Every Square Inch Gardening

 Last week in Madeira I went on a walk along one of the many 'Levadas' up in the hills. This one was the Mimosa Valley just above the town of Machico.

 You can see that the steep hills have been managed into tiny terraces, volcanic rocks are piled into small walls and so small terraces of flat land are made on the hillside.

 Virtually every square inch is used for growing fruit and vegetables!  Every Sunday in most towns there is a farmers market where you can buy an amazing range of home grown food from the farmers that grow it themselves.  There is no agricultural machinery here, everything is done by hand.

 I was interested to see that maximum use of space was employed using the same space to grow two different crops which do not compete.  Above here the sweet potatoes are grown on top of ridges and broad beans are planted at the bottom of the ridges.

And this is wonderful, rich, red volcanic soil which is so fertile.