Best Italian Pinot Grigio

I took the train to Milan last week, and was as usual impressed by the enormous agricultural activity in the Po river valley. Like California, Italy exports a lot of rice to Asia, but Germany, France and England are the largest consumers of Italian rice.

I think not being kept in a backyard also makes the dogs of Rapallo friendlier because they don't develop territorial protection tendencies. I suppose the one bad feature of having so many dogs in Rapallo is that not infrequently some owner fails to clean...

It's focused on articles of interest to people who are growing and producing food as a personal business— mostly hard-nosed discussions about topics related to financial success for small farmers.

In the meanwhile, I'm thinking of wearing a hardhat when working in the garden. We had an unexpected visitor in the garden this week, in the form of a large rock that just appeared by itself on a small flat area near the northern edge.

They are visually appealing and are planted as memorial trees or to line a driveway, to provide privacy, to act as a wind barrier or to beautify a lawn. They grow well in zones 5 to 7, which are environments that receive a minimum temperature of minus...

The owner of the Ape in the photo is a local small farmer. Now's that's true agricultural chic! The handlebar and seat of the scooter are enclosed in a little cabin, and the truck bed behind is about three feet by four feet.

It contains the alkaloid poison, lycorine. Veronica, derived from the Latin form of "Bernice," comes from the ecclesiastical Latin phrase meaning "true image."Derived from the Italian words "rosa," meaning "rose," and "bella," which translates to "beautiful,"...

When I moved to Italy, my largest packing crates were filled with tools. Excellent tools, made to last a lifetime I thought. The steel on my blacksmith tools has never given way though; somewhat surprising considering the huge amount of rough use I've...

I imagine that next year I'll have even more poppies, and the hillside garden will be completely covered with red flowers. This plant, Papaver rhoeas , is a southern Mediterranean native plant that has spread north.

Once the plants grow into each other, mulch around the edges of the plot. It blooms in late spring to early summer with tiny, bell-shaped pink or white flowers. Italian heather, also called Mediterranean heather or Darley heath, is a low-growing evergreen...

Still today, three months after my appearance on television, every few weeks someone stops me on the street in Rapallo and says “Hey, I saw you on Channel 5!” A number of people have wanted to talk to me about the olive press equipment.

While Italian food varies from region to region, there are certainly a few basic herb staples that no self respecting Italian cook would leave out of their own home garden. Soon you will be having the entire family saying “Buon Appetito!”

Keep competitive weeds away from the bed, as they steal nutrients and moisture from the plants.as the primary insect pests. What is an Italian sweet pepper? Other Italian sweet pepper uses include their ability to stew well, remain firm in stir fries,...

(I'm a botanist from California, so of course I've experienced similar anguish about my hand in some plant deaths.) When I was writing the article for the ASPCA about good rabbit enclosures, I needed to build a new version of my “Rabbitat” in order...

Richard and I are both fans of the hot sausage sandwiches available at these fairs, and we're both known to occasionally purchase delicacies from the exotic salami booths. Richard and his wife have a really nice home and small farm in the hills near the...

The flesh is thinner than, and with few seeds, they're perfect for slicing and frying. To enjoy an earlier harvest, start seeds indoors eight weeks early. Set a stake into the ground near the plant and tie the stalk of the plant to the sake loosely with...

They were imported into this country for ornamental purposes. They can grow happily in clay, in sand, in chalk or in loam as long as the The cultivar ‘Revolutum' is a popular, fast-growing choice for flower borders and beds.freestar.queue.push(function()...

If you do decide to prune or trim the tree, this should be accomplished in the winter season, basically October through January. Hardy to USDA plant hardiness zone 8, this pine doesn't tolerate lower temperatures happily.

The tree produces its best growth when grown in full sunlight.Italian stone pine thrives in well draining soils with low pH levels. The tree is not susceptible to many diseases however, and is resistant to verticillium wilt.

Unlike in the United States, mapos are abundant in Italy. The most famous use of mapo is now the Sicilian liqueur named Mapo Mapo, a sweet, peach -colored aperitif that tastes just fine.

'Romanesco' gets excellent reviews, as does the similarly striped and slightly ribbed 'Striata d'Italia.' However, zucchini has been widely hybridized for American gardens as well, and you may prefer those that are more compact growing or bear fruit without...

Also adding vibrant color to hot summer afternoons, coneflower "Magnus" (Echinacea purpurea "Magnus") bears dark-centered, rosy purple, daisylike flowers early through late summer.

Fill to about 1/2 inch from the rim. Some varieties of Italian cypress may be recognized by their slender, pencil-like growth that reaches heights of up to 80 feet, but rarely are more than approximately 8 feet in diameter.

Text & Photos by Rick Gush It might not seem like farms in Italy have much to do with American farmers. Luckily, farmers have been piling up rocks for a few thousand years in Italy, and modern farmers can take advantage of the many terraces made years...

This 6- to 12-inch tall plant has sturdy, slender stems topped with flat, deeply divided leaves. Cut off any blooms as they occur, as this will cause the plant to seed and leaf production to diminish.

Feel free to pinch back the Italian cypress tree's new growth to control shape, though this is rarely necessary.Repot your Italian cypress tree every one to two years, during the mid-summer, to replenish the soil's nutrients.

If planted in sandy coastal areas, they require little care, but can be susceptible to insects and disease when growing in heavy, wet soils inland.In areas with dry summers and wet winters, it's a good idea to plant Italian cypresses in fall to give them...