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Welcome to News From Italy, my blog about our Italian Adventure. Although this blog has now ceased publication I will be continuing to blog and I am sincerely hoping that my many followers here will move with me to Travel Tales blog to follow my next adventures wherever they may take me. The links to my other blogs are:-


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Monday, February 8, 2010

Pruning

It is the time of the year to get the pruning done and when the weather has been amenable we have got started. There is lots to do this year as pruning has been rather neglected for the last few years. Although we purchased the house this time last year, the garden was very low in our priorities. It was  somewhat more important to turn our building site into our home, the ground floor had not really been used as residential accommodation before. A year later the house is now a home, still some work to do on the interior but this year we will be able to spend more time working on the garden.  In fact tomorrow the 9th of February is the first anniversary of completing the purchase. Although it was another month before we were able to move in and even then we had to go outside to get upstairs!

I say we have started the pruning but I am honest enough to admit that it is David and Bruno that have been doing all the hard work.  I am just a willing helper, when it is not too cold and of course the official photographer!

David has had lots of impromptu lessons from Bruno which have been a great help. The first one was for the Kiwi’s, the first photo shows how it looked before, followed by a series of photos to show the process.

Early December Heavily Laden Kiwi Plants


January Tangled Kiwi Plants Awaiting Pruning.


Looking Somewhat Less Tangled

That Looks Better



The next pruning task was the Persimmmon, which if you follow this link you will see how it looked at Christmas. It now looks somewhat different as David and I did this together and have pruned it back very hard according to instructions. It was very thick and tangled before so it is strange to see it looking so denuded! I suppose it will grow back and look pretty again for next Christmas. Lets hope so anyway?

Thick and Tangled

Better?


Another tree in the garden that is looking completely denuded is a Willow, David was trimming it carefully when Bruno arrived and proceeded to give it a complete haircut!

 Whoops!!


He then taught David how to use the willow as ties around the garden. All the kiwi growth is now tied up with willow. Very ecological and proof that the old ways can still be the best.


We still have lots of fruit trees and the walnut trees to prune and these will be done gradually over the forthcoming weeks. The priority over the last few days has been to get the vines all pruned. We had a few at our previous house so thought we knew how they should be done. Almost completed when along comes Bruno to tell us that although they had been pruned correctly, that was not how they are done locally!

With around 57 vines it seems we may have to consider making some wine ourselves this year!

19 comments:

  1. How amazing. I always wondered how Kiwis grew, I saw lots of pergolas with cars parked underneath covered in Kiwi vines when we were in Liguria..

    I love your new header...so sunny, that is what we need. The temperature has dropped so much tonight (Monday 8th) and we had a bit of snow today..I wonder if more is going to come :-(

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  2. I love these enormous photos! And it's exciting even just reading about your home renovations in Italy. You should write a book!

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  3. Weatherwise you look to be a few weeks ahead of the UK. It is till too cold to be gardening or pruning at the moment, although we managed to get out, to sort out some more logs for the fire at the weekend.

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  4. Our neighbour looks after our Lazio garden and I was terrified the first time he pruned our various trees almost back to single stalks. I thought they would all die but the annual growth is amazing. That blue sky looks good.

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  5. Thanks for the encouraging comments everyone.

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  6. Yum... kiwis in your own garden! :-) I was just reading online to figure out when is the best time of year to prune roses here. It's that time of year to head back outdoors and prepare for the spring and summer. Happy pruning!

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  7. I'm definitely not in charge of pruning here; I always think the boys go *extreme* in their trimmings, and then the fruit grows well anyway, so clearly I know nothing...I just step aside and take photos. Works for me!

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  8. Your view is beautiful. My husband pruned today. I say on the bench in the sun with my hot tea and cheered him on. It comes natural for him. I on the other hand haven't got a clue. I'll stick to writing.

    Julie

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  9. What stunning photos - it's too cold for me to garden here yet! Snowing again today.
    What blogger template do you use, LLM?

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  10. Laura, Michelle, Julie and Susie. Thankyou all for your comments. We were able to get on with the pruning again yesterday after all that cold and snowy weather, it was a pleasant surprise to have sunshine.

    Susie, I recently changed my template just so I would be able to post larger photos when I wanted to. It is the Blogger template called Stretch Denim Light.

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  11. Fab work with the pruning. Official photographer seems like the best job.

    (Think I've sorted the posting error)

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  12. Thanks Suep, we had a very welcome sunny day and were both happy to get out in the garden and do more pruning today.

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  13. Those pictures are absolutely beautiful!

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  14. Thanks Maeghan. I think posting them in the larger format makes them look better.

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  15. Oh my goodness, it's beautiful were you live. The pictures are fantastic. Good luck with the pruning.

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  16. I can't wait until it warms up enough to get out and do the pruning - though it sounds like I could sure use some of Bruno's pointers! :) I've always wanted to go to Italy - maybe I could say I need to go so I can learn how to prune properly. ;)

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  17. UM, thanks for dropping by and commenting. The pruning is going well, did some more yesterday.

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  18. Stacy, Welcome and thanks for your comments. I m sure Bruno would be delighted to teach you :)

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