Monday 17 June 2013

Bush beans

The bean which does not climb is the bush bean. This bean is usually eaten dry.

Regarding to the pole beans which climbs along stakes, the bush beans usually stays with their pods stiffer and fibrous earlier.

Our harvest is done when the pods are already filled, while they are not very dry, we thrash them up and freeze them for consumption either in normal meals or in soups. If the beans are dry, it will be harder to cook and therefore we must boil them.

Thursday 13 June 2013

Pole running green beans

One kind of bean that is used a lot in Portuguese cuisine are the green beans "feijão verde". The development of the plant which gives this kind of bean is made climbing along stakes. That's why they are called climbing beans.
After the beans germinate and after chop beans which are too close to each other, it's time to put up stakes for the beans so they can climb up as they wish.
This type of culture needs to be watered more often than other types of beans.
The most important pest of these kind of culture the bean's lice, which we need to be very careful and staying alert.
The green bean "feijão verde" is usually eaten while they are green, usually used in soup or included in a boiled fish meal. But if the aim is to have beans for the entire year, it is best to let them dry first one or two days and put them in the freezer just after. In this case the bean is harvested as dry as possible, threshed, packed and ready to go to the freezer.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Peppers, problems with the freeze

The peppers start well, but cold nights stopped their growth. Now, with the days beginning to be warm while Summer is arriving, we hope that peppers awake and begin to develop strongly. As you can see the leaves are shriveled and with a withered aspect due to the cold.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Sowing pumpkins

Pumpkin is a fruit very important, especially for its nutrition values and by its diversity inclusion in meals. The pumpkin seeds are considered protein supplements.

Most soils can be used for growing pumpkins, if properly prepared. The way the soil is dug, its fertilization, the sowing, the weeding, the watering and the area of ​the ​land required for the pumpkins to develop and expand themselves are important to have the expected good results.

Monday 10 June 2013

The first grape berries rise

With the beginning of June the first grape berries rise.

The vine is subject to attack by many pests or diseases which must be protected specially in the vegetative cycle.

Weather conditions greatly influence the mode and intensity of the attack, but the conduct of the vineyard, its sanity, the quality of prevention and caste whose resistance to diseases and pests can be very different from each other, also determine the severity of the occurrence.

The primary treatment phase takes place in a relatively short period of time: from the cotton bud till the closure curl, i.e. the first 3 months of vegetative cycle. The long, hot and dry Summer, main characteristics of the Mediterranean climate, usually does not require treatment between the close of the berry and the painter (the moment when the berries come color), and from then to the proximity of harvest limits the application of most treatments.

Friday 7 June 2013

Broad beans: end of the harvest

The beans came close to a month to be taken and 90% went to the freezer to be consumed throughout the year. The beans are a vegetable that does not require great care in their development. In the end there are only the branches that will be buried to enrich the soil.

Thursday 6 June 2013

Potatoes branches to be buried

This year the potatoes were not watered. The weather was very rainy, and too much water does not favor a large production of potatoes, in addition of being smaller than in previous years. After potatoes uprooted from the land, they were left a day in the sun to dry. The next day they were collected, cleaned and stored in a clean and no light environment, while the branches remained on the surface of the ground to be buried in the future.