Coriander

Witness to the exceptionally mild winter this coriander planted last year is a metre tall. And despite a wet May the month is still registering a +0.6C anomaly in Italy.

The seesaw temps and soil moisture have made sowing difficult. Too wet and borlotti and cannellini get stuck under a soil crust and don’t shoot away. Too dry and little germinates.

I need to start laying out the drip irrigation pipes. One could lay them before sowing but they get in the way of hoeing operations. Temp got up to 29.5C today and plants were passing their wilting point. As was I.

The indefatigables at the garden machinery workshop had the mower fixed on a jury rigged traction cable, if you will. I’m thinking I need to replace in a new machine. The model I use has been redesigned with bigger back wheels and a new side grass shoot that hopefully is less prone to incredibly irritating clogging. I’m getting a sense that there is a shift away from ubiquitous and not always trouble free grass mulching cutters. Works for a suburban lawn but not for rough cutting.

The extras show how quickly the rich-looking soil here turns to a compacted hard pan without a lot of hoeing. And the delightfully named Tasteless Stonecrop in early sun. 13km of walking/cutting/walking today.