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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