Up to date practical advice by Clodagh and Dick Handscombe active gardeners and gardening authors living in Spain for 20 years.
We provide up to date comprehensive gardening advice for both resident and holiday home owners of properties in Spain whether owning a house, villa, town house, finca , penthouse or apartment.. The articles and books referred to have been written by us, Clodagh and Dick Handscombe. We are active gardeners, gardening authors and broadcasters who have lived in Spain, both on the Mediterranean coastal plain and inland for twenty years. See About Us for more background information.
Our Spanish Gardening Books
We have now written five books on gardening in Spain as well as more than five hundred articles in English language newspapers and magazines in Spain as well as for a number of magazines in England and Ireland. All have been written to share our practical ideas and experience , often learned the hard way in the early years, to help you avoid similar mistakes.
Our three latest books are published as a trilogy in a common format by Santana Books. They are:
- Your Garden in Spain – From planning to planting and maintenance
- Growing Healthy Fruit in Spain – From strawberries to oranges and watermelons
- Growing Healthy vegetables in Spain – From Sprouting seeds to giant pumpkins
The above trilogy of books will give you all you need to know to plan, plant up and maintain colourful, perfumed productive gardens in a wide range of locations within mainland Spain and the islands.
They provide :
- Strategic advice about the design, construction and planting up of a new garden or redesign of an existing garden with special attention to ensuring your garden matches and facilitates the lifestyle that you came to Spain for, which for most is a very much more outdoor lifestyle than in the UK.
- Routine day to day advice about the initial planting and ongoing care of plants, watering and feeding of plants, and general maintenance of the garden including the important winter cutback and cleanup.
- Problem solving advice to help you quickly determine the cause of problems that occur such as plants become attacked by insects and fungal diseases and decide on the most appropriate corrective actions. Where possible ecological and organic solutions are given.
- Crisis advice about disaster situations such as the record breaking frosts of the spring of 2005, water restrictions and saline soils.
How to Buy Our Books
In Spain
The books can be obtained from bookshops especially the Bookworld España chain if in Spain. However for your convenience, especially if living some distance from a bookstore, there is a link to the online shop of our publisher at the end of the description of each book. Just go to Our Gardening Books, click the title you are interested in and then follow the instructions at the end of the page. Our publisher can despatch books worldwide at Spanish euro prices plus postage and packing.
In the UK
If in the UK the books can be ordered from bookshops or obtained from the Royal Horticultural Society Bookshop telephone 0845 260 4505.
Our Spanish Gardening Articles
Our articles on Gardening and Growing in Spain cover a wide range of strategic, day to day, problem solving and crisis issues related to the growing of flowering plants, fruit and vegetables plus the concept of a holistic garden including the keeping of livestock to achieve a high degree of self sufficiency in home grown healthy organically grown and reared food. They also include articles related to the use of gluts and Slow Food. They are intended to supplement our books and help you make the best of your time in Spain whether resident or just using your Spanish property for holidays.
Beyond our web pages our articles have appeared in a wide range of English language newspapers and magazines in Spain, the UK and Ireland including Round Town News, Costa Blanca News, Costa de Sol News, Costa Levante News, Think Spain Today, The New Entertainer, Inland Trader, The Voice Murcia, Viva, Costa Blanca life, Views, The Broadsheet, Buscalo, The Inland Magazine, North2South, The Bookworld España quarterly catalogues, The Spanish Magazine, Homes and Gardens Spain, The Smallholder, Organic Gardening, The Allotment Association and Vegetable Growing Society websites, The Irish Gardening Magazine, Senior Times, Almeria Messenger and the Heritage Bulb Society Newsletter, GoCatalunya, The Jungle Drums, Discovery
