Advice on starting from scratch

[Containergardener]

You may find farmers move their goats around. I know someone in Granada area who have taken on large olive oranges land who have a farmer who moves his goats through their land as he always has

[snowbunny]

I've not seen much livestock in the area, but once we're settled in, I shall ask around. Goats would be great for keeping the grass down - there's a real problem with ticks at the moment, because the grass is that perfect length for the little blighters - ugh. DH thinks buying a tractor is the solution. Sadly, he's probably right. Goats would be more fun, though.

I would also like to keep bees, but DH isn't so keen.

[Containergardener]

We have miles and miles of forest , fields , odd sheep , deer , foxes and ticks are major here. No Lyme disease as yet but they are a problem. Constantly checking clothing . They easy get attached.

Bees , would that not be better if there full time. What if problem when not there? I don't know what bees do though, do they sleep all winter? I've no idea .

[snowbunny]

Bees , would that not be better if there full time. What if problem when not there? I don't know what bees do though, do they sleep all winter? I've no idea .

Nor do I - it's just one of those romantic notions that I know will probably never come to pass, so I've not looked into it in any detail. It's probably not a good idea, anyway. I'm the clumsiest person alive and would probably fall over on top of a hive, then get stung to death.

[Containergardener]

I'd runaway screaming , I scream at wasps and hate bluebottles ...Rubbish , not sure I'd survive out on the hills alone not wanting to kill a bunny , pheasant , shoot anything, scared to poison self with berries

[snowbunny]

Well, I had my weekend of digging. Man, plans changed a little when the fork wouldn't even scratch the ground. We went to the local hardware store to buy a pick, and used that to break the rock-hard crust on the top of the earth.

It was back-breaking, but hugely enjoyable, work. I got the herb garden area completely cleared, and a couple of beds dug over and planted in the veggie area. I had to get a couple of things in the ground because they weren't happy in their pots, and these will need moving this weekend when I'm back down there, but all in all, I'm happy with what I got done.

Here's how I left my veggie patch:


At the moment, this just contains:
Tomatoes (Moneymaker, Gardener's Delight, Sun Belle, Black Cherry, Roma and an unspecified Spanish salad tomato from the local florist)
Sweet peppers (Ringo, Italian Long Sweet and Golden Treasure)
Loose leaf lettuce (unspecified variety, from same florist)
Melons (again unspecified, but they had a picture which I have an inkling is of Santa Claus melons, as they're really popular here)

And my herb garden area:


I also found loads of tiny little praying mantis in the weeds! Here's one, up against my little finger for comparison:


Cute, huh?

It's bank holiday weekend coming up, so hoping to get the remaining four beds in my veggie patch dug and everything planted out.