sergnic - what part of Italy are you living in? Are you in the city or out in a rural area? I see mentioned in, "your page" that you are a botanist. I am very interested in more input from you concerning the types of figs grown in different parts of Italy. I have been there quite a few times. Many in the spring of the year when the figs where not ready to eat. I had to fill up on the Nespoli. My family has a farm in the Cilento, Campania area just south of Palinuro a sea coast town called Marina di Camerota, Italy. There are many different type of figs and other fruit growing there. This year we are planning a September trip. I should be able to get my fill of ripe figs during this seasion. I plan to ask what the names of the trees are take photos of them and also have a notebook to write down what my relatives tell me about the figs and other type fruit trees they are growing. My one uncle even has some sort of banana tree growing in his yard. How I wish I could take along home with me just small rooted trees of all sorts. Living in northeastern Pennsylvania Zone 5 makes it a bit rough but I still would like to try other trees I have seen growing there. I know other people using this forum would feel that way as welI. I have seen what some people have told me was a grape vine that they called a, "strawberry grape". Are you familiar with that type of fruit? I will be looking forward to whatever you can contribute concerning the questions I posed to you. Regards and thank you Tanti saluti Lou NE., PA

A nice common sense article helping folks to grow better plants as well as avoiding excess fertilizations. The area has lots of poor draining clay soils; when I was there I found that organic additions made a big difference in plant performance, and reduced puddles. Years ago I dug an area of the garden down over two feet, and put in pure organic materials, including logs. I replaced all of the soil on top, leading to a raised bed. Over the years I lived there the raised bed sunk back down, but even 21 years later the area I dug was clearly a better place for plants than the rest of the yard. No additional organic matter was added over that time. Renais

http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12459

https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/monsantos-mess-four-signs-consumers-are-winning