I decided to make one hundred Gristelinia hedging plants the other day. I dug 3 slit trenches and made some cuttings with my secateurs. You can root roses and shrubs this way. It's a good way of using a part of the veg plot that's empty at the moment. Hopefully they will all root and I will have 200 hedging plants to sell.
We are seriously thinking of moving there and buying an old ruin and living in a caravan while we do it up. We are both in our fifties and fed up with the Irish and British wet climate and no pub....
Not sure if we will sell up though. Considering renting out the farm for a year and seeing if we like it first. Any advice of living in a warm country would be greatly appreciated. We would like to be within walking distance of a village and preferably be near public transport too. Making a living is another problem. Like most rural areas always seem to have. You only have one life. So why don't we give it a go? Who else would like to live on a smallholding in Portugal?
I Still have a few nasturtiums flowering outside, good luck with the hedge plants
ReplyDeleteThanks BG. I have propagated roses this way for nothing.
ReplyDeleteI would do it if that's what you want to do. We stayed in Lagos many years ago and travelled by train around the area and even up to Lisbon and loved it all. We saw lots of smallholdings in the Lagos area and people selling their produce in the local markets. I am sure it is hard to make a living but plenty of people like to holiday there so perhaps you offer a hostelry for travellers and backpackers as well as the smallholding work. Something I have always wanted to. Go for it.
ReplyDeleteGood idea with the hedging by the way. Good luck. Great day for Arsenal yesterday.
Hi Rachel. We have been to Lagos. Went on a boat ride and intothe sea caves. We are both full of arthritis and the warm climate would do us both good. Plus the supermarkets and bars seem so cheap compared to Ireland and the UK. Perhaps we should rent somewhere first for a few months or even the winter. Don't really want to sell the family farm. But it would pay for a decent smallholding may be even a swimming pool or a fishing pond? The Arsenal look like they are title material. United look like they are going through a transitional time. Thanks for the advice Rachel!
ReplyDeleteI dont know anything about Portugal but I dream of living back in the mountains I am from. I miss them very much, the weather, the simple life I remember (that I am sure has changed in the 30 yrs I have been gone from there)
ReplyDeleteThe cost of living is less there than here for sure. We have been looking for 3.5 yrs for a property there. Its been a difficult thing to manage thus far as we are 8 hours drive from there to go look at propeties and its become a very popular place for people to want to retire to.
Sometimes I think we will live here forever. Its not that we don't have a nice farm here, we do. Its just soooooooo hot here. Our climate is extreme where we live. I understand one of the most extreme there is here in the US. We can swing 70 degrees in a 24 hour period so I heard on radio show once about our area. We can have heat of 115 actual degrees in the summer. But then we can have winters we see single digits. It makes planting a boat load of fun. Not. Many plants simply cannot survive the heat and lack of rain here. For a gardening nut like me that is most annoying. I have seen plants do so well, then summer hits and I have watched leaves literally burn right off the plants and they die from heat stress.
We do live in a pretty part of Texas. A lot of Texas is ugly. Where we live we have trees and such so that is nice.
I find it interesting so many look to move to a different location from where they, here and apparently over there as well.. Is it human nature?
We are in our 50s as well, its not always easy to know for sure what to do and I must admit the thought of starting over at 50 something is a bit overwhelming somedays LOL
If you can rent your place now and try a different location to be sure before you sell your place. That sounds like a good idea.
I have lived (grew up) in the Ozark Mountains I so want to go back to... but it would still be nice to try it again before we actually retire and sell this place as we have put sooooooo much work in here. We have thought if we could find a place and use it as a vacation place over the next several years, then we would know for sure when we are ready to retire whether to sell this one.
Thanks for that Texan. Suppose you could buy or hire a motor home and live in the Ozark mountains while you find somewhere. We will probably rent somewhere for a month or a Winter. If we like it we will buy a smallholding that needs doing up. That's the plan. Might be a few years off yet. The youngest son is 14 nearly fifteen.
DeleteThe roses will take if you water and weed them. Good luck!
PS
ReplyDeleteI would like to try starting some roses as you are your hedges!
I know nothing of Portugal, nor do I speak Portuguese, but I love it here in France, and I do speak French. I've been here now for 43 years, and I ain't leaving.
ReplyDeleteHi Cro. The Algarve is full of Brits and it's very inexpensive and most people speak English. Even menus are written in English, French, German and Portuguese. Great weather and friendly people.
DeleteCan you buy cheap renovation properties in Southwest France?
Question for you, I want to try rooting off some roses like your doing. Is there a certain length of cutting I should cut? Or a certain type stem? or does it matter? Can I just cut off stems from any spot on the rose bush and I put those in the ground spot I I will use?
ReplyDeleteI usually make rose cuttings about 6 to 8 inches long. It's better if the bottom of the cutting was a leaf joint and you should cut the top of the cutting on a slope so the rain runs off. Some people put sand in the bottom of the trench for drainage. You can even root them in a vase of water or just stick them in some rooting powder. I just stick them in the ground and wait until next year when they start growing leaves. Some times they don't all survive and other times you get an hundred percent success rate. There is loads of videos on You Tube how to make rose cuttings Texan. Good luck!
ReplyDeletethanks!
ReplyDeleteIf you keep your home here, then you can always come back if it doesn't work out, so I'd go for it Dave. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Deb. The one thing that puts me off is what does one do for a living over there? There aren't many jobs in rural places.
DeleteI can understand your need to live in a sunny climate after having lived in SW France for seven years. But we never planned to move from the UK like we did, nor did we plan on doing a renovation.....it just sort of happened, driven by the Universe most definitely because of the way everything fell into place. The Universe thought it a good idea to bring us here, and we are glad we came.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a lot of courage to make life changes, ....... and gives life an exciting edge!
Sounds like you are really happy Vera. We all need the sun especially when you get to middle age and suffer from arthritis and aches and pains when it rains. I will go for a month some time and take it from there. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDo you know of this blog? anirishalternative.blogspot.com/ She has lived in Spain and moved back to Ireland - I am thinking she might be a good resource for why they moved to Spain and why they moved back? Could perhaps be good to get her insight. But other than that - you should ask yourself this question: Will we be 85 years old and regret we didn't try? We asked ourselves that question when we moved to the US.
ReplyDeleteKJ
Hi KJ. Yes I follow an Irish alternative blog. The biggest thing holding me back is sentiment for the family farm. I am very tempted though to get away from the horrible wet weather we have here in Ireland. Thanks for the advice.
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