Le
Ripe has been undergoing some changes over the past months. A no-man's
land has been graced with steps, a broken drystone wall is being
replaced, a vegetable patch is gradually transforming into a hortus conclusus, a lawn has been sown, a new vegetable patch is to be established.
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The lawn or prato inglese as our helper Paolo likes to call it, entailed a massive job of stone-harvesting, the bulk of which we completed in one back-breaking session. Sowing the seeds was a doddle by comparison. The daily watering has been handled by a chief hose-master who has been extremely assiduous. |
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We have finally found builders willing to lay a drystone wall; it will run along the back of the orchard where once the farmers had made their own wall. The stone comes partly from the old wall but mostly from near Greve; our stone is called alberese, this one colombino or, simply, pietra dura, hard stone. More on this when it is completed. |
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The new steps made with railway sleepers, and an attractive river-pebble gravel over a cement and rock aggregate called stabilizzato and non-woven fabric to protect from weeds. Here the (mostly aromatic) plants are in place. |
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view of steps from below; note large iron nails hammered in horizontally to fix the sleepers in place |
These are big jobs, jobs for landscape gardeners and professional drystone masons, but we have done our part too.
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hortus conclusus in former vegie patch with tufa edgings to beds; the roses are a temporary planting until we decide how formal we want to go |
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roses, lettuces and tomato plants for the nonce |
The plantings are in their infancy, the wall is still unfinished, the new lawn is tender, the hortus awaits its final formal planting; however we thought a progress report might be welcome.
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looking from new steps towards orchard, drystone wall and the area of our future vegie patch! |
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Re prato inglese: I recall its former state, and now it looks so beautifully smooth, civilised and eminently suited to elegant garden parties, of champagne-swilling high-society types! Le Ripe moves up a notch on the social calendar?
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