Italian Garden Design

Jobs for the Autumn in the Italian garden

Italian gardens during the Autumn period begin to adopt a totally different aspect as the leaves on the deciduous fall, revealing the strong, evergreen structure, so symbolic of the classic Italian style garden. It is in this period that the walls or skeleton of the garden is finally revealed and all that essential initial designing begins to underline the importance of good planning. Evergreen hedges, topiary (plants pruned into shapes) and cypress trees now become the stars of the show and prevent the Italian garden from slipping into the sadness of the winter months.
In the midst of all this slowing down and transformation there are certain plants that are now able to show off their true value within the Italian garden. Pomegranates now bear their red fruits, hanging like Arabian jewels against the butter yellow background of their autumnal foliage. This plant has been traditionally used to symbolize the entrance to gardens in Arabic countries and thus the pomegranate was adopted by the Romans as their empire expanded into North Africa. The pomegranate is perfectly suited to being planted in large vases and its canopy can be kept to an adequate shape and size by pruning in January.
The leaves of the tree liquidambar styraciflua now shine like bright yellow stars as do the twirling branches of wisteria sinensis, just a few short months after dazzling with their blue or white flowers in the spring. As these leaves begin to drop towards the end of October they should be collected and stored in a compost area, preferably within a wooden frame thats large enough to house all of the fallen leaves from the garden. Removing the leaves from lawn areas is particularly essential as the leaves can contain toxic tannins that will harm and ultimately kill of the areas where they gather, leaving bare patches of dead lawn. The stored leaves will provide the bulk of the organic matter (or compost) so vital for mulching or conditioning the soil.
Lawns should now be treated with a potassium based fertilizer that will aid the growth of the lawns root system, thus preventing yellowing in the summer. At the same time lawns should receive a hard raking with a lawn rake or scarifying machine to remove the dead grass and moss (thatch). Immediately after this a mixture of fine sand and compost (top-dressing) should be applied to a depth of around 0.5 of an inch over the whole lawn area. This top dressing is essential as it allows the surface root system of the grass to establish a strong root network for the following summer and the organic matter (compost) will be dragged underground by soil organisms where it will be transformed into humus, that vital soil component.
Bare patches present in the lawns should be re-seeded and covered with a layer of well-rotted compost to aid seed germination. Dahlia tubers should now be removed, dried and placed in sawdust, sand or newspaper where they can be stored in a dry frost-free shed until re-planting in the early spring.

At the first sign of frosts any lemon , orange or other citrus trees should now be moved into a greenhouse. Shed or even a garage to avoid the frosts of winter and a final spray of copper sulphate and a reduction in watering to a minimum will prevent any fungal infections during their storage.

With everything taken into consideration, the autumn is a very busy period in the typical Italian garden.

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