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

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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…

  • Oxalis repens (Week 15, Thursday)

    I have seen so much of it this week: Oxalis corniculata var. repens (looks like it is mushrooming all over the place and setting seeds within a few days!) that I have had what I call a “genius idea”: what if we made use of it as ground cover? It is hardly visible, because it’s purple on…

  • Atropa belladonna (Week 15, Wedesday)

    Weeding around an overgrown Oemleria (and you know that an overgrown Oemleria is a swallower, don’t you?) I found inside it a large herbaceous plant with beautiful purple, bell-shaped flowers and entire, ovate leaves. A little bit of research online did not provide a match, and my colleague also had no idea what it might…

  • Holly Walk (Week 15, Tuesday)

    The Ilex collection at Kew is the largest of mature cultivars in the world but I must admit my prejudice: I find Holly Walk rather depressing, it’s my least favourite place in Kew and not only because it is an area under renovation. I’m not a fan of evergreens, or hollies, and this is 1…

  • Back in the beds! (Week 15, Monday)

    I am back in the beds today and I think nobody could fail to notice the vast smile on my face & the jolly greetings I was dishing out, even first thing in the morning. Not I for one: it surprised me, how much happier being outdoors made me feel! Three months gone, so the…

  • Euonymus: a plant I'll never forget (Week 14, Friday)

    Euonymus europeus, the spindle tree, with its characteristic bright pink seedpods with orange seeds sticking out, is a plant I have known for a while. I had it in my garden, I picked seeds from one last winter which I am trying to germinate, and it’s in my next plant ID test. But I had…

  • Mastering the art of watering – and some science too (Week 14, Thursday)

    Having watered every single day, first thing in the morning, for almost two weeks, with the responsibility to keep a botanical collection in good nick, has really changed my perspective on what I have never considered one of my favourite activities: I would do a raindance any time rather than have to water! Anyway, even…

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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