Smaller tales from Toriello

We both take photographs and enjoy showing them on our various blogs. We get some brilliant feedback from people both in the comments and via messages or email and would like to thank all of those who take time to do so.

The garden at La Pasera is about 1500 sq meters and comprises various areas of manicured borders, rockery, wild areas, vegetable beds and orchard. The amount of life in the garden never ceases to amaze us both and we are constantly surprised by the variety of flora, fauna and insect life we see on a daily basis. There are far too many photographs to feature on Tales from Toriello so we have started another blog Smaller tales from Toriello where we will feature some of the photographs we take in and around the garden at La Pasera.

We hope you enjoy the new blog and subscribe to posts or share these pictures on your own blog, twitter or facebook. The permanent link can be found above. If you don't already do so, take a closer look in your garden whenever you get the chance, you just might be surprised what you find.

The Midwife Toad makes an appearance - amphibians

We have seen and heard many toads of all shapes and sizes in and around La Pasera. Our midwife toads sing nightly. With their high pitched woop, woop, woop sound resonating at regular intervals we can more or less locate their presence in the rockery, bog garden, fedge or dry-stone walls. Their song is easily distinguished from that of the frogs and other toads which croak or rattle for several seconds at a time.

Common Toad

Our most distinguished visitor up to now (although they are all rather special) has been a St Anthony's Tree Frog (European tree frog - Hyla arborea) which we have only seen a couple of times and only managed to photograph once, after a storm, where it suddenly appeared clinging to the house wall. They are so small and well camouflaged it is no wonder they are hard to spot.

Whilst working in the garden yesterday we came across this wonderful Midwife Toad; so called because it is the male of the species that carries the eggs on his back. We found him in a bag of rubble which we are using for building so we carefully relocated him to a newly created small pond we have constructed in the wild area of the garden. He sat around for a few minutes and then quickly made his way into the water and disappeared under a half sunken tree stump.

Midwife Toad

We have noticed tadpoles appearing in a half barrel of water and plants we have on the terrace. Some of these tadpoles have been there for many months and are very slow to grow. We now know that these are the off-spring of the midwife toad. Let's hope they grow up with ravenous appetites for slugs.

Here is a short film from wikimedia of the Midwife Toad's call:   Link

If you click on the pictures you should be able to see bigger versions of them or a slide show of images.

Fruit and vegetables we are growing this summer/autumn

It's been a cold start to the growing season with an exceptionally high rainfall and much cooler temperatures than normal for Asturias. Most seedlings and young plants are behind by a few weeks and we are hoping that now the warmer days are upon us, things will have a growth spurt.

2012

We run a crop rotation system and try to ensure that all the beds are given fresh nutrition from home-made compost. Most of our seedlings are started off in pots, seed trays or half pipes; this ensures we can give them the best start possible and protect them from slugs, disease and adverse weather conditions.

2012

So here we are, this is what is currently growing at La Pasera:

Cultivated Fruit: red currant, black currant, gooseberry, rhubarb, blueberry, raspberry, pear, apple, plum, peach, orange.

Wild fruit: piesco (wild peach), hazelnut, walnut.

Vegetables: potato, pea, mangetout, sugar-snap peas, fennel, chili and salad pepper, flower sprouts, cucumber, squash, marrow/courgette, lettuce (3 types), succession of beetroot, tomato, beans (2 types), red and white onions (400), kohlrabi, succession of carrots, butternut squash, spring onions...

Flower sprouts and tomatoes (under plastic)

Herbs: sage, dill, oregano, thyme, chive, mint, borage, comfrey, parsley, coriander, basil

and for later on in the season: cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, aubergine, broccoli, winter lettuce, swede, celeriac...

The good news is that most of the seedlings are now planted, protected and positioned to perform their best given good weather and appropriate attention. We will feed some crops with nettle juice and spray mildew prone plants with horsetail water. Insects will be kept at bay through symptomatic spaying with rhubarb leaf water or squishing by hand....ewe. Details of natural insecticide and fungicide here.

The slugs and the snails are on a late, hungry start this year also so we have added extra protection around young vulnerable plants by creating barriers of wood ash, broken eggshells or sheep fleece pellets.

The various pea crops are growing well but the Jays are enjoying early morning snacks and ruining the fattest pea pods. The scarecrow didn't seem to deter them but it took the cats two whole days before they approached it or dared to walk past it. They still give it suspicious looks when on their way to the bottom meadow.

Water in the garden

As I write this blog post and stare through the raindrops on the study window it all seems a bit pointless to be talking about the need for water in the garden. We have had one of the wettest and coldest springs for a few years, much the same as the rest of Europe from what we see and read.

View out of the study window - a brief spell of sunshine

In the brief spells of good weather it reminds me how important it is to have several aquatic habitats and features in a garden. Whenever the sun does shine through, the birds and insects re-emerge and make use of the various water baths we have around. Blackbirds, goldfinch, greenfinch, sparrows, siskins and many more really enjoy a fresh drink and bath whenever the weather permits.

In addition to the bird baths we have a smallish pond that is home to about 16 or so fish. We started off with 4, 1 died and then three years later we had about 30. Some were transferred to the pond at the Donkey Sanctuary and the rest remained here only to be attacked by our visiting Heron. We thought we'd lost the lot over winter but as the weather warmed, about 16 emerged, seemingly unscathed by their ordeal. 

The pond, surrounding rocks and bog garden also act as a suitable habitat for a variety of garden friendly visitors including frogs, toads, hedgehogs, small and large lizards and, a whole array of insects.

 Once the better weather arrives we will be treated to displays of dragonflies and damselflies as they emerge as nymphs and metamorphose before our eyes on the grasses that border the water.

We have a sawn off barrel on the terrace that is also filled with water, a rock and a couple of water-loving pot plants and occupied by several large toad tadpoles. They are already growing limbs and will soon be on their way, controlling the slug and snail population in the vegetable garden.

We also harvest rain water from the roof of the shed which helps water the vegetables and fruit when the warmer weather hits. All in all, the addition of a few receptacles for collecting water helps create and promote habitats and refreshment for a whole host of animals, birds and insects. Wentworth and Gawber also prefer to drink fresh rain water rather than tap water and can often be found drinking from a variety of bowls and dishes we have around the garden. It always leaves me wondering how unnatural our tap water must be, because given the choice, they will always choose fresh rain water. 

Wentworth at his vantage point in the bog garden

Slow Worm: Anguis fragilis - Coitus Interuptus

As regular readers of our blog know we love Slow Worms. They are a legless lizard and are known to be semifossorial (burrowing) in their nature but spend a lot of time, especially at twilight, looking for food i.e. slugs and worms. They enjoy basking in the warm sun and especially like damp places such as long grass and cavities in rocks. Like other lizards, they have the ability to shed their tails if captured by predators (autotomise) but it will re-grow, only smaller.

Our compost heaps are like magnets to the local population of Slow Worms. They love the warm and damp conditions and can often be found under the black plastic covers. This week we were just about to empty one of the compost bins when Luis screeched as he unveiled a pair of magnificent specimens in the middle of mating. On first sight he thought it was a snake (he hates snakes but loves Slow Worms).

Needless to say we couldn't move them and left them to carry on with their Friday afternoon affair. Later in the day we returned, they had finished their coupling and we carefully moved them to another compost bin where they could lie back, listen to a bit of Barry White and whisper sweet nothings to each other.

They give birth to live young so we eagerly await their arrival and the future decimation of our slug population. More about Slow Worms here.