Here is a photo I just took of some of the plants in my garden.  They are Mediterranean plants that need no watering and very little looking after. They have been in the garden about 2 years and were bought in pots from the La Senia garden centre on the outskirts of Tortosa.

They are from the family Delosperma and when not flowering are a pleasant green suculant.

If you are interested in Mediterranean plants then there is an active group of the Mediterranean Gardening Society in the area.

Nigel

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They look great Nigel.  Did you buy the kerb stones or were they already there when you moved in ?  Which road out of Tortosa is the garden centre on please.

Plants that don't need much watering.  No good round here then after the other night!   :)

The kerbstones were already there.  The garden centre is on the way out of Tortosa towards L'Aldea on the right hand side - La Senia.  BEWARE though, the majority of garden centres sell plants that will die as they aren't suitable for the area as they cannot tolerate the heat or lack of water.  You can (as many people have done) spend a fortune on plants that will just die.  Do your homework - get the FULL latin name for the plant and make sure that it is drought tolerant. For example, a lavender. In the catalogue we have there are 47 different types that vary in size/colour/suitability. Buy a plant that says it's lavender and you could be wasting your money!

There is a garden centre in Amposta called Culti Delta that only sells mediterranean plants - open to the public on Saturday mornings only. It's on the internet if you look.

Nigel

Thanks for the info Nigel.  I'd never noticed the garden centre (it's La Sinia by the way) although I've driven past it loads of times.  Culti Delta is only about five minutes drive from me on the back road to Amposta.  I didn't realise they were specialists so it's a visit for us this Saturday.
It's taken us 6 years to start getting any success with growing mainly due to the very poor soil and the blasted rabbits but we're starting to get there at last.
Thanks again,
Roger

Bigyin wrote on May 1^st, 2012 at 10:31pm:

Thanks for the info Nigel.  I'd never noticed the garden centre (it's La Sinia by the way) although I've driven past it loads of times.  Culti Delta is only about five minutes drive from me on the back road to Amposta.  I didn't realise they were specialists so it's a visit for us this Saturday. It's taken us 6 years to start getting any success with growing mainly due to the very poor soil and the blasted rabbits but we're starting to get there at last. Thanks again, Roger

Hi Roger you need donkey poo...........improved my soil no end....fantastic on rhubarb (although I do prefer custard) free to all beer toting strangers  ;)

Thanks for the offer.  Does it kill rabbits ?  I'm just in the process of completing an 18m x 12m veg patch enclosed with 1m high chain link set in a course of concrete blocks (anti burrowing).  It incorporates a 3 bin compost suite (also block).  I find the traditional UK type wire netting or palette bins don't work here as it's too dry and they don't heat up so mine will have lids.  Next job is to enclose the 40m long flower bed to keep the little critters off that.  I spend so much time engineering the bunnies out of the picture that only the wife has any time for actual gardening.
We have a friendly neighbour who has a horse and a pony so no shortage of the magic muck.  I only mix it in with the compost though as it's too rich to use directly and who's got time to wait a year for it to become "well rotted" ?  ::)

I tried a brick (concrete block) compost heap - totally useless as it just dried out. In the end I used some old water containers turned upside down and cutting the bottoms off to use as lids.  Works perfectly.

Nigel

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Hmmm.........  I was intending to keep them moist so I hope it will work.  The reason for going this route was that when I had my first garden in UK, there were a couple of old coal bunkers and I just dumped all my prunings and lawn mowings in there (no kitchen waste as it was just a dumping ground).  When they were full (3 or 4 months) I was very surprised to find that the bottom half of the bins was superb compost (I'm talking Monty Don stuff).  I'll be a bit miffed if it doesn't work after the effort involved.  By the way, how do you add pics to posts?  Do they have to be hosted elsewhere?  Tried uploading but no joy.

I have a plastic composting bin courtesy of Milton Keynes council ( dont ask!!) with a lid and unless I put about 20 litres of water into it every week it just dries out. Perfect snake breeding ground  :(
As for weeds the chickens and turkeys eat all of them, so the only stuff I have left to compost is tea bags, about 200 a day :)
I might end up just growing potatoes in it.
The donkeys eat all the olive prunings.
I do use the donkey manure as a mulch, even the fresh stuff, as its not acidic like horse manure. It helps keep the soil moist so less watering.

I have a plastic composting bin courtesy of Milton Keynes council ( dont ask!!) with a lid and unless I put about 20 litres of water into it every week it just dries out.
I assume it has an open bottom (if I can put it that way) ::) in which case I guess the water would just run througjh the compost and leach away into the ground ?
Perfect snake breeding ground 
As for weeds the chickens and turkeys eat all of them, so the only stuff I have left to compost is tea bags, about 200 a day
Do you think your chickens and turkeys could manage 4 hectares ? :-/
I might end up just growing potatoes in it.
The donkeys eat all the olive prunings.
I do use the donkey manure as a mulch, even the fresh stuff, as its not acidic like horse manure. It helps keep the soil moist so less watering.
I put my brash through a shredder and use that for mulch.

A brick composter worked fine for me too in the UK but not here - too dry. Maybe worth painting the inside of yours with swimming pool paint to help stop it dry out.

I have to add water to my bins about once a week (if I remember). Adding cardboard or old copies of the Catalunya Chronicle :-? helps to stop the water all running out.

To add photos add them as attachments from the link below where you are typing.

Nigel

Aha, I was trying to Insert Picture from the icons at the top.  Let's see if this works.

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Geronimo !! :D
Thanks Nigel.  You may be able to see that it forms part of the bunny barrier and will be open to the inside of the horta.  A couple more courses to go and a sloping top with lids.  I'm also going to render it.  I'd thought about waterproofing the inside faces but hadn't thought of pool paint.  I've got some left over from painting the pool.
I'd thought of feeding a dribbler into the top of each bin from the irrigation system so it they get a bit every time we water the plants.  Can't be any worse than the UK way.  ;)

Thanks for the info about Culti Delta will definitely check it out.

Update on the plant names;

the bright coloured ones are Delosperma cooperi, the big sprawling paler-flowered plant is Osteospermum jucundum.

Nigel

Bigyin wrote on May 2^nd, 2012 at 5:15pm:

Geronimo !! :D Thanks Nigel.  You may be able to see that it forms part of the bunny barrier and will be open to the inside of the horta.  A couple more courses to go and a sloping top with lids.  I'm also going to render it.  I'd thought about waterproofing the inside faces but hadn't thought of pool paint.  I've got some left over from painting the pool. I'd thought of feeding a dribbler into the top of each bin from the irrigation system so it they get a bit every time we water the plants.  Can't be any worse than the UK way.  ;)

Hi Bigyin,
We have been trying different methods for composting last year was good but this year has been excellent, nearly as good as in the U.K. every foot of material we put a layer of soil on approx 2-3 inches deep, between the layers then turn it twice a year. We do not have spare water on the property so I cannot add any amount of water to it and it is in pallets open to the elements. the way we are doing it now works well for us. ( for me perfect except for listing to him indoors threatening cardiac arrest when having to turn it.)
Hope this helps and not teaching you how to suck eggs.
Bulldog.

How do you suck eggs ?  Sounds revolting !!  I'll bear your tips in mind when I get the new bins finished (and try to remember to pass on the results eventually, the success or otherwise, not the compost).

Do not leave your plants around these two  ;D


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