Month: April 2013
-
Cleaning up after the Romans (Week 4, Tuesday)
Since I moved to the UK I get that a lot: where are you from? Italy? Oh, the Romans were great… or something like that, for example: do you see that weed, Smyrnium, the Roman introduced it to England… ;p It would be fair to point out that not all Italians feel they are descendants…
-
Kew Herbarium
“Herbaria are collections of dried preserved specimens that document the identity of plants and fungi. They represent reference collections with many and varied functions including identification, research and education”. (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Herbarium Collections) Fascinating. Today we were taken on a tour of the herbarium by botanist David Goyder, who showed us some specimens and…
-
Pruning (Week 3, Friday)
As a kid, I remember coming home from school and some plant or other in the garden that was lookin great in the morning would have been hacked horribly, its dignity lost, possibly at risk of never coming back. That would see me fuming with my father, the perpetrator. I knew nothing about plants back…
-
Stripes and stars (Week 3, Thursday)
Today I went back to the Japanese Landscape: it was a gorgeous sunny day and the grass is starting to grow fast, so we had to mow the lawn. There is a specific department that takes care of the sward at Kew with ride-ons, but for the smaller areas we use lawnmowers. My parents’ garden…
-
Fireblight (Week 3, Wednesday)
The Rosaceae family of plants, and the sub-family Maloidae (those with pome fruits) in particular, are affected by fireblight, which is a disease caused by bacterium Erwinia amylovora; it affects blossom and shoots and may lead to the death of the plant. Fireblight used to be a notifiable disease, and governments are still trying to keep it in…
-
Squaring the circle – reprise (Week 3, Tuesday)
Our teamwork today was again planting trees, something which I really looked forward to: 1. I had enjoyed it the last time 2. wanted to refresh my memory on the technique 3. the weather was good… You can see the square hole, the planting hole, and the planted tree clearly in the pictures. This time…
-
Kew’s library (Week 3, Monday)
The highlight of the day today was a visit to Kew’s library, which was born out of the Herbarium (which we will visit next week) and which is actually known as “Library, Art & Archives” because it does not manage only books… have you ever visited the Marianne North Gallery? I usually prefer the outside,…
About Me
M.Paola Andreoni
I got the first allotment in 2007 (in the UK) and started growing my own food for the first time. Learning as I went along was not enough, so I studied some horticulture. I am striving to abide by organic principles. Brexit gave me a new life in the Netherlands, and two new plots by a nature reserve.
Some Rights Reserved
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.