Don't throw away those old socks!

Now that the family 'padrino', my father-in-law, has seen and complimented our efforts in the garden, the first thing that he wanted to give me were some ties for our tomato plants. Yes, the assortment of tomatoes that I started from seed are all producing flowers and fruit! If they continue in their natural stages of development without interference from the dogs, I should have a lot of pomodoro "firsts" in this part of Italy.

But getting back to those ties... My father-in-law gave us a little bag which contained these curious cloth rings. He recycles old socks by cutting the calf part into bands (I'm guessing about 3/4 inch or 2 cm) and puts them through the washer to achieve these end results. All that's left to do is to snip the soft ring and voila! Instant tomato bush ties that allow for the stem to expand with no risk of harming the plant. Added plus, the uncut rings also doubles as a quick ponytail holder when I'm working in the garden!

Mole be gone!

Ma cos'è questa pianta? (What is this plant?) I think my father-in-law already knows that whenever I show a keen interest in something, it means that I want to take it home with me. He didn't have any idea what the botanical name was, only that it was the scappa talpa plant. The plant that made moles want to pack up leave. Earlier on, we had been transplanting a few young Thessaloniki tomato bushes in the garden, a gift that I wanted to give my inlaws since I had started way too many to fit into my own garden. Of course this little planting session did not go without free advice on how to properly water the newcomers to his orto (garden).

“Don't pour water from the top! Water below. Water on the leaves acts like a magnifying glass in the sun. It'll make too much heat on the leaves, you understand?” he says with a smile in his eyes.

Back again to the scappa talpa plant, he told me that 10 years ago his yard was full of moles - and holes. My mother-in-law chimed in at the mention of the holes, “sono pericolosi!” (they're dangerous!). A neighbor had given them a young plant and from then on, moles be gone! But still to this day, they only refer to the bush as scappa talpa. Scappa from the verb scappare (to escape) and talpa (mole). So far we haven't had any visits from the tunnel-excavating critters, but I couldn't resist doing a bit of sleuthing on the net, and what did I find? A plant species called Euphorbia lathyrus, otherwise known as the Gopher Purge or Mole Plant.

Not bad for just 15 minutes of digging around...