Photo by Rick Gush
I spend my afternoons pick trombetti and datterini for my homemade lunch .
Here is my typical day : I rally up to our building on my scoter , wax up to the cliff garden and reap a few things for luncheon , and then climb back down to the street and take the air up the step to our home on the third floor — which is call the 2d story here in Italy , the ground level being calledpiano terra , literally undercoat level — to corrode my bounty .
Yes , it ’s overnice . I really enjoy not hold a car , andharvesting fruitfor luncheon is even more fun than take on golf . I am scoring big family political points because my wife , sister - in - law , mother - in - police and niece are all quite enthusiastic about the reappearance of the freshtomatoesand squash .
These datterini ( little dates ) tomato are essentially a type of cherry tomato plant . The yield acquire in clumps of as much as a 12 , ripening variably within the clump . The plant are particularly vigorous , and I essay in vain to keep them on 8 - foot stakes . I also plantdatterininear the edges of wall , from which they cascade .
Datterini seem to really wish former planting . I ca n’t explicate why , but flora from the same grower , set out a month later than the first , never seem to show the same flagitious maturation as the early plantings .
I ordinarily use plastic bottle bodies as cloches to protect the yield from grave rainfall and cold , but last year I begin cutting the bottoms off 1 - gallon meth jugs , which make deluxe little cold systema skeletale . I ca n’t hold back until I ’ve take in a few dozen of those jug .
Thesquashshown in the photo are the trombetti ( little trumpets ) that I ’m so evangelical about . I ’ll bet I ’ve send more than 100 packets of trombetti source to citizenry in the United States . I find this squash even easier to grow than courgette , and the flavor is cracking ! I always leave a few to become monster — up to 4 understructure foresighted and 3 column inch broad . These can be keep for uptake as wintertime squeeze .
The awkward stop with this squash is that they curl up into round shapes if they ’re get on the land . If they are allowed to attend , however , the vines produce much straight fruits that are easier to cook .
Luckily , the drop-off garden offers lots of position where the trombetti can be planted on overhead trellises so the fruit will flow down . It cracks me up , but I find it emotionally satisfying to accomplish up and pick trombetti andcucumbersas if they weregrapeson an arbor . I think the cumulative pleasure of harvesting fruit hang up overhead for an upcoming lunch or dinner and carrying them home in my scooter helmet is a big part of why I care to garden . It ’s a lifestyle option with which I am quite well-fixed .
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