My husband and I have been living in France for 10 years and are now considering moving to Spain for warmer weather, specifically near Valencia. I have noticed that there is no dedicated site here for gardening. Are there no gardeners out there? I really would like to know what sort of fruit can be grown in Spain besides citrus and olives. Is it possible to grow cherries or raspberries? Are there any plant catalogues available in Spain?

You can grow any type of fruit in Spain, especially cherries, raspberries, strawberries etc. Most fruit require sun and water to flourish and Spain has that

ma?anaman,

Thanks for replying to my message. Since you are the only one, this leads me to believe that expats are not moving to Spain to garden, but perhaps just to eat and go to the beach.

I’ve already given up on the idea of growing apple and cherry trees as they require a certain amount of chilling time. I’m sure that they are probably growing in higher and cooler altitudes in Spain, but Valencia is a zone 10, like Florida or southern California.

If I may ask, which part of Spain are you living and how long have you been there?

Nancy

Hi,

My partner and I bought a house in the Jaen province last year. We are not currently living there permanently but have been renovating. The climate here is very hot in summer, often around 40 degrees and can be cold in winter. Our house in Martos is over 2000 feet above sea level. I see most types of fruit growing all over, and people sell fruit in stalls at the sides of roads.
Most towns and villages have houses built close together and many do not have gardens, and the ones that do are all used fro fruit and veg.

Wishing You Well

Ronnie

P.S. Sorry for the late reply buy my internet connection was down for over a week and I just got back online today.

The majority of expats have a few fruit trees, some even in tubs on apartment terraces. All you need you will probably find in the new book ...just a few weks old ...
GROWING HEALTHY FRUIT IN SPAIN - From strawberries to oranges and watermelons. ISBN 978-84-89954-62-5 PRICE 14.90 EUROS.  SEE <www.gardeninginspain.com> for a ful description and link to publishers mail order shop.
Covers growing of some 70 fruits ...what will do well obviouslt depends on your soil and microclimate.Both are fully covered in the book.

Greenfingers,

Thanks so much for the tip and nice to see that another gardener has joined this forum.

A friend of mine lives in Orce, Granada, and has some good gardening tips and advice on http://www.livinginacave.com including a useful translation table for Spanish gardening terms.

Trogg,

Thanks for the tip on that site. I am particularly grateful for the plant translations.

Nancy

Your garden in Spain ISBN 84-89954-42-9 INCLUDES DESCRIPTIONS of some 400 plants including most fotos and english, spanish and botanical names…....  there is also a vocab but the vocab has been expanded in Growing heALTHY FRUIT IN SPAIN mentioned in earlier reply.

Greenfingers,

I am aware of the books by the Hanscombes as well as their excellent website. Their book “Your Garden in Spain” sounds like an absolute ‘must’ for anybody gardening in Spain. At the moment, it’s not available through AmazonFrance , so I may have to wait until I get to Spain.

You can buy though the website <www.gardeninginspain.com> at euro prices and reasonable postage.

Well, I checked out the site for ordering that book and although the postage is only 1.50 euros for delivery in Spain, it’s 10 euros!!! elsewhere in Europe. If I can get it through amazon, the shipping is free.

I’ll be coming down to Spain this June. Do you happen to know whether it can be bought in any bookstores?

90% go through bookshops..bookworld Espa?a are the best represented english language book chain with shops on the Costa de sol. Costa BLANCA AND mADRID ETC BUT ANY GOOD BOOKSHOP/NESAGENT WILL EITHER HAVE IT OR ORDER IT FOR YOU.
One thing you will find in Spain is that retail price maintenance on boks still widely applies

Thanks for posting the http://www.gardeninginspain.com website Greenfingers. My parents are moving over here shortly and they’re both keen gardeners. I’ve emailed them with the website and they find it very informative. They were also keen to know what types of plants work well with the climate and soil conditions. My mum is a first rate gardener, one of those people who knows all the latin names of any type of plant you can think of!! Unfortunately that’s not passed on to me yet as I’ve always been too busy to look after a garden myself.

I’m delighted to enjoy the “natural” garden that the countryside provides in this area. The wildflower varieties that can be seen are visually stunning and provide such vivid colour to the landscape. My wife’s personal favorite has always been orchids. Usually around this time of years you can find plenty of different varieties of orchids in the pine woodland around Bermejales lake, on the way to Alhama de Granada. If you’ve not been to Bermejales, it’s absolutely beautiful and highly recommended.

I am a horticulturist and am planning a big move next year, probably somewhere in Andalucia, and am interested in making a few friends within the gardening comunity

There are well experienced horticulturalists in the Andulucian Branch of the Mediterranean Gardening Society who meet in Alhaurin el Grande and another active club…THE CAPELANIA CLUB ...that meets in Benalmadena. We enjoyed talking to both last year.

Re another recent posting ...yes walking in the Spanish hills one finds some marvelous flowering banks, rocky slopes and high meadows. A few years back we walked for 52 days coast to coast across the pyreness from the Bay of Biscay to the Med between mid june and early august . We will never forget the flowers, butterflies and wild horses.