Orto di Casa Cecconi

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

Category: Uncategorised

  • Some days are just not on

    I arrived at the plot a bit earlier than usual, between 19.15 and 19.30 and it was quiet. Soil was ok and I managed to do some digging while having some banter with the neighbours. All good, except that suddenly I could not hear them any longer and I realised when I came back from…

  • My new friend Mr Tod

    I have been to the plot a couple of evenings this week, and befriended a fox. A sign of my loneliness, or possibly to exorcise my fear of him scaring the living daylights out of me by jumping out of nowhere, I started talking to Mr Tod when he turns up just before sunset. Running away…

  • Succession sowing: yeah!

    For the first time in four years I have managed some succession sowing, so I should be sorted with salad leaves most of the summer. In April I had sowed some misticanza leaves in one of my two plastic “tents” for protection. By the time I came back from holiday in mid-May, they were ready…

  • It’s been forever!

    I have not written for the best of a month, what with my exam and – after that – some longed-for holidays. The plot is not in bad shape, probably because it did not rain so much as to set the weeds on rampage (not even nettles!), but just enough to get the crops going.…

  • Happy Easter!

    Weather is glorious, but no rain means a lot of watering needed, and seedlings wilting away. I had to make some rhubarb jam, as the plants have decided to grow this year, and very fast… incidentally they are bolting with all this heat, and it’s impossible to stop, so after chopping three buds, I’ve given…

  • Sun and Guerrilla

    It was warm, unbelievably so: in the greenhouse 35C/100F made it very uncomfortable to work, and outside plenty of water was required to keep you going. But glorious. Flowers. Butterflies. Fragrances. Even a new pollinator I had never seen before, like a small bee. Unfortunately I had no camera with me. Most of the seeds I’ve…

  • Shipshape plot

    All charged up for having completed my uni essays, I went to the plot to tackle the big remaining task: the old, derelict shed, sheltering ratsand who knows what else. Armed with a dust mask and a crowbar, I descended on the offending pile of rubbish, and at the end of the morning all was…