Month: July 2013
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Under cover (Week 17, Wednesday)
It was raining today and as I was not feeling too well, so I asked to work indoors, and was sent to the Princess of Wales Conservatory, with some lovely people, doing weeding among weird and wonderful plants. Hope you enjoy their pictures, while I’m off under cover again, of my bedsheets this time. I…
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The Quarantine House (Week 17, Tuesday)
Today we had the pleasure to visit the Quarantine House, where plant material that gets into Kew (from donations and expeditions) and out of the gardens (for example to repatriate seeds to repopulate areas in the wild for which conservation had been undertaken) is scanned and kept to ensure no pest or diseases are released…
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It’s raspberry time!
I have not written for a while about the allotment, as Kew is taking up most of my time, energies and generally most of my thoughts… However, although it is the case that I am not doing as much as I would like to (isn’t that the case every year?!?), I am growing, picking and…
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Droughts, goodbyes and Physocarpuses (Week 16, Friday)
It seems that most horticultural traineeships/apprenticeships are applied to in January for an August start. That means that July in the final month for the participants in the schemes and today three of our trainees have gone. I will miss them, we had a good time together! Other than that, today too I’ve been working…
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Animals and the plants they eat… (Week 16, Wednesday)
… and live amongst. No, this is not about pests, rather horticulture at London Zoo. Had you ever thought of zoos as places for horticulture? I hadn’t. That is, until a month or so ago I heard Kevin Frediani, Curator of Plants and Gardens at Paignton Zoo, talk at a conference. He mentioned that while…
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South Canal beds: inside and out (Week 16, Monday)
Students do not get to take any leave while they are in class term, so they go on holiday when they are out in the gardens, that is how South Canal beds and I are on our own once again. So far so good, we have got to know each other rather well and we…
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6 weeks to go: down the memory lane (Week 15, Friday)
It’s one week I have been back to the beds and I managed to bring the weeds back under control. Just to check that was the case, I did a complete round of the beds, picking the last bits here and there and moving some of the sprinklers (thanks goodness, it’s two of us and…
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.
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