and beetroot are sown, and its the harvesting time for asparagus. In May the summer croppers go in. Peppers and chillis, all the squash family, aubergines, okra, purslane, lettuce leaved basil and edible loofahs. Almost all of these have been sown as seedlings in the greenhouse. The conditions here are so tough and the air so dry that seedlings have a very difficult time getting established, not to mention the number of super bugs that proliferate in a warm climate and are constantly looking for a tasty snack, so to give the vegetables the best chance of survival nearly all are started off in a protected environment. I mostly grow my own seedlings but there are lots of small enterprises here that deal in seedlings for the small grower, and the seedlings not at all expensive to buy. These are very useful when either you have had a failure with your own seedlings, usually through rot or greedy bugs eating them, or you have simply forgotten to sow the right thing at the right time.

In august for autumn planting the seedlings are started off in a cool well shaded greenhouse away from the parching summer sun. These are all the plants that are associated with summer sowing in the north of europe. Purple sprouting broccoli – which will sprout the following march, all of the endive family, carrots, peas, beans, cabbages, florence fennel etc. 

In november the onion family go in, the leeks and onions having been started in the greenhouse about six weeks previously. And then the year will start again…….

I know that salads recipes are hardly ground breaking stuff but most of us eat salad on a regular if not daily basis, so here are some ideas to perk up your salad repetoire.

Mixed leaves, goats cheese, warm bacon pieces, walnuts, chives and their flowers.

Puntarelle which is a type of endive where you eat the flower shoots which resemble asparagus, tomatoes and anchovies.

Potato salad made the way my Dad made his and taught me.  New potatoes scraped and sliced, cooked al dente and then dressed while warm with lashings of extra virgen olive oil,  red wine vinegar and slivers of salad onions. Chive flowers to garnish.

A classic Salade Nicoise, but made with grilled fresh tuna, why have tinned when fresh tuna is available. Mixed leaves, tomato, lightly cooked french beans, soft boiled eggs, garlic and almond mayonaise.

Gorgonzola and walnuts atop blanched mange toute peas, grilled asparagus, grilled baby courgettes and their flowers, crunchy lettuce, tomatoes. Dressed with extra virgen olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Eriobotryia japonica – Loquat in English which comes directly from the Chinese word – or Nispero Japonica in Spanish, nispero being a Japanese word meaning “wooly bunch” as the underside of the leaves have a soft white coating. It is an attractive evergreen tree with large deep green and shiny leaves, musky scented flowers and at this time of the year a profusion of golden fruits. It is also the first stone fruit to ripen after the winter, and for all these reasons it is much planted in here in southern spain.  It is a native of China despite acquiring the japonica in its name, and must have spread to Japan first before slowly making its way to Europe by the late 1700’s. It grows extremely well in the warmer parts of spain especially the Alicante and Almeria provinces.

There are two varieties in my garden, Algerie an early variety that has very sweet yellow fruit which are eaten fresh – these have already all been consumed before the later variety is ready. The fruit on the later variety, Tanaka, is bigger and a bright orange colour and more tart, so is better cooked. Also all the fruit is ready at once and does not keep longer than a day or two so preserving most of it of it is essential. It can be made into a jam, although I think the delicate flavour of the fruit gets lost in the amount of sugar need to preserve it. Also, and this is going to sound contradictory, it makes a good indian style chutney with garlic, chilli, vinegar, spices and sugar. When you have a glut of fruit it is worth sacrificing the delicate flavour to use the tartness and colour in a chutney.

As you can surmise from the photo  birds are rather partial to Nisperos as well as us, so the trees have to be netted before the fruits start to turn yellow,although I have had less of a problem with birds this year as there are currently two cats and two kittens in the household.The kittens however can pose a problem themselves…….

Most of my Nisperos get the following treatment to keep them. They are cooked, peeled and stoned and then frozen in portions with their juice. They can then be defrosted as needed to use  in desserts and sauces or just eaten as they are. They are full of vitamins but little sugar so one can feel free to eat a lot of them. One of my favourite recipes in the summer is Nispero Gazpacho which follows, but firstly how to deal with the fruit.

When you pick the fruit, cut the stems rather than break off the fruit as any wound to the fruit will discolour quite quickly. Wash the fruit.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and then gently put in the Nispero a few at a time. If you have a lot of Nipero cook them in batches so that they come back to the boil fairly rapidly. Bring back to the boil and simmer for five minutes to cook them through to their cores. If they are very large cook an extra minute to be on the safe side.

Take the fruit out of the water and put into plenty of cold water to cool them down rapidly and stop them continuing to cook.

When cool enough, peel them, cut in halves and remove the stems, stones and the inner membrane. They are then ready to use or freeze.

Nispero Gazpacho

per person

half a clove of garlic

pinch of sea salt

10 nisperos prepared as above

1 tablespoon olive oil – good fruity extra virgen

Put the garlic and salt in a blender or food processor and blitz until chopped.

Add the nispero and olive oil and blend until you have a smooth creamy soup. Check seasonings and add more salt or oil if you think it is needed.

This soup is so refreshing on a hot summers day and can be made with other fruits. Cherries when in season work very well, there is no need to blanch them just cut them fresh into the blender. The same with water melon which when blended with olive oil turns a lovely coral colour.

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