Sunday, November 4, 2012

Wilting Shoots in the garden at Casa Colleverde... Ebay to the rescue.


Unfortuantely no more lavender.

This year we lost a lot of plants in the garden. Three months of hot dry weather and no rain took their toll. The 'mediterranean garden' was looking more like a desert and I have been feeling a little brown fingered - the 'pollice verde' are not working.

In the spring we had started to fill in the gaps in the garden from the initial planting in 2011 and had planted some more lavender, in May the garden was looking great but then with the start of the hot dry weather we were hit with a root fungus which proceeded to kill off most of the 40 new lavender plants together with those we had planted last year. We then had a foliar/stem fungus which killed the 70 Cornus planted in the fito depurazione system, the roses were losing their leaves inspite of regular dousing with an anti  fungal and then the Magnolia died and one of the Cyprus trees is looking unwell. Could things get any worse... well to top it all the roses which were doing well were then attacked by a plague of caterpillars who proceeded to eat the remaining leaves. 

Things have come back a bit since the autumn rains but we are having to do a serious rethink on how to proceed in the garden.

I think I have to be patient. You cannot hurry in gardening, instant gardens do not always work. This is all very well but the garden at least needs to be presentable for guests.                                                     

Getting new soil in is not an option living on top of the hill at the end of a track. We can steadily        improve what we have and are composting but it will take time. Well lets take stock - what did survive?                                                                                   We did plant some Genista to help retain a bank which even with litttle or no watering or rain all survived and have grown well but they are ok in the wilder part of the garden but not particulary pretty. Other plants which sems to like our ex bulding plot are Gazania which have self seeded from last year and this year I have taken the seed to seed elsewhere.A white valerian has been successful and has also self seeded but I will have to be careful with this as it can become a bit of a thug. Having said that I am trying to get the red one going as well via seed as they do not like being transplanted and we will see what happens the seedling can easily be removed.The Acanthus mollis I transplanted from my old garden (another plant a bit fussy about moving) is still sulking but looks like it will be ok next year and then I can leave it to self seed. Rosemary seems to like the conditions as does thyme.   



The Agave and the Fico d'india seem happy and are both easy to tranplant or take cuttings if you are careful as they are a bit spikey! So maybe things are not so bad.

One of my favourite plants is Euphorbia Characias ( a woody  perrenial) which does well in UK gardens and I used it often when planting gardens there. But here it is impossible to find even though it is native to Liguria and the Cinque Terre! 





So Ebay has come to my rescue - I have been buying seeds a much cheeper way to experiment and hopefully these will establish themselves. so far I have planted Eurphorbia Characias (indigenous) and a Euphorbia Melifera (honey scented) and Erigeron.All are no more than 1 euro a packet including postage even if only one seed comes up it is well worth it.

I have also been looking to see what grows wild around the house and I am going to plant both wild versions of these plants and the cultivated varieties.A white cistus grows in the woods around the house in little soil and no water so that seems a good candidate the pink ones we had planted have survived. The wild herbs seem to be everywhere thyme, oregano, mentha and myrtle is common.

Helychrysum grows in the olive gove as well and I have transplanted a couple of plants which have taken so those also seem a good candidate. I am also taking cuttings although this maybe should wait to spring as they will more likely take better.

 Erigeron grows in the wall in all the old hilltop towns around me self seeds everywhere but is impossible to transplant. Once it gets going I am sure I will have it everwhere.

So slowy slowy we will get there and I am now looking forward to spring next year.



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ps I hope the sources of photos above once found at a later date

Friday, November 2, 2012

Olio Nuovo!

Well thank goodness we picked our olives last week. Since last Saturday the weather has been dreadful and windy and if we had waited a little longer we probably wouldnt have had any left to pick.

At Casa Colleverde we have an old olive grove which over the last two years we have given a good prune in the hope that we would get an improved crop.The trees had been left to their own devices for far too long with the result that though we have had few olives and have very tall trees we do have lots of wild flowers!

Last autumn we gave the trees a good prune and this year we gave them some organic fertiliser after which things looked good in May with lots of flowers and of these a lot seemed to set. But you shouldnt count your olives too early.

In June we had a week of very windy weather and then a hot dry summer - 3 months without rain.Come the end of October I had to put my glasses on to find the olives. We had about 7 trees with a good number on and the other 180 trees with hardly any. Oh well.

Here in our part of Liguria nets are tied under the trees to collect olives as they fall before picking starts in earnest. If only we could afford this luxury and investment in nets!

The weather was forecast good last week until Friday so we set to and picked them all - about six hours work for the two of us and Sam who watched. At the end we had 36kg of Olives and got 5 litres of green liquid gold extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. Yummy!



Thursday, October 11, 2012

Eating on the Magra

For  a while we had been wanting to try a new retaurant Moor on the banks of the river Magra. We decided to go one weekend with some guests who were staying with us.( Booking is advisable at weekends).

The setting amongst the boats on the banks of the river,  hence the name, is magical, both at night with the lights reflecting on the water and at lunch time on a sunny day when the large glass windows are folded back and you can sit on the terrace and take in the view.

Unlike a lot of Italian retaurants the restaurant is modern and 'designed' with a distinctly nautical feel.



The food is seafood and fish with some unusual combinations but on the night we were there was also duck.The food was good and the fish fresh - Tuna which was delicious

 A little more expensive than the average restuarant in the area but well worth it if you are looking for something a little different from the norm in a great location.

We had a grat time and would recommend it.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Rainy days and Sundays

After 3 months of little or no rain and with Lucifero visiting us for a while from Africa(an anti cyclone) whose heat managed to make the garden look like a desert, we have now had a little rain, but still not enough to save some of the plants.

Today being Sunday and with our visitors out exploring the Cinque Terre we went to Forte di Marmi to get off the not so green colle verde.


It had been reported to us that there had been hunky surfers spotted here last week when it was sunny, but I think the threat of rain, Sunday lunch , the cooler temperatures or the suprising number of jelly fish in the water had put them off.

Also inspite of the rumours it was not heaving with Russians but mainly Italians.

We did some window shopping - advisable here given the price of things in the windows and then finished our tour with an ice cream to remind us that summer has not quite finished yet! 


Saturday, September 1, 2012

Benvenuti da Sam

A big part of our lives and of anyone who visits us is Sam our Norfolk terrier.



As soon as the door bell sounds he is the first out the door to greet anyone with a welcome noise half between a rolling growl and a howl.(difficult to describe).

He keeps visitors company under their sun beds in summer (its cooler) and in the morning is the first to greet everyone for breakfast.

When the time comes to say good bye he is there as well.



Saturday, July 7, 2012

Lazy Days (2) The Olive Grove

Apart from welcoming friends and anyone else fleeing from a wet and grey summer in the UK we have been keeing busy trying to bring some order to the Olive grove.

With an Olive grove of 180 odd trees there is always something to do especially in May when everything is growing before your eyes at a rate of knots and far too fast to keep on top of.

Now after a month of no rain things are slowly coming to a standstill. We are slowly cutting all the grass which means some early starts to work in the cool of the day before it gets too hot and some sore muscles too afterwards.

Even though the Olives need a lot of work (and have not porduced much oil to date) the grove itself however is a source of much pleasure . It is an oasis of wild flowers the variety and colours the like of which I have never seen before.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Friends are welcome if they can find us.

It is always nice having friends to stay and we have some good ones. A lot of my english friends want to escape the madness of London and the Olympics - they are very welcome. We welcome everyone as good friends at Casa Colleverde.

We just had Sean and Kira to stay from London, the weather was not brilliant but we enjoyed having them and we had a nice lunch on the balcony on their last day with our friends Nicole and Petra from Dusseldorf. Nicole was in charge of table decoration.

That reminds me..

I must change our directions on our web page and the pointer on google maps to ensure future guests do not get lost getting here like everyone else to date including UPS. Once guests arrive they dont want to leave - is this because they dont want to get lost again or maybe they just like it here...

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The 'Biga' the better

Well not one for sitting around by the pool all day I have been practiing my bread baking skills for when we are entertaining guests. Stone ground flour, wheat germ, natural yeast and a Biga.

 The Biga the better! The better your bread is, that is. It gives Forza to your bread so no knead for Berlusconi.

The Biga is starter dough which is left to rise naturally and develope slowly to give it a good strong flavour and a bit of bounce. I am now hooked.

I blame Angie and James for buying me the book. Thanks guys.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Lazy Days enforced idleness.

I have been absent from blogging for a while not because I havent had time but probably because I was a little despondent that it was taking us so long to officially open after all the work we have done.

The house has been finished for six months, we survived the winter with some minor damage although the builders are back to rectify a few things.The declaration of agibilita (a declaration that the house is habitable)we will collect at the beggining of june,finally. Strange how you can live in the house with out it but if you want to operate as a B&B you need it.

Our major bureacratic problem has been that we run off a well and to make sure we can drink the water without problem and having to transport large numbers of bottles from supermarkets etc we have a treatment plant in the garage similar to the local water company although a lot smaller. This is maintained by Culligan who come quarterly to ensure everything is ok. Unfortuntely as we are not on the communal water supply Asl had to confirm our water is drinkable. As we all know being on the communal water supply in Italy doesnt necessarily mean the water is drinkable. Anyway for Asl to certify it they needed to take samples from the well during the year( a whole year!) to tell me that I need to treat the water which I am already treating it but that is not good enough and they wouldnt even allow me to use bottled water to drink for guests. It took me 6 months to get them started on the analysis at great cost in professionl fees and then they charge euro 2700 fee up front. They started at the end of February(winter analysis) They needed to do one in spring which I had to chase them to do but they never answer the phone.They then do 5 over summer when there is less water around and one in winter. They then tell me I need to treat he water which I aready do as I installed a comprehensive system to be on the safe side. But it wasnt/isnt that easy. They still need to decide how much clean water I can keep in the tanks so it doesnt go off......and so it goes on .another bit of paper and another department and at the end of the next century i will have collected all the ofifical stamps.......and then I can frame them.
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This is when Italian bureacracy can start wearing you down and no wonder the economy hasnt grown for years and you wonder if was all worthwhile in the end.

Hmmmm who knows. Its very grey today and maybe thats influencing my mood.If the sun comes out if could all seem much better....