Gardenig in Italy. Tips & Guides

NASA’s Apollo 15 mission launched to the Moon on 26 July 1971 and returned safely to Earth on 7 August. Carrying astronauts David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden and James B. Irwin, it was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program. It was the first of the “J missions”, which aimed to carry out an “Extensive scientific investigation of Moon on lunar surface and from lunar orbit.” It was also the first mission to use a lunar rover.

Because I value potable water, I prioritize its use. Edibles and newly planted shrubs and trees, which are highly vulnerable to drought stress, earn the right to receive water from my spigot. When plants become established, meaning that they’ve regenerated enough roots to sustain themselves without supplemental irrigation, they’re only watered when the need arises.

Benvenuti! Are you dreaming of transforming your backyard into a serene oasis? Look no further than the charm and elegance of these Italian Garden Ideas. So, grab a cappuccino, and let’s explore the beauty of Italian Garden Ideas together!

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The Italian word ‘pergola’ usually refers to a timber frame on which fragrant, climbing plants grow, to provide dappled shade for a seating area. Pergolas have been popular since Ancient times – thought to be about from about 800 BC – and were used in hotter countries to provide shade from the heat of the day. Today they’re a popular choice for larger gardens and courtyards, where they might be used for relaxing in dappled shade or as a romantic spot for Al fresco dining.

The winter holidays might steal the spotlight as the season for sparkling wine, but we firmly believe that summer is where it’s at. (That said, there’s no wrong time of year to open a bottle of bubbly, if you ask us!) When the temperatures rise and we’re spending more time than usual in the sun (slathered in SPF, of course), we don’t crave a heavy IPA, potent bourbon-based cocktail, or powerful red wine. Instead, we find ourselves gravitating toward lower-ABV, ultra-refreshing (and hydrating!) spritzes. 

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With its soft, green leaves and a gentle yet unmistakable scent, basil is a herb that simply begs to be used in the kitchen. Whether sprinkled on top of a fresh tomato salad or infused in a homemade pesto, basil leaves are a true delicacy for any food lover. Read on to learn all the Tips to Grow Bigger Basil Leaves.

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The flamboyant Hibiscus senensis is now readily available as a housplant from garden centres. This yellow flower was growing on an Italian road side.

A common site in many town gardens are trees that have outgrown their space. Large native trees like Oaks, Copper Beach, Planes, Weeping Willow and horse chestnuts are wonderful, but to be really enjoyed they need suitable space, like in a park. If they are planted in the garden they will

With so many types of art pieces to choose from for your home, it may be daunting to think about starting to shop for prints, posters, originals, or other works. However, filling your home with art should be an enjoyable process, and it isn't quite as complicated as you might think, either.

From sweet and mild to spicy and tangy, bell peppers come in a variety of colors and flavors that can add a unique twist to your favorite recipes. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular Types of Bell Pepper Varieties and discover what makes them so special.

Pass the cocktail sauce, because when it comes to trendy seafood, shrimp is leading the charge. While this shellfish has been a family favorite for decades as the most consumed seafood in the U.S., more and more restaurants—including many popular chains—are highlighting this protein as an affordable luxury. What’s all the hype about? Is this inexpensive shrimp as wholesome as it seems, or are there other factors you should be aware of before making plans to hit up the peel-and-eat buffet?

Marion Brenner

The tomato is a fruit from the nightshade family native to South America. The Spanish first introduced tomatoes to Europe, where they became used in Spanish and Italian food.

Like most home vegetable gardeners, I have fought squash vine borers for years. These frustrating pests of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) often knock out yellow squash and zucchini in my Upstate garden by the end of June. My colleague Terasa Lott shared some great tips on dealing with them in her June 3, 2019 hot topic, Watch Out for Squash Vine Borers. I’ve tried most of the techniques with variable success, but it’s a lot of work and I usually just give up. But this year I decided to try something different, ‘Tromboncino’ squash.

Sodium reduction is a national priority for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency is working with national, state, and local partners to gradually reduce sodium consumption, increase blood pressure control, and improve nutrition. Most of the sodium in our diets comes from packaged and restaurant food (not the salt shaker) and is a direct result of food processing. You can reduce salt when cooking at home by replacing salt with Herbs. Cooking vegetables with the right herbs will make an unforgettable difference. Learning how to use herbs will have your family and dinner guests impressed. Here is how to change an ordinary tasting vegetable dish into an extraordinary one with the added flavors of herbs and spices.

Last week I was making a grilled London broil and baked potatoes for dinner (Yum!). I was also planning to grill some seasoned zucchini as our vegetable with dinner. When it came time to prepare dinner, I decided I wanted something a little different from grilled zucchini. I looked at the ingredients that I had on hand and developed this recipe for Italian Zucchini and Tomato Gratin. It was fast and easy to prepare, and my family loved it. I can’t wait to make it again once I have some home-grown tomatoes and zucchini to use! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Many of our tried and true recipes and dishes can be ‘modified’ to increase vegetables, fiber, and fruits by making simple adjustments to meals we already eat. Many of us love watching chefs on TV but tend to go back to old favorites, i.e., macaroni and cheese, potato salad, beef stew, soup, fried chicken, broccoli casserole, spaghetti, etc.

Zack Snipes reports, “Everything is progressing nicely in the Lowcountry.  We got some much-needed rain last week.  Temperatures have been cool, so things are somewhat slow from a developmental standpoint.  All the crops look great, especially the tomato crop.  We have a really nice fruit set and very little disease.  I am expecting to see bacterial spot to show up sometime soon and have been getting a few calls about bacterial wilt taking down plants. I’ve also gotten a few calls about blossom end rot. That is typical on the first fruit set and will usually correct itself provided there is ample calcium in the soil AND the soil moisture is consistent.  In our sandy soils, the main cause of blossom end rot is allowing the soil to dry out during the fruiting stage. Folks might want to consider multiple 30 minute to 1-hour irrigation cycles on tomatoes per day.”

Want to know how to get two distinct flavors from one plant? Well, the plant known as Coriandrum sativum can provide just that. C. sativum is commonly cultivated as a low growing, vegetative herb known as cilantro that adds a savory flavor to many foods and dishes. However, not everyone knows that the seed produced by C. sativum is commonly referred to as coriander. Coriander is used whole or often ground as a spice to provide delectable flavor to many traditional and newer fusion-type meals. The herb and the spice come from the same plant, just different parts. For this reason, C. sativum is referred to with two different common names.

I remember the first time I saw a calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica). I was watching an old Katherine Hepburn movie, “Stage Door.” She swept into the room with an armload of calla lilies and, in her breathless voice, exclaimed, “The calla lilies are in bloom.” Ever since then, the classic beauty of calla lilies has fascinated me. The genus, Zantedeschia, was named in honor of the Italian botanist Giovanni Zantedeschi. The common name, calla, is derived from the Greek word for beautiful.

The Rosedown Plantation gardens were the province of Martha Turnbull throughout her life. The Turnbulls’ 1828 honeymoon in Europe included great formal gardens of France, England, and Italy, an influence seen in Martha’s gardening activities at Rosedown. During Martha’s lifetime, the landscaped gardens covered about 28 acres. The present gardens now cover 18 acres.

I love the look of giant leaves of aroids like Colocasia (shown) and Alocasia looming over the surface of my various water gardens, but always found the “planting” of them difficult: Everybody always wanted to set themselves free and float to the surface, even if I set rocks inside their rims. Naughty babies. So here’s what I do:First, I hold the plant, black plastic nursery pot and all, under water until it stops bubbling and is fully soaked. Then I simply stuff it, black nursery pot and all, into the heaviest terra cot

Although ‘Sweet 100’ and its later sibling ‘Sweet Million’ probably dominate the cherry-tomato market, even among these little tomatoes there are outstanding alternatives to be had: ‘Chadwick’s Cherry,’ carried as seed or plants by Bountiful Gardens, is an ample, golfball-size with good tomato taste; ‘Sungold’ (shown, next to two red ‘Sweet 100’ fruits) is tangerine-orange and very tasty. Your local nursery should have this.For novelty in a salad tomato, try ‘Black Prince’ (mahogany brown and juicy inside) or pink-fleshed ‘Oxheart’. There are better paste tomatoes than the standard ‘Roma’, too, like ‘Super Italian Paste’ and ‘San Marzano’ (both large-fruited).I have not even scratched the surface, of course. Territorial Seed has more than 80 kinds of tomatoes as plants for mail-order, including many, like ‘Stupice,’ rated especially for their productivity in short growing seasons like mine.I have long used the cages of all cages (and my other tomato advice). [Update: A t

Curly-leaf parsley is great for edging borders, and for planting as a “ruff” around the feet of bigger plants in pots, where it will be beautiful all season, even after substantial frost. But if you want to cook, go ‘Gigante,’ or ‘Giant of Italy.’ Flat-leaf parsley has more parsley flavor, to my taste.All parsley is extremely high in nutrients, particularly Vitamin C, folates and Potassium, as well as beta carotene. In fact, a quarter-cup of raw chopped parsley has about as much C as a quarter-cup of orange juice and double the folates (more that one and a half times those, even, of raw spinach). I include raw leaflets in salads, greatly boosting the nutritional value of

I make about eight batches of red sauce late summer until frost, stashing it in the freezer for a year of enjoyment.  It isn’t much prep work, at least not the way I cook. Each “batch” constitutes a spaghetti potful of fresh, raw ingredients before it cooks down to less than half that, enough for 5 or 6 freezer containers of 12-16 ounces each. If you’ve got that last glut of tomatoes in need of processing, or see a bargain bushel of seconds at the farmstand, this lazy-person’s recipe for red sauce might be just the thing.Again, I don’t take the time to peel or seed the tomatoes (to you purists, mea culpa; I’m a whole-food type…and also a bit manic when I cook). The sauce is the tiniest bit more bitter, perhaps, but think of all that fiber (and time saved).Lazy Woman’s Tomato SauceIngredients Enough paste-type or other tomatoes to fill a spaghetti pot 1 head garlic Extra virgin olive oil Fresh basil Fresh parsley, preferably Italian flat-leaf Salt and pepper to taste; small amount of sugar optionalWash tomatoes and cut off stem ends and any blemishes

Called “the mystery plant of the herb world” by The Rodale Herb Book, “oregano” is the common name for a small multitude of plants that are mostly useless in the kitchen. Among them are many true oreganos, in the genus Origanum, and also many plants that aren’t. Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens) is a relative of lemon verbena, not oregano. Cuban oregano (Coleus amboinicus) is a succulent that tastes and smells somewhat like oregano and makes a good houseplant. It is used like oregano in Cuban cuisine. Italian oregano thyme, a member of the genus Thymus, also has the familiar oregano scent.Among the true oreganos there are choices for great beauty, like O. vulgare ‘Aureum,’ a golden-leaved form. (My sorry plant was probably just plain O. vulgare—not even pretty like the golden kind.) Sweet marjoram, a kind of oregano known as O. majorana, is more the stuff of French cuisine, and an excellent culinary herb. Pot marjoram, O. onites, is also savory-flavored.But if you want to cook with the classic oregano taste, you want to try Greek oregano, O. heracleoticum, which is a pungent

CHARD: ‘Bright Lights’ may be the beauty-contest winner, with runner-up going to ‘Rhubarb’ or ‘Ruby Red,’ as it is variously called. But I’ll forego the flash and just sow ‘Argentata’ from here on out, I think.  A prolific and durable grower, ‘Argentata’ gets to as much as 3 feet tall (2ish in less fertile conditions) and produces lots and lots of giant leaves with gleaming thick white midribs.  Apparently this heirloom goes by another name in Italy, ‘Bionda á Costa,’ where it is also a favorite. Fedco has my favorite chard, and many others.KALE: Kale is one of my dietary mainstays, an ingredient in many soups here and a frequent side dish (both things are true about the the chard as well). Last year, I grew four kinds, but I won’t again, especially not the frilly  ‘Winterbor’ type or its lookalikes (above left), my un-favorite (though productive and cold-hardy). I simply don’t like its texture, so I am giving my kale real estate to the heirloom I sti

Like a carefully crafted sentence, the garden needs proper punctuation to read well, and clearly convey what’s going on. On the November 28, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast, Ken and I discussed design challenges that these tall and narrow things answer; the technical difference between the columnar and fastigiate plants; and some of his favorites.Read along as you listen to the Nov. 28, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).columnar tree and shrub q&a with ken druseQ. You got me thinking on our phone call the other morning—we were talking about earthworms and all these other crazy things…A. [Laughter.]Q. …and then you started talking abo

MY GARDEN MENTOR’S NAME is Marco Stufano, and so when, in a Google search for something botanical, I happened on a result that said “Stefano Mancuso,” I just had to click. Had they jumbled my Marco’s name? No; it yielded a 2010 TED Talk by an Italian plant scientist, and though not the answer to what I had been seeking, it perfectly summed up how I (and Marco) feel about plants.

Wild Garden Seed (my recent story on Wild Garden)‘Purple Peacock’ broccoli Antares Flashback calendula Triangle Flashback/Zeolights calendula Citrus Sherbet Mix calendula Wild Garden lettuce mix ‘Brown Goldring’ lettuce ‘Deer Tongue’ lettuce ‘Merlox Red Oak’ lettuce ‘Delicata Zeppelin’ winter squash Visit Wild Garden Seed’s online catalog Turtle Tree biodynamic seed (my story on Turtle Tree) ‘Aunt Ada’s Italian’ pole bean ‘Schweizer Riesen’ snow pe

Weil is a keen cook, and it shows in the not-hippie, not-boring, not-weird cuisine that he created with Sam Fox, the founder of the partner restaurant corporation, and Michael Stebner, the executive chef of their now-six-and-counting restaurants. Their approach, whether serving patrons or cookbook readers: “globally inspired cuisine,” and also “delicious food that is also good for you.”As I have been since my 20s, Weil became a lacto-vegetarian in 1970, at age 28, but by the mid-1980s he added fish into his diet, which continued to evolve over the years. “True Food” (book or restaurant) features poultry and bison recipes as well, so non-vegetarians need not panic about coming away hungry. On that topic: I especially love the section called “The Problem of Proper Portions,” in which Weil writes about what’s “just enough.” In Italy, he says, a “serving” of pasta would fit into a teacup. Food for thought.Nothing has the life cooked out of it, and the flavors sound positively vivid. I’m drawn in by such intensely colorful dishes as Fettucine with K

The listing for ‘Aunt Ada’s Italian’ in the catalog from Turtle Tree, a biodynamic seed company and just across “town” here from me, said that the variety came from Italy to Colorado around the turn of the 20th century, with a family called Botanelli. It’s likened to a “small, buttery snap lima” in flavor when steamed. I quickly steamed a bowlful for supper, and drizzled the beans with some olive oil and a dash of salt. Delicious (though admittedly a whole different texture than what you expect from a snap bean, whose seeds are rarely part of each mouthful)!My vines (supported on a bamboo tripod) are a couple of feet taller than the 6 feet predicted, and they started to bear in about 60 days. Pick them when they are not too big (maybe 3 inches long on average) and the seeds inside are starting to show. From the number of flowers on the plant yesterday despite the good haul of pods, I’d say there are plenty more to come.Want to use them for soup or another dry-bean recipe? Let the pods go all the way to withered and tan on the vine, and follow the dry-bean how-to here.This is the second new-to-me

Seattle-based Debra Prinzing is a longtime garden writer and author most recently of the books “The 50 Mile Bouquet” and “Slow Flowers” (Amazon affiliate links). When a garden designer friend who has also been a guest on this show, Kathy Tracey of Avant Gardens, recently wrote about a workshop she’d attended with Debra, I knew I had to invite her to my public-radio show so we could all learn more. The transcript follows:my slow-flowers q&a with debra prinzingQ. Your own adventure into slow flowers began with an “aha” from the food world.A. It did. I’m in Seattle, which is a big food community, and there are big food communities all across the country where we’re celebrating the chef and the farmer—they’re like the rock stars.The slow food movement began in Italy, I think, in the 80s, and migrated to the U.S., bu