marooned5

Have been to Spain a few times, and am wondering - are there areas where you can be in reach of the med / beaches, AND have enough rainfall to grow a garden? I'm not thinking of a lawn but more of growing veg, fruit bushes etc. The far north looks great for gardening but not so good for a long summer of swimming / beach. Conversely, the costas look great for beaches but can you actually enjoy growing a harden there - or does everything except olives / prickly pear all just fry / die??

johnnyone

There are paddy fields in Valencia, so there must be plenty of water and north of Denia remains quite green all year. You only need to install an irrigation system.

Fredbargate

There are also paddy fields in the deep south near Tarifa where you can swim in both the Med and the Atlantic

fionamw

There are many keen veg and fruit gardeners in the Alpujarras; I'm always envious of how green their plots seem to be in relation to mine... but just how close to beaches do you want to be? I'm learning as I go along - frankly unless you do things TOTALLY by what you read, I think that's how you have to do it. But providing you follow advice about what varieties will and won't set in high temperatures, go along typical mulching/pH /sun/shade type rules/regs, and IRRIGATE, you'll get crops. It will almost certainly take you a few seasons to figure what you might struggle with, but you CAN garden successfully within an hour of the beach!

Take a look at this Facebook Group, I'm sure there must be others too. https://www.facebook.com/groups/145105142296534/

Fred James

We live on the coast and have a very large garden including a 65m2 lawn.

All you need is a decent irrigation system and a cheap water supply.

In summer we use 30000 litres a week.

marooned5

Thanks for the replies - very encouraging. So, do you have access to cheap water? Is it not metered like in UK?

fionamw

We are metered, and the larger the usage the heavier they clobber you. (to dissuade topping pools, etc). We have 9 stillages around the place, taking rainwater from the house - a procedure which is ridiculously rare around here. Water should be conserved by all, but just plain isn't!

jackytoo

We were metered and it once cost €70 to refill the pool and that was years ago. Our bill fluctuated from €80 pm. in summer to €30 in winter. There are plenty of lush tropical gardens on the coast and pine forests 15 mins inland.

amideislas

You can have anything you can afford.
.
Beach house if you fancy that.. AND a garden. Keeping it green is simple. It's called "irrigation".

Fred James

As we live in the Campo we cannot have mains water. We have an agricultural supply and a large deposito.

We pay €24 for 120m2 which is about 20 cents a cubic metre.

amideislas

That's cheap, it's €40 for 10K liters here (10 cubic meters).

Luckily we have a pozo... But even that isn't free. The electricity required for the pump isn't cheap... Can't reckon the cost per cubic meter, but it's not free.

dypcdiver

Don't look at Cataluña as the Catalan government fines you for using water. My 157 cubic meters last July to Sept cost €223 to the water company but I was fined a further €526 by the Generalitat. Making my water bill for 3 months €749!!! bunch of thieves.

Porth

But of course Fred your water does not emanate from say Amjasa which is our local water board in Javea. We would need a mortgage at 30000 litres a week. You did say 30000 litres?

Fred James

As I said, it is an agricultural supply.

We have a 200000 litre deposito which is filled in about an hour when we need it - we pay for a ticket at our bank for €24 and it gets filled.

Dick Dasterdly

The Valencia area is about as good as you'll get for a combination of good weather, nice beaches and a good growing climate, though as mentioned you will at times still need extra water apart from the rain, but that can apply even back in the UK.