To grow fruit and veg or not...?

We've just completed our second summer in Catalunya and we're getting used to the differences between our vast, terraced, sun-beaten plot here and the small north-facing back garden we had in London.

In spite of the chill, rain and gloom in London, we managed to grow a lot of produce outside our little ground floor flat - tomatoes, courgettes, chillis, basil, rocket, beans, cucumbers - even mini-melons. It took a lot of commitment, a drip watering system and a greenhouse, but we loved doing it - and eating the results (pics below).

I also became an expert in cooking and preserving damsons; we had three trees in the garden and one overhanging it (they were there before we moved in and we couldn't bear to destroy them). Each year we rushed to pick the kilos and kilos of hazy purple fruit before the wasps moved in to suck them dry. We had damson chutney (I've just started my last jar from 2010, and it's dark and rich and delicious), jam (not as successful), flavoured vodka (just damson, and a Christmas-themed one with raisins, cinnamon, allspice and ginger), crumble, sorbet, etc, etc.

When we moved here, we dreamed about how easy it would be to grow all the Mediterranean fruit and veg that taste so much better sun-warmed and plucked straight off the plant. But if you take a rational approach, there's a balancing act to be struck. We can get cheap, fresh and delicious fruit and veg from the groceries in the village, as well as from the little old ladies who, for a few summer months, open their garage doors and sell figs, tomatoes and peppers grown on their own plots. At the same time, we don't have mains water, which means that there's a significant cost to be borne in keeping everything hydrated during the dry summer (and sometimes, spring, autumn and winter) months. 

So last summer, as we'd just moved in, we didn't grow much - just a few tomato plants that the previous owner kindly left, some chillis and some basil in a pot. We had a lovely harvest of figs from the tree on the drive too. You can read about last year's harvest here.

Early this year, though, my (I won't call them green) fingers were itching to get started on some planting. I'm the most impatient gardener - I get frustrated if the seeds haven't germinated within 24 hours - but still I love it. I spend most working days indoors, on a hard chair typing away at my computer and it's wonderful at 7 o'clock to turn off the machine, stretch, pour a glass of cold white wine and go outside to soak up some warm sun and potter around with some seedlings and some soil.

More soon on our mixed successes with this year's fruit and veg.

Santa Tecla: La Diada Castellera

Tarragona's Santa Tecla festival is underway and we visited on Sunday 16 September to see the first day of the Castellera - the human castles.

Groups competed to see who could build the highest human towers of different formations. There is always a good, strong base of dozens of the biggest, toughest men, their waists reinforced with an enormously long, black sash that's wound round and round. These men form a giant, circular rugby scrum.

On top of their shoulders climb a group of about 12 slightly smaller men to form the next level. Then up and up they go - each new group shinning up the backs of the others - until we reach six, seven and eight levels. The penultimate level is of delicate teenage girls, wobbling as their ankles are firmly gripped by the men below them.

And finally a tiny child topped with an enormous crash helmet - a boy or a girl of no more than six or seven years old - climbs as fast as they can up the tottering tower to stand and raise their fist at the pinnacle.

Occasionally, they all crash down, but the mass of humanity below seems to cushion the impact.

This was the winning team with their single pillar, five people tall.

Forest fire devastation

The change of wind direction yesterday meant that we could sleep last night without fearing that the fire was advancing towards us - what a relief for us, but many other people would have been worrying about their homes and land.

We woke this morning to news that the fire had taken 3,000 hectares, but as the day went on the drizzle continued, the planes and helicopters continued dropping water, and there were no more headlines about rising winds, further devastation or evacuations.

This afternoon our friends who'd fled their home on Tuesday night returned to find their house miraculously untouched by the flames which had scorched leaves on the trees right outside the front door. Their cats emerged from the devastated forest unpeturbed.

Then this evening came an announcement that the fire is pretty much under control.

This is great news, but look at the devastation...

Cherry trees survived while the hillside burned
just a few feet behind

Scorched leaves but the olive tree is ok

Charred pines

Swathes of green are now black
(helicopter in the distance)

Wooden furniture survived although vegetation burned underneath

The fire came within inches
of our friends' house

A helicopter flies over blackened hillsides
dropping water where the fire is still active