Hi...am in Venice and have a garden...know absolutely nothing...can anyone recommend a book I can get in english for begginers...like when to water, where to plant, what to cut...etc...thanks

Can't speak for US guides, but if you go to Amazon and search 'RHS Practical Guides' you'll get a whole load of little paperbacks published by the British Royal Horticultural Society. Each is on a specific garden subject...they're cheap...really well illustrated...excellent for beginners and because each is on an individual garden subject, you can just pick out what interests you.

If you want something that tells you every aspect of gardening from a-z, go for the RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening. This is a weighty volume - but again it's very well illustrated and covers pretty much everything you'll ever need.

I second those suggestions. Luckily a friend here has them so I can borrow them.

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RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening.

DeeBee

Does this cover growing vegetables?

I took a look at these books and have a question for those who have used them. Would the big book cover in depth things like pruning, pests, and planting or would I be better off getting the individual books? Also, does it have planting zones like in the states so that you can pick the zone you live in? Or would something that is written for England also work for Italy in terms of times of year to plant, prune, fertilize and so on? We live in northern Marche so I am looking for something that would help me out! Thanks, Sz

Italy has more weather extremes than England, Sz, so an English planting guide isn't really going to help except in the most general terms. Italy also has more, for want of a better term, microclimates. Your best bet for planting times would be to ask around locally.

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Originally posted by Sz:
I took a look at these books and have a question for those who have used them. Would the big book cover in depth things like pruning, pests, and planting or would I be better off getting the individual books? Also, does it have planting zones like in the states so that you can pick the zone you live in? Or would something that is written for England also work for Italy in terms of times of year to plant, prune, fertilize and so on? We live in northern Marche so I am looking for something that would help me out! Thanks, Sz

The principles of gardening remain the same, whether you're in US, UK or Italy, so I'd still stand by the big RHS books which do indeed cover every conceivable aspect of gardening.

But as they're written primarily for a UK audience, the 'when to do' instructions won't apply to Italy. As Graeme says ask around - and see what's growing - and when - in neighbours' gardens. From my vast experience of 7 months in southern Abruzzo, plant growth seems to be anything up to 6 weeks ahead of what it would be in my former area of SW England.

And unfortunately, Italy will probably have exciting new pests neither you nor I have come across before !

Fungal problems for tomatoes are a killer here. Even worse than in Sydney, humidity capital of the Milky Way, and I have no idea why. And the only counter applied here is copper, which, while technically organic, leaves a lot to be desired in many ways. Sadly, the best weapon against fungal problems, chlorothalonil, is either unheard of or available only in zillion litre containers for commercial use. Bummer.

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Originally posted by Graeme:
Fungal problems for tomatoes are a killer here. Even worse than in Sydney, humidity capital of the Milky Way, and I have no idea why. And the only counter applied here is copper, which, while technically organic, leaves a lot to be desired in many ways. Sadly, the best weapon against fungal problems, chlorothalonil, is either unheard of or available only in zillion litre containers for commercial use. Bummer.

I'm amazed. I'd have thought the tomato was the one guaranteed trouble-free plant.

Far from. My seedlings, waiting to go into the ground, are already showing problems. That's why you'll see every tomato plant in Italy virtually painted blue. It's copper spray.

I am pretty much hopeless when it comes to gardening. In the San Diego area I had good luck with tomatoes, but not much else. Never knew when (or how) to prune or fertilize anything. Here, my tomatoes are dismal, the peppers had lots of blossoms but not one pepper, and the roses are doing badly! Our parsley, however, is still alive even though our basil and sage died a few months after planting. I need a lot of help. If the encyclopedia book is very detailed, maybe I will go with that and just figure on planting as soon as I seed plants for sell? Thanks, Sz

Sz, the cheapest and quickest gardening encyclopedia these days is Google. There are vast numbers of specialist sites with very detailed information on absolutely everything.

Tomatoes and peppers are just about identical in terms of handling, needs and requirements. They also suffer exactly the same problems. The keys are:

(1) they don't need rich soil. Any reasonable soil with a bit of compost or a couple of shovelfuls of compost or terriccio (for orto, not for fiori) dug in will suffice;

(2) the growing spot is most important. They need, preferably, 6 or more hours of full sunlight a day;

(3) try to allow at least 3 feet between plants to allow for air circulation which will help against fungal problems;

(4) when you plant the seedlings, take off all the leaves and branches up to the top couple, and plant the seedling deeply so that only the top leaves are visible above ground. All of the stem that's buried underground will develop into root structure;

(5) most importantly, don't over-fertilise or over-water. They thrive on tough love. Fertilise once, a couple of weeks after planting, and again a couple of months later. Don't use a fertiliser that's high in nitrogen. That could be why you didn't get beyond blossoms on your peppers. Even on peppers, use a commercial tomato fertiliser - low in nitrogen - or even a commercial rose fertiliser which has virtually the same properties as tomato fertiliser.

Water only when the plants require it rather than by habit. Even if the plants look like they're wilting in the heat of the day, wait till the sun goes down. If they perk up again, they're all right. If they're still looking a bit sad, water. Watering very deeply periodically is better than frequent light watering. Deep watering encourages the roots down deep into the soil. Frequent light watering keeps the roots near the surface.

As the plants grow, nip off the bottom branches and foliage to maintain a space of at least 18" between the soil and the lowest foliage. Fungal spores gather on the soil beneath the plants and can be splashed up onto the plant when watering. The space between soil and lowest foliage helps guard against this.

They're the basics. Have another go this summer.

Graeme--thank you so much for all of the advice. I just planted tomato seeds yesterday (probably should have started earlier) and will probably also buy some plants. Will give it another go. The ground around here is mostly clay and last year I added potting soil to it. My peppers didn't get 6 hours of sun, but the tomatoes did. They seemed to wilt on a daily basis. I thought maybe the soil wasn't holding the moisture so I watered a little daily. I will try to do more deep watering this year! Thanks again. Sz

It takes six to eight weeks from sewing tomato seed to putting the seedling into the ground, so you should have a nice autumn crop from that lot.

Invest in a couple of 70L bags of terriccio (for orto). It's about €7 for a 70L bag. Dig it in, down to about three feet, and about three feet across. Mix in some of the clay with it. Wait a few weeks till it warms up, especially at night - you need at least double-figure temps overnight - and buy some seedlings. And remember, more tomato plants are lost from over-feeding and over-watering than from neglect.

so is terriccio the same as potting soil? I've never noticed one that said for orto--should I go somewhere special for that?

Another question. Our neighbor gave us a small potted rosemary plant after I told him I wasn't going to move the one we planted in the ground. It is about a foot high, but has only one small second branch at the bottom. Is it too late to try and take off some from the top in order to help it get branches? I could just buy one as they are cheap, but I don't want to hurt his feelings!

He also gave us a gangly looking pine tree that is in a pot. When should it be put in the ground and what can I do to help it get more branches, if anything. Thanks, Sz

Your nearest agricola should have terriccio for orto. I don't think it actually declares itself on the bag. It's a soil improver more than a potting mix. Garden centres or nurseries tend to have stuff more suited to flowers.

Is the rosemary staying in the pot or going into the ground? I'd just leave it. Rosemary doesn't take much encouragement to develop.

Now's as good a time as any to plant the pine before the weather warms up too much. If it's been in the pot for a while, it's likely to be pot bound. Take the tree out of the pot. If the roots have developed in a circular fashion around the inside of the pot, try to separate and straighten them as much as you can. You can afford to be tough with them.

Dig a hole bigger than the root mass that comes out of the pot. Fill in the bottom of the hole and around the sides with as good soil as you can find. You want the good soil around and in contact with the roots. Put the tree into the hole and spread the roots inside the hole. Keep it around the same depth it was in the pot. In other words, where the trunk emerged from the soil in the pot should be where it emerges from the ground.

Fill in the hole around the tree. Use a garden fork or something similar to pack the soil well down into the hole, getting rid of any air pockets. Then give it a very good drink. For ease of future watering, you could leave the surface around the tree saucer-shaped to minimise run off and wasted water.

Oh, and remember that the thing is likely, eventually, to grow into something pretty big. Bear that in mind when you pick your planting spot.

EDIT. Ooops! Forgot to add that you'll need to stake the young pine. Get your hands on a sturdy timber stake up to about 6' in height. Something at least 2"x2". Then get your hands on a strip of something hard-wearing, like marine canvas, long enough to wrap around both the stake and the tree, and about 3 or 4 inches wide.

Best to drive the stake into the ground after you've dug the hole and before you plant the tree. Otherwise you risk damaging the roots with the stake. Nail one end of the material securely to the stake. Gauge the height by resting the tree in place.

Put the tree into place in the hole in the ground. After you've filled in the hole, et al, wrap the material around the tree - in a figure eight if you like - and take it back to the stake and secure it with another couple of nails. You don't want the stake hard up against the tree. Tied up hard against the stake, the tree won't develop its own strength to support itself. Leave enough space for the tree to move about 6 inches within its support.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Graeme,

Thanks again for the help. If we are not able to plant before it gets too warm (if that ever happens!) should we do it in the fall or wait until next spring?

Also, I was cutting back the dead branches on my hanging geranium and found lots of small (maybe 1/2 in) pinkish worms/caterpillars. I didn't find any on them last year. I threw them off of them, but should I do more?

Thanks, Sz

Autumn - what I call fall - would be fine.

The caterpillars you can either pick off, hose off with a jet of water, or spray them. If you don't want to go the chemical route, you could mix up a garlic spray which works well against everything from caterpillars to aphids.

Garlic Spray:

Soak 100g chopped garlic for at least 24 hours in 30ml Paraffin Oil. Add 500ml water with 5ml liquid soap and stir well to emulsify the oil. The liquid soap shouldn't be the commercial detergent type but the pure form. You should find it in pharmacies or health food-type stores. Store the mixture in a sealed, labelled jar.

To spray, dilute 30ml of the mixture in 500ml of water.

Sincere thanks Graeme, rarely have I read such practical and lengthy advice about gardening in Italy. The Garlic insecticide recipe of particular value.

sorry i'm late to this thread but i find D.G. Hessayon books very helpful. Just do a google & you'll see all the books.

i've found a simple solution to caterpillars is... finding out what you've got growing in your garden first! One year i was growing cabbages as part of my crop rotation scheme & soon found the garden crawling with 100s of Cabbage white caterpillars! No amount of complimentary planting (garlic, lavander etc. to repel insects) had any effect, well not when you're overwhelm like this!

Another year i had a sachet of nematodes for slug control & mixed it with water & poured it all over the garden. The slugs were wiped out but i was left with a thick pea soup haze of nematodes hovering all over my garden for a few weeks! luckily they went off looking for more slugs elsewhere.

Here's a good natural fertilizer, grab a big bunch of stinging nettles & submerge them in a bucket of water for a few days. The brown smelly solution is rich in nitrogen.