I noticed that one of the people who comes to tend his huerta near us harvests ferns and uses them to keep down weeds and to keep moisture in the soil. What a good idea. We’ve been quite successful at getting rid of a lot of our ferns, however I am sure we can grab a few from nearby land – like this at the top of the hill:
And, I saw someone do this:
They plant lettuces among their onions. Ian says that snails don’t like onions, so it could be to protect the lettuces (the fact he still has lettuces and not snail-ravaged stumps, would suggest that this bit works), but I wondered if it was to keep down weeds. Whatever the reason, the lettuces are going to seed, so perhaps the aim isn’t for a lettuce harvest.