indiebird

Aha! They just call that Lardo here. Could you not just melt that down?

Lorna at Vicenza

Too expensive for the birds.

indiebird

True.

bricwood

Robin completely unperturbed came back and eat the bread , now looking for insects I will have to see what I can give him

angeli

Maybe Lardo on toast would be good B, or maybe a large toad or army of soldier ants........

bricwood

I am afraid out of lardo, not sure I would buy it anyway, my robin is very cheeky could give him some parmigiano birds like cheese only other thing is I have some frankfurters he can have, soldier ants only come out when its very hot the sound of there marching keeps me awake, why cant they remove there boots?

bricwood

just got my rosebarni catalogue , would be easy to spend a fortune with them, not only roses

angeli

Glad you got it, some nice things, want a lilac here, cant get one in hand luggage so will ask at market tomorrow....nice plant man there does not know what half his stock is....labels it 'il misterio' so always good to check him out first.....the 'Guaiabo del Brasile' (back page) looks most exotic !!!

bricwood

my garden is only small so I want nice things in it and replace the firs with roses its cold here so I did not painting but made a slideshow this is my garden or courtyard http://server3.inalbum.com/ia30/show...tml?1295523991

angeli

Small is good and garden appears to have lots of potential....... So close to the sea is glorious 10 months of the year but sure you do have wild and windy days. When growing up we had house that backed onto beach and had to choose carefully what to plant considering the salty spray and high winds.. Not sure about red cover to well, maybe black or dark blue better but all down to personel choice.... Like pomegranate tree. Here garden full of flag iris's as previous owner (english) lived near nursery with National collection so in late spring looks iris'tastic'........

PAT M

Nice garden with lots of potential Bricwood, the previous owners here had two large dogs who had the run of the place so there were no flowers or pots only fir trees and lemon and orange trees which we have kept. We have filled a border with several different shrubs and loads of geraniums and ibicus in pots, the roses that came over on the furniture lorry survived but they don't seem to flourish. I see other gardens with lovely roses so the climate is OK. We have discovered that hydrangeas don't like being in the sun here so we have put them in shady places. We have a flat roof and my OH has put some grapevines and fig trees up there in pots.

davehornet6

wasnt sure about olive trees so had a scout online.
there are decorative varieties i think, that do not fruit.
if they havent started producing fruit after 3 years then they may not. pruning wouldn't hurt.
also they ideally need to be in free draining soil any soil is ok, facing south in full sun.
if it gets cold, i.e below -6 then they may need frost protection, although some are tolerant down to -13 or so.
if they were grown from seed from another tree 'apparently' they may be only good for firewood.
GRunny sounds delightful would never have thought of that in a million years.will have to try that soon
coffee cat likes horlicks too. gf had some last night, i didnt know it was horlicks and noticed cat was drinking it from the cup, i thought it was coffee and laughed loads

angeli

thanks for that.....dont think grown from seed but how would I know...are thay usually grown from a cutting or grafted....cant see graft anywhere.....They do face south and have good drainage and I have tweeked and pruned every winter to shape as had read they need to be open centred to allow small birds to fly through....They were, before pruning this yr approx 7 - 8' tall and sure they would have been bought from local consorzio / plant place as dont go in for ornamental stuff here if not a geranium it has to be productive....
Cats are strange creatures, yours more so than most but if they make you thats good....Mine likes to drink water from a glass which always makes people chuckle when they see his feeding / watering station..... Have found secret stash of well composted leafmould so dug barrowloads and put on veg patch...guess who's claimed it as new toilet...have had to cover with mesh...ho hum all good fun

davehornet6

i think they are mostly taken from woody cutting.
forgot italians arent interested unless you can eat it

its a shame cat doo-doo isnt god for the soil.
maybe if we raised cats to eat grass, veg.
um! no forget that. digging around my veg for a loo is bad enough but eating it would be a 'last thing you ever do cat' offence

bricwood

I went to brico to get some compost and a lot of the seeds I brought from England are on sale even russel lupins! cheap too , update on morning glory my neighbour did know what I meant its called "ipomea o campanella" bought some in pink, also got some radish seeds and cucumbers seeds, when I first moved here everything that could go wrong did now I am settling in I love it, people here really are friendly and helpful, I am so keen to get going I planted some stuff too early and its been close to a frost at night something I had not bargained with, I was still sunbathing up till Christmas and in a fools paradise , the wind here at times is unbelievable and I have never seem rain like it, to drive in the rain here would be impossible so what happens if you drive somewhere and it rains for ten hours I don't know and hope I dont find out