Our time in Italy October 2018: the garden

Regular readers of my blog will know that each time we go over to the house in Italy we find plenty of work to keep us busy! We were there in April/May and indoors was just as we left it, of course, but you can imagine that's not true of the land around the house.  The grass was once more a meadow and the trees and bushes were in need of drastic pruning.  There's never enough time to do it all so the usual round of garden jobs continue.

The first thing to do was to call the man with the tractor and cutting machine to come and cut the grass.  Fortunately he was able to come during the first few days of our stay.  Despite the long grass I was keen to go out and collect the apples, walnuts and hazelnuts that were ready for gathering.  We have two walnut trees and one hazelnut tree and there were plenty of nuts that had recently fallen to the ground.  

A brother-in-law comes and looks after the grape vines on the pergola, but he's now experiencing serious health problems and has a lot to do keeping up with his own work on the land so we don't expect him to do anything except come when he can with my sister-in-law, keep an eye on the property and gather the grapes to put with his own to make some wine.  This season some members of the family came to gather the grapes, but only gathered some of them because they found hornets had got there first.  Also a section of the pergola on which the vines grow had collapsed.  The time had come for us to make a decision about the vines especially as Mr P got stung by a hornet.  Thankfully he quickly applied antihistamine cream on the sting, but he said it was very painful for days.  Hornets can be very dangerous if you're allergic to their sting so they were a real worry. We decided to dismantle the pergola where it had fallen down and completely cut down the vines leaving only two or three table grape plants, including the strawberry grape vines, that have sentimental meaning for us, being the first vines planted when we were living permanently in the house.

Here are some photos of progress during the month's stay:-

Our organic Golden Delicious type apples - we had enough for our short time at the house and gave the rest to a niece who made apple pies with them. The windfalls were passed on to her father for the sheep.

The strawberry grapes were beginning to dry out and would have turned into raisins if left in the sun.

They were a tasty addition to my breakfast cereal of a few rice krispies along with some golden raisins and the walnuts that I gathered, cleaned and cracked open.

some of the walnuts and table grapes

The weather was perfect for airing linen, drying washing on the balcony whilst the neighbour with the tractor and cutter was able to mow the grass.  From this angle on the balcony you can see how wild the oleander bushes and grape vines growing on the pergola had become since May when Mr P had done some pruning.  It only takes some sun and rain for everything to become a jungle once more.

Taking down the pergola where it had collapsed, clearing the vine branches before cutting down the plants.

  

We had several bonfires after trimming the bay trees, front garden hedges and other green branches and that was actually good fun.  After pruning the dry vine stems, fruit tree branches etc. they were stored for use in the wood burner. We didn't need to light fires, but we did so a couple of times just to make sure the central heating system was working and the chimneys were clear. 

upstairs living room

There's an open fire facility in the downstairs kitchen which we don't usually light as the rooms here are for Summer use only. It throws out a lot of heat. You can just see the triangular trivet hanging on the brick wall in the fireplace. It's only an ornament now, but one like this would have been placed on the embers with a large pot for cooking stews or for cooking pasta.  

I love the smell of wood smoke from indoor fires and bonfires during the early days of Autumn in Italy. 

the pergola and flower bed finally cleared and tidy

Our time in Italy (1)

Since we had planned to go to Italy this month to do some work around the house, particularly on the land, we were hoping for some good weather.  Having left snowy conditions in Yorkshire, the thought of warmer weather was an attractive one!

We had an unusually foggy start on our first morning, but once the mist had lifted we could get on with what needed to be done in the way of maintenance and gardening.  One of the first priorities was to do some work on the entrance gate which slides across on a runner and needed a replacement wheel.  Fortunately we know folk who work in most trades locally and the job was soon done. We were pleased to see that the grass had not grown over the Winter so the general tidying up on the land was started as well as the pruning of the vines and fruit trees.

During our first week the weather was generally very good, although one night we had very strong winds and rain and work outside had to stop for a day. Apparently other areas in the region and further north were hit by the dangerous storms and many trees and buildings were badly damaged. We ourselves had one tree that had blown over during the Winter and had to be dealt with.  Other fruit trees needed pruning of dead wood, but would become useful firewood.  Whilst the weather was unsuitable for working outside there was another essential job that needed doing inside, which my husband could do himself, which was to replace a wooden beam in the roof space.........

A long way from Henley-on-Thames in the UK, but the umbrella is still useful.

A dead tree leaning near the electric cable needed cutting down.

                                        Pine cones from the fir tree we had cut down in October are good for                                                                               boosting up the fire.

Italy: Garden maintenance

As I've often mentioned, we usually go over to Italy in February or March to do some work in the house and garden and generally take a break.  This year the trip has been delayed and we are looking forward to getting there soon especially as the weather here in the UK continues to be cold and dull with the occasional day of sunshine which teases us into thinking that Spring has come at last.

Not that the weather in the mountains in our region of Italy is always warm and sunny at this time of the year.  There have also been some other strange happenings recently. My sister-in-law phoned the other day to tell us that there had been strong earth tremors one evening in February which had been felt throughout the area from south of Rome to Naples and the 4.8 magnitude quake's epicentre had been near the two local towns of Sora and Isola del Liri.  Although there had been no injuries and little damage to old, vulnerable buildings it had been a frightening experience despite these tremors being felt from time to time, which we have experienced ourselves when we have been on holiday or living in Italy.

Anyway, being the time for pruning trees, vines, cutting the grass, painting and cleaning,  I'm posting some photos of our life in Italy when we are there in the early months of the year with apologies for revisiting a subject that I posted on my old, deleted blog.

Lambing time - views of the top field.

A few of the jobs that need to be done outside while I'm relaxing...no, not really.  I'm usually doing some cleaning etc. inside.

Of course, the time away is also an opportunity to relax, see family and spend some time out and about in the locality.  This is a view overlooking the town of Isola del Liri where the quake was felt the strongest which is about 10 kms from our home.