A Complete Contrast

In complete contrast to the weather in the UK when so many gardens have been devastated by too much rain; here the heat has been so intense with far too little rain, to make any difference to the soil.  Any watering that has been done was a complete waste of time as the soil is so thin that it just runs away.  A couple of times we managed to gauge the watering to coincide with a good downpour thus maximising the impact of the water but none of it was of much use. This August I cut all the Rudbeckia down before it died; a few plants have. It was setting seed in such profusion that I decided this year to remove them all before they spread across the whole of Lombardia!

Linaria purpurea ‘Canon Went’ also set some seed; which I ripped off and spread before cutting the stem back. One or two white seedling Linaria received the same treatment.  Setting seed is a speciality in this part of Italy and is usually much earlier than it would be in Sussex.  I cheated a little with the photographs of the Rosa rugosa – it isn’t growing in my garden here but was growing around a car park near Morbegno.  We stopped here on the 2^nd August and the flowers had all but finished and these ripe juicy hips were already swollen and nearly ripe.  We had a Rosa rugosa hedge that ran the length of the east boundary of Orchards; so it was a reminder of a former garden.

Philip’s vegetable garden has been growing quite well despite the dryness.  We have had more than enough tomatoes to share with family and friends; green bell peppers too.  After several attempts to grow on the basil plants, they too began to flourish.  In one garden in Lenno the basil stands as small bushes. I am reliably informed that this vegetable garden is fed farm manure each autumn; the results are evident in the good growth of all their herbs and other crops.

Sparrows are always in the garden and for the most part welcome.  They bathe every evening; splashing the newly filled bath across the patio; the blackbirds too.  They all disappear for a few weeks when the sun is too intense; we guess to the woodland that clothes the mountains but then they are back.  We wondered what they were doing in such huge numbers in the vegetable garden? Being selective about the lettuce to pick. The lightest green (no names in Italy I’m afraid when you buy the plantlets from the local market). The mid-green they ignore and too the lollo rosso type.  I wonder why?