All For Gardening
We Planted an Edible Garden TIMELAPSE
In Edible Gardening

We Planted an Edible Garden TIMELAPSE



Transforming a small farm in Portugal; building beds, planting trees, harvesting, preserving fresh produce, and creating a habitat for wildlife.

Three years ago, we fell in love with an overgrown piece of land and an old stone ruin in Portugal.
All that we’ve done in the last year to create an abundant garden.
We’ve achieved much more than we imagined.
Welcome along and join us as we continue to restore the land and old stone house.

Meraid and Dan

“Evening” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

3 years ago we bought this 1 and and a half acre 
abandoned Farm in Portugal. Our Dream to turn it   into an Edible Garden is really coming true. 
We’re Meraid and Dan and this is the story of   all that we got up to on the garden over the last 
year. You know that old saying about plants – The   first year they sleep. the second year they 
creep, and the third year they leap! Well it   feels like that is exactly what’s happening, 
a beautiful abundance in our third year. [Music] that was juicy   [Music] [Music] We created a new Garden. Oh that is 
absolutely beautiful Dan. A home,   we hoped for butterflies bees and birds to 
feed. We planted roses budleas, Rosemary and   lavender. Transplanted Cardoon, Californian 
poppies and other seedlings from around the land. We added a path using cardboard and pine 
bark from the local Woodyard to make a Cozy home   for the insects and more organic matter for the 
soil. The butterflies came, the bees too, and the   birds fed on big juicy caterpillars munching on 
the fennel fronds. So please join me in a little   flashback of what it looks like when we first 
bought the property and how it is now. Isn’t it amazing. This bit of land here we call it the triangle. 
It’s got quite a slope on it. So I’m going   going to make some mini Terraces, use some 
of the mimosa logs we’ve got lying around,   wood chip from The Olive Tree that we 
pruned just here, and make some small   vegetable growing beds that are close 
to the house, easy to keep an eye on,   easy to water and because they’re small they’re 
nice and manageable. It’s never a daunting task   to weed or plant a small bed. We took these logs 
out the house last week let’s go and see how they fit. This will be the first one. I’ve got a big pile of wood 
chip here. Sorry, not wood chip,   branches to turn into wood chip. I want to fill 
up the paths on the little mini Terraces I’ve   made on our triangle. I’ll put compost on the 
new bed or one of the new beds. Meraid’s got   some things to plant in here.
Oh it looks lovely. Thank you.
Straight? Good enough. I’ve turned this unused Little Triangle 
of land into a small collection of mini   Terraced vegetable beds so we can keep 
on growing more vegetables nearby. [Music]
COMPOST  For the first 2 years we supplemented our 
home compost with bought compost. it really   wasn’t as good as our homemade compost, 
and this year we were determined to build   the biggest heap we could using goat manure 
that Dan helps clear out from Carlos’s goat shed.
All of this old potato dead   potato plants weeds Etc into the compost pile. 
I’m going to cover them over with what’s already   there and let it do its thing. This year it’s 
going a lot hotter. We got more moisture in it,   we’ve got a bigger pile so we’re hopeful we’re 
going to get some very good quality, weed free compost.
ASPARAGUS BEDS  we’re on a planting Mission this afternoon. I got   my bolt-on dreadlocks. I’ve got this big 
box here full of big asparagus crowns. [Music] [Music] I’m just raking back some 
of the the bark here where   we got a bit enthusiastic with the 
wood chip or the pine bark rather. [Music] I’m   taking some of this ash from one of our burn 
piles of the brambles that we can’t wood chip,   and this will help with nutrients in the 
soil and the alkalinity of the soil. So,   we save all the ash from our fireplace 
and put it on all the vegetable gardens. light sprinkle of compost on it so we’re 
not putting the asparagus crowns directly   onto the ash. Look at that! That 
one’s got buds. Breaking Buds. We’ve got to spread these out like a mutant octopus. 78 9 10 11 12 13 14 14 or 15  That’s slightly showing. We’ 
got all this earth work to go on top. It may have been a lot of work but this asparagus 
bed is going to last for many many years.  Well it’s been a few days since Dan and I looked 
at the asparagus. And you know what, he’s not here   today. I’ve made a fish pie for tonight’s dinner 
and I it would be nice with a bit of asparagus. There we go. Oh that will be nice. Proud moment. This is a good space here close 
to the vegetable garden right   next to the vegetable garden for 
expanding our vegetable growing. I will make a bark path around this 
lot just to keep the weeds in check. [Music] [Music] It’s ready for some compost and 
some Mulch and planting into.   When the straw is used that will 
become the next bed to prepare. so I got some chilies some peppers 
and a few courgettes to plant today. Let’s give them a good good dose of water.   Although it’s threatening rain today I 
don’t think it’s going to be very much. so there we have it another bed 
nearby to grow vegetables in. [Music]   [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music]  Today we filled in the Swale with pine bark. 
That will soak up the moisture and stop this   from getting water logged. It also provides a 
fantastic path for us to walk along just here. The late Autumn rains triggered the 
mushroom season. We picked parasols and poricni.
Wow! and a late melon which wasn’t worth eating.
You carry that.  Oh my goodness that was a double this will just be dried. Dan cooked fresh parasols 
while I dried the Boletes by the fireside. PLANTING Well this little bunch of sorry looking 
flowers are crocus sativus which is the saffron crocus. I’ll admit it’s not the 
most exciting looking planting ever. Seven deciduous broadleaf trees. 
We’ve got two red oak, one wild Hazel,   native Walnut or a wild Walnut, a Tillia 
Cordata and two European ash trees. We’ve also planted some liquid Amber and from   what I’ve seen these trees can grow into 
quite substantial trees within 10 years.  So we’re planting this tree here that’ll 
be the Royal We. Dan doing the digging   and me holding the tree and it’s a really 
special tree it’s called ‘Sao Bartolomeu’  It produces little pears, tiny little pears 
that are dried and look like little cured   hams. Presuntinho de Viseu. They’re 
neither ham nor are they from Viseu. [Music]
here here the seating area over here. More trees.  [Music] I’ve got a prepared empty bed just 
here so I’m going to plant some broad beans. I can get three rows in here. 
I’m planting them about 3/4 of an inch   deep and and about 4 to6 in apart 
there is a lot of rain forecast for tomorrow. I even had a weather 
warning sent to me on my phone.
The rains arrived, and with it, Dan’s father John. Apricot tree planted two years 
ago. This high. Now look. Sadly, for some unexpected reason,   that tree died. Everything will dies 
eventually, We must carry on planting. [Music]   I’m going down to the lower part 
of the land to plant this Chestnut.   There’s more moisture over this part of the 
Terrace over that side over to my right is   much drier you can see how it is brown 
over there and over here it is green. Well I got a pretty big hole here for the 
chestnut, the sweet chestnut. It does have   quite a substantial amount of root on it 
so we need to allow the roots to spread out I can’t remember which it was but 
we’ll still have to water in the [Applause] Greengage tree and a few things to plant. yes right give it another 
we slap. There it’s coming   now oh that’s going to need a knife to split those roots. Heel in there John.
so the Greengage we   just planted was in a pot. We thought it was a bit 
too early in the season to get bare root trees,   however when we went to the market yesterday 
we discovered they did have bare root   greengages so now we’ll have two greengages.
You can see how the roots on this tree are much   Freer and they’re not pot bound, and we’ll see how 
the bare root does versus the one grown in a pot. We’re going to replant this over where 
we put the Japanese crab apple and the   physalis. I’m just going to slice this 
Bocking 14 comfrey into two pieces. all   you actually need for this is a little 
bit of the roots and it will regrow. We used everything we could get our hands on 
to cover beds build berms and surround young trees. Help build up the soil here help 
stop the water from running down the hill so much. We made use of plant material, hay and 
even straw from an old mattress that was in the house. I can push? Yeah. Maybe not the most comfortable bed 
but I still have to check for the gold.
Sadly there was no cash stuffed inside the mattress. It’s like a jungle up here. you might have noticed this Wisteria 
shrunk in size during the time lapse,   well that’s because he has no manners. Grape Harvest
[Music] A   little bit of inside work in between the 
rain showers. So good to see the rain. We’re going to have some coffee 
and taste the Churcckhela. Good that looks fab. What do you 
think? It’s as I remember it. [Music] [Music] [Music] 20 M of fence in the day yeah all 
because… thank you James thank you Maggie.  No problem. A fantastic day’s work. It’s 
been very satisfying. Yeah very good. Little by little, the Second Terrace took shape, 
and by Spring we had a whole new growing space. Today’s job is to cardboard and wood chip 
around the squash bed this is going to stop   the weeds creeping into the squash bed. It’s 
going to hold the moisture into the ground   more and best of all it’s going to reduce 
the amount of strimming I’ve got to do. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So I’m going to weed this out, take out 
the perennial weeds. I’m not going to leave   this soil open and bare over the winter 
we’re going to plant a green manure here. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Now, with our Stone house renovation well 
underway, we hope you’ll join us for New   Garden projects and a place we can finally call 
home. Thank you and we’ll see you all soon.

43 Comments

  2. @TomBTerrific

    You both seem fit, willing and capable as shown by the results of your efforts. Happy for you both although you never rest on the farm you certainly feel fulfillment as you harvest and enjoy the fruits of you labor. Thanks for allowing us to witness your success.😊

  6. @everlyw4834

    After following your journey this was lovely to watch and inspiring. Can’t wait to see what you do next ❤❤❤

  17. @zircon1664

    Olá vizinhos, we are just across the border of Coimbra district and in to Guarda district living very near to Gouveia.
    Adoro o que tens cultivado 🙏❤️

  29. @nacht98

    OMG you are even cutting the mimosa trees…they are horrible invasive plants in Portugal. thank you.

  31. Anonymous

    the variety of vegies is amazing, compliments.
    btw, we use the feet to crush the grapes… and if unwashed the wine becomes even better! 😜🤠😎

  34. @Toni-rp3hs

    Hi from Australia 🇦🇺
    I’ve watched from the beginning. You 2 are an inspiration 😊 The house is getting there you must be so excited when you can finally have a cooked meal in youe kitchen.

  37. @MariliadosAnjosCarvalho

    lindo jardim de delícias….. 😄😍😍🤩🤩🤩😍😍😍💋💝👏👏👏👏👏💪🐔🦃🐓🐣🐤🐥💐🌻🍑🍐🍏🍎🍊🍋🍇🍇🍇🍅🥝🍆🥔🥕🌶🫑🧄🧅

  38. @jamesburson1850

    Watched you both for a very long time here in southeastern Ohio on my quiet hillside of twenty acres of cliffs, woods, two ponds, plus a structure that took me five years to erect from used materials. Love the union between the two of you. Lost my wife and the loneliness is sometimes more than I can take. Blessings and peace. j.

  39. @badgerhudson

    This channel is a huge inspiration to us. We have plans for our garden , once its uncovered that we have drawn on from this channel. Thanks both.

Write A Comment

Pin