Due to the heavy rainfall in January and February, we couldn't do anything in the fields. In January, we received 260 liters per square meter, and in February, 180 liters per square meter. Fortunately, we were spared the severe damage seen in other regions of Portugal, so we only had to wait until it was dry enough to work.
It was also wet and cold in the greenhouse; the plants barely developed and only started to grow after the recent warmer days.
Since mid-February, it has been dry, and we were finally able to complete some major tasks. We were able to quickly remove part of the rosemary with the newly purchased excavator and dig up the heavy soil. There's a heavy, clayey strip in the field where most plants struggle and die after two to three years. Waterlogging and couch grass are unfortunately anything but helpful for growing herbs. I hope I can find a permanent solution eventually, because this strip isn't exactly a pretty sight either. Even though the yellow mustard we sowed as green manure last October is in full bloom, it has to make way for the new crop. Yellow mustard germinates quickly and produces a lot of foliage, which covers the soil and protects it from erosion. At the same time, its deep roots loosen heavy soils – at least that's the theory. On our particular strip, even the yellow mustard is struggling. In other parts of the field, the soil has already improved noticeably.
Besides the work with heavy machinery, the main task in spring is considerably more labor-intensive: mowing with a brush cutter and then weeding by hand around the plants to keep the competition with the crop in check. Later in the year, the weeds simply dry out and are only visible in the irrigated areas.
In the greenhouse, I was able to take advantage of the warm days to pot up the seedlings from October, which I had already separated into polystyrene trays. Unfortunately, not as many plants sprouted as I had hoped when sowing the seeds. I'm not entirely blameless in that, though. After separating them into trays, I watered them with a root activator, which was apparently too strong for the smallest plants, and they died. Shit happens, and you live and learn, as they say. Overall, I'm very happy with the number of plants and will soon be able to plant a large section of our field.
