Orto di Casa Cecconi

My first allotment, and then one thing leading to another…

L’orto di Casa Cecconi Plants Recipes Me & Kew One Year at Wisley

Year: 2013

  • 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,…

  • Zen and the art of leaf gathering (Week 2, Friday)

    It was with some hesitation that this morning I made my way to the Japanese Landscape. It is a rather formal garden, and working on it felt pretty daunting. Edging, which by now I can do fairly well, and picking up the magnolia leaves that the inclement weather has scattered all over the place the…

  • Going about one’s business (Week 2, Thursday)

    Another day of bed maintenance, which is what we are here to do! I am now mostly self-sufficient in getting the tools together before starting the day, such a relief! 🙂 When I first joined I had a locker assigned to me with a standard kit, then, over the last two weeks, I have collected…

  • Weedy Wednesday (Week 2, Wednesday)

    A day that was mostly about weeding and edging. My progress in edging consists in having learned how to straighten beds using a string. Also, I am becoming better at using my foot behind the half-moon when lifting soil. There are two main movements you have to learn with the half-moon. First, it’s pressing down…

  • Tree circles (Week 2, Tuesday)

    Today was team working again, and we did tree rings on the Pagoda vista. No, not the tree rings inside a tree trunk, which can be used to identify the age of a tree. I mean we weeded, edged and mulched the circular, grass-free areas around the pairs of trees that flank the heritage walk…

  • Day five: sharpening up

    One of the things I had never done was to sharpen a pair of secateurs, so when a colleague said he was going to fix his and offered me to tag along I took the opportunity straight away. After disassembling the nuts, bolts and the spring, we cleaned and sharpened the blade using oil and…

  • Day four: Rubus and Prunus

    Today I went off to become more familiar with my beds and  we planned to manage a Rubus or two. It was a whole day of gardening, me and the plants, which was good as I need to take in all of the changes that have happened in the last few days and adjust to…

About Me

M.Paola M.Paola, that’s me

I got my first allotment in the UK in 2007 and started gI got my first allotment in the UK in 2007 and started growing my own food. Learning as I went along was not enough, so I studied horticulture. Faced with the horticultural warfare, I became a conscientious objector: I use no chemicals and support organic principles and regulations.

Brexit gave me a new life in the Netherlands, three new plots by a nature reserve and an MSc in sustainable food systems.

I write in my personal capacity and, as a language perfectionist and a non native speaker, I keep reviewing my entries’ text for clarity.

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