2090 School Project on Gardening in Italy

I'm also curious about this.
Do Italian gardeners use fertilizers? What kind?
Are pests a problem? How do they control them?
How does the typical gardener go about his work (is it a hobby? does he have a large plot of land, or does he merley have window plants?)

Also, I was wondering what the differance between Northern and Southern Gardening processes are.

(In case you can't tell, I am attempting to market certain lawn care products to the Italian marker...things such as fertilizer, weed killer, and bug control)

We are keen gardeners here in Italy and would be happy to try and answer specific questions. However do not have the time to write the essay it would require to give you enough general info. Sorry. One interesting fact that we have learnt is that many of the older Italians are still very much influenced by the weather and the phases of the moon. We use an excellent book, which if you can get hold of a copy we think would give you all the info you need. Although it is in Italian it has loads of pictures and diagrams, Calendario Lunare delle semine e dei lavori. DEMETRA ISBN 88-440-2586-8 [url]www.giunti.it[/url]
Good Luck with the school project and hope this info helps a little.

Thank you for the great info. But I would really like to know such as to what extent gardening has on a normal Italian's life. Is it more common among elderlies or other age groups? Does regular household has a garden? What are the normal frustrations in gardening in Italy. I appreciate any info. Thanks

There's a chap in our village we've got to know well & it seems, for him at least that gardening is solely about producing food (veg, olive/olive oil & wine).

He's proud that he's ogranic ([i]biologico[/i] or that might be biologica!) and I'm sure will never grow flowers or anything that does not produce fruit or somthing he can eat.

He & his wife are not resident in the village but visit regularly (1-3 times a weel) and spend ages there. He's got a decent system of water going as that seems to drive everything; it's a combination of local spring & rain water that he's got stored.

It's interesting to watch the cycles of work too; when we were over there in November, there was a lot of scrub clearance, tidying up & generally preparing for the winter. It seems to be a cycle that all the locals stick to.

Oh & the quality of the produce is blissful!

[QUOTE=gardener]I would really like to know such as to what extent gardening has on a normal Italian's life. Is it more common among elderlies or other age groups? Does regular household has a garden? What are the normal frustrations in gardening in Italy. I appreciate any info. Thanks[/QUOTE]

Throughout the year vegetable growing is certainly a major part of an Italian garden and they do spend alot of time on this. All age groups seem to be involved, but you do see more retired people working on the garden, I suppose because they now have more time on their hands. The veggy plot will generally feed the extended family. Due to returning to the UK for part of the summer, we have never planted any vegetables as they would be unlikely to survive whilst we were away and even if they did, would no doubt be ready when we were away: our neighbours and friends think we are extremely odd in this respect and keep asking about it, they cannot understand how anyone can have a garden and not produce vegetables. Next year we hope to impress them with our crops!!!!
Flowerbeds are rare, they often have flowering bushes and roses, but little else in the way of actual flowers. Larger gardens often have small, slow growing trees planted in a very regimented fashion, often this is referred to as the 'Italian garden'.
Water is a major factor in all this, wells and collected rain water are used during the summer to irrigate, as it is such a precious resource it is used only for the essentials, ie veg. Fruit and nut trees are also common, as well as vines and olives. Formal lawns are not a particular feature, again it would probably require too much water over the summer months to keep it looking good.
If you wander around any of the garden centres, you will see masses of seedling vegetables, flowering bushes/shrubs and trees, there will be very few types of flowers if any. Have a look at [url]www.margheriti.it[/url], their catolgue is available online and will give an indication re the types of plants grown. As has already been said, lunar gardening is very popular. Gardening magazines such as 'Casa in Fiore' always dedicate an article explaining what you should be doing and when according to the phase of the moon for that particular month.
As for fertilisers, they are on sale, I do not not what type or how frequently they are used so cannot help you there.

Hope this helps, good luck with the project.

Welcome fellow gardener!
Here's a link to some good information. There's been an earlier thread on the subject you may want to check out.

[url]http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org[/url]

I have found in Italy that there is a large number of people living in flats both in towns and villages. Generally people who live in flats and who are keen gardeners have "campos" : some sort of allotments with a small house where everything is stored. These campos can be quite large. There they would grow olive trees, vines, vegetables and herbs and I have also encoutered chickens and ducks there. Water is always a major problem for these campos. They can get it from a tap if there is a a nearby local authority source. They can collect it in tanks like in some gardens in England when you want rain water or you can get it from a well. This last option is very expensive in capital and can cost anything from 7,000 Euros to set up. Bear in mind that you still pay for the "boring" if you do not find water. I have heard a few complaints about wells drying up, a few get clogged up by fine sand.

Anyway, back to gardening. Large villas with gardens (some 1000 sq mtres and upwards) and, of course, country houses have there own gardens. Some villas around us have some stunning gardens that would be the envy of any keen English gardener. They are owned mainly by retired wealthy people or weekenders from Rome. They have little interest in growing vegetables and buy their fresh produce from the local market once a week. These gardens are a good source of part-time work for retired local people. The main features of these gardens, in our part of Tuscany, are a few or many cypress trees, olive trees, fruit trees, roses (old and new) wisterias, palms, a range of drought resistant shrubs etc. We live very near Vivai Margheriti so a lot of their plants would feature in our gardens. An important part of the garden is the patio with a barbecue and a wood oven. Thse are used all year round for cooking "fiorentina" (huge T-Bone steaks) on wood fires.

Our experience of smaller villas are different, as developers we are finding that buyers are not that interested in large gardens (you could not get them anyway because builing plots for new houses tend to be small, although the density of any development is strictly controlled by the Commune (local authority). In part that would reflect working hours and demands of daily living. A lot of young people leave for work at 7 am to 8 am and do not return till 8 pm. They have long lunch hours. So Saturday and Sundays tend to be used to catch up with house chores and spending quality time with the family. An important part of these smaller gardens are the: patio, barbecue, grassed areas, and drought resistant and low maintenance shrubs. Pergolas can be popular and these offer some protection from the sun.

A few people are very keen on acquiring woodlands where they would collect wood for winter burning and barbecues. There very strict rules where we live about felling trees. You cannot do so without the permission of forest police or rangers. This applies whether you are clearing land for building, collecting wood in the forest or sorting out your gardens. It is very difficult to get permission. I recently traded planting 5 new trees to fell one! There are also strict regulations about burning garden rubbish. Compost heaps are virtuallly unknown and the local authority provide big bins by the side of the road for organic material. Or you would see people dumping organic material, mainly grass cutting, onto to nearby wasteland.

As was mentionned before water (or more precisely the lack of it) is an important determinant of Tuscan gardens (like in England you can sometimes be fined for using the garden hose in summer). Also because a lot of the villages are built on hills. consequently a large proportion of gardens are terraced and ground cover plants are important. Tuscan gardens in general do not have water features: ponds etc.

I hopre this helps!

Thank you all very much for all these wonderful details that will surely help me with my school project. As most of you have mentioned, water seemed to be a big issue. Does it mean that one can not even use tap water from their own house to water the flower? Do they have to purchase water from well and other authority? Also, what kind of gardening products do ordinary gardeners normally purchase? Hopefully I am not asking too many questions

We have well water for our house and when we water the garden we turn off the filter and water as much as we like. Only risk is if the well dries up but this year not likely!!!!!!!!!!
We buy seeds and a little growmore, plus plants from the garden centre.

so all the water you use everyday, such as for bathing, washing hands, cooking, come from the well?

You can buy most garden products that you find in England in Italy and more, however, there are obviously less lawn management products than in England. You can also buy Italian vegetable seeds in England. There is a London company that specialises in them. You may wish to try them to get a little bit of Italy in your garden.

No, you do not pay for water from a well. Depending how your system is plumbed you can use it for everything except drinking. Its is very difficult to get authority to have a direct feed to the kitchen from a well. As in England water to the kitchen is normally is a direct feed from the water company. To get permission to have a direct feed from the well to the kitchen the water must meet very high standards (analyses are normally carried by labs).

You buy water in the same way as in England from the water company. Restrictions on the use of hoses apply in the same way when there is a severe drought. Because it is so hot and dry in summer even if there were no restrictions it would cost you a fortune to water your garden from the tap.

Weed killers and pesticides are used in abundance.

[QUOTE=gardener]so all the water you use everyday, such as for bathing, washing hands, cooking, come from the well?[/QUOTE]

Yes every single drop of water we use comes from our well! However it is FILTERED for house use. It is safe to drink, though we also use a lot of bottled fizzy water. For watering the garden it is possible to turn off the filter and a flashing light warns you that this is so, therefore not to use water in the house during this time.

If all the water you use come from the well, does that mean you do not pay for water from a water company? Do you share the well with other household? Do you have to pay for the water from the well. What if there is a drought and the well dry up? Do you then have to pay for water from a water company?

We live out in the country and our only source of water is from our own private well. If there is ever a drought and the well dries up, unlikely we have been told as it is 50 metres deep, we would have to rely on public fountain for water(drinkable)until it rained again, or we had another well sunk. The water from the public fountain is also free and you see many people collecting their drinking water from it.
Hope your project is going well and that you are getting lots of info from the forum.

[QUOTE=serge]

Weed killers and pesticides are used in abundance.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for all the replies thusfar. It has been really helpful. As stated earlier, pesticides and weed killers are used in abundance. I was wondering why exactly. For instance, what kind of weeds or pests are most prevalent in Italy for treatment to be needed? Also, are all types of plants affected or are there just specific plants that are affected by the pests? If so, what are the major pests or weeds that target these plants? Once again, thank you for all the responses we have received and will receive!

Talking with a friend who'd lived in Italy the subjects of gardening came up.Her experience was that Italians will spend a lot of time and money on looking fantastic but they are not as obsessed as we are by homes and gardens and really only regard their patch of land in terms of its practical use.As mentioned composting is unknown although I'm sure it will become more popular.

I have spent all day today working on my allotment in Cornwall thinking of all the things I will be able to grow and harvest in Italy!

Becky