Hello everyone! We're back from a time in Italy which had to be postponed because of the extreme weather in March (here and in our region of Italy). It was impossible to travel and even if we had got to Italy we would not have been able to do anything constructive to maintain the house and garden. In fact when we did get there we had mixed weather over in our mountainous region of Italy. It started off well for us when we arrived in April, but then changed and we experienced Spring rains and even a thunder and lightening with a really heavy downpour of rain the last evening before we left for the UK. However, it was warm and that was a real pleasure after experiencing the cold and the snow here in England in March. In Italy it seemed as if the Spring season was a month behind and we were told that continuous rain had made it difficult for the smallholders to get the land ready for planting this year's crops.
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| Italy April/May 2018 |
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| UK today - it was lovely to see the May blossom on the tree in our neighbour's garden. |
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| Mr. P has been busy today working on the vegetable plot, clearing out some broccoli-type greens that had gone to seed, turning over the soil and putting up supports for his new plants - peas, beans etc. There are leeks and onions, strawberry plants beginning to flower etc., tomato plants (lots of leaves and flowers yet to develop) and herbs, such as the lovely fresh basil, in the covered yard. |
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| We missed out on seeing the tulips in flower although some purple tulips in a pot in the front garden are still looking pretty, but almost over. There are a few clumps of the Spanish variety of bluebell which we have been trying to weed out, although they are a lovely colour and also look attractive. |
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pansies, geums, the May tree blossom, salvias, magnolia blooms,
lime green vine leaves, apple blossom, pelargoniums all look fresh and the blue sky
is a welcome sight too.
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sorry about the bad weather, i think the whole wide world is having weather related issues.. all the flowers are wonderful and every thing looks green and beautiful in the sunshine. i think internet woes are going to get even worse as the big guys take over the bandwidth... mine does the hop skip jump thing when typing. drives me crazy. welcome back
ReplyDeleteThank you Sandra. It's good to be back.
DeleteLooks like you have things well in hand in both locations. Glad you had a safe trip home. Hope you get your internet sorted.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janet. I hope you are doing ok and I'll come visit your blog soon. Internet connection problems are challenging!
DeleteNice to see you back again and really encouraging to see our blue skies looking the same as those in Italy!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's good to see blue skies! UK has had better weather than we had in Italy as it was only the first week away that we had sunshine in our region.
DeleteWelcome back, the weather has certainly been a great topic of conversation as it seems to be so unusual for the season. Beautiful garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It was nice to be away (home away from home), but also good to get back to the UK.
DeleteHello, spring is now bursting out even here in Finland. I would actually say summer, as the weather is sunny and very warm. All the rain is now in Italy. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteGlad to know that you're having some warm weather there in Finland, Luisella. Thank you, have a good week also!
DeleteGood to see you back, I hope you had a lovely time away in Italy. You have returned to a beautiful time of year and your UK garden looks wonderful:)
ReplyDeleteThank you Rosie. I love this season in England especially for the flowers growing in our gardens and countryside. The lilac is in bloom, it's my birthday month and that also makes me happy! Wishing you a good week!
DeleteLovely to see you back! How interesting that spring was a month late in Italy too, it seems to be late in many countries, even America. Looking forward to hearing more about your Italian home, that thunder storm sounds good, I do love a good storm and imagine you both in front of the log burner enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to see all your blooms at home and good to know plants under cover were watered, well done Mr P sorting that veggie patch, I hope his hip is holding up, someone told me recently that tumeric is marvelous for rheumatic pain. xxx
Thank you, Dina. It's good to be back home and getting into our UK routine which in some ways is not so different than the one in Italy as far as housework and gardening goes! That's interesting re tumeric helping rheumatic pain. Mr P is coping with his back and hip pain so long as he rests in between gardening jobs.
DeleteYour gardens are looking lovely! We're behind on growing season here as well; and, thanks to a late snow and cold spell, some things didn't even bloom. My irises never even got buds and none of our flowering shrubs flowered this year. I can vouch for turmeric helping inflammation - both my hubby & daughter use it to deal with pain.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been beaut knowing your garden was being looked after - we in Australia have been experiencing a much warmer Autumn, some trees obviously thought it was Spring for a while!
ReplyDeleteThe whole garden is looking beautiful and those seedlings are so healthy.