FOOD + WINE, LIFESTYLE
Orto life: what vegetable gardening taught me about myself
Alexandra Korey
April 12, 2021 - 9:15
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Last summer, I had a no-commitment opportunity to try my hand at vegetable gardening at a shared plot across town. It was a brief, long-distance relationship that suffered from my partial lack of commitment and my total lack of knowledge. I won’t say that it brought zero satisfaction—to continue the dating metaphor, there were a few euphoric moments—but heck, it’s a whole lot of work. To use a literally translated Italian expression, perhaps “the game isn’t worth the candle” (il gioco non vale la candela).
![](https://www.theflorentine.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cavolonero03-680x454.jpg)
My short stint as an organic gardener began when the strict lockdown was lifted. Anything that required daily outdoor attention seemed like a great idea, but the novelty of waking up at 7am to deal with a shovel and water throughout a hot, dry July got old quickly. Let’s just be happy I didn’t take on a greater commitment, like getting a dog. I am generally a responsible person, but taking care of my vegetables was only really a pleasure when I had proper time to do so. I would have preferred to be outside digging than inside typing, but this proved incompatible with a full-time job. Maybe I liked the idea of growing my own vegetables more than actually doing so.
I also tend to be someone who thinks ahead, but apparently gardens require as much advance planning as a fashion collection. It turns out you have to think about zucchini and eggplant while your cavolo nero is thriving. You need your own vegetable-dojo to guide you on your gardening path, which I lacked, so I planted my summer vegetables, you know, in the summer. I had some success with lovely zucchini and a few heads of delicious lettuce made it to my table, but the tomatoes, planted way too late, never ripened and the eggplants were the size of my pinky finger. If I factored in the gas cost driving across Florence to water the plants and my time at a reasonable hourly rate, growing a salad for lunch cost about 700 euro. This certainly makes one hyper-aware of food waste.
![vegetable gardening](https://www.theflorentine.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/vegetable-gardening-florence-680x451.jpg)
Visions of abundant rarities such as sweet potatoes, rhubarb for pies, coriander for everything and parsnips for soup were dashed by the hard reality of clay-based soil. Let’s face it: I might have had more success asking the sugar plum fairy to hand-deliver these treats to me, given the likelihood that said crops would grow on this Tuscan plot. I thought these items were simply not to Italians’ liking and was sure that the Mediterranean sun would allow anything to flourish. I have always found it curious that there are palm trees in Florence, so would I not be right to assume?
I haven’t entirely given up on the idea of eating the fruits of my labour, but I have learned a few hard truths: maybe I am just not cut out for orto life.
Going green-fingered: growing your own vegetables in Florence
Should you decide to give orto life a go—and by all means do—find a solution close to home and with an appropriate level of support for your knowledge and skill.
Beginner: Orti Dipinti
Orti Dipinti
Open weekday mornings, this community garden, Orti Dipinti on borgo Pinti is a good place to hang out and enjoy an orto without digging your own. Workshops are available for groups with advance booking.
Intermediate: OVA – Orto Verde Animali
OVA is an organic space on via Senese (Due Strade) is currently developing a project of shared orti. They offer free visits to their animals and the possibility to purchase vegetables grown by them when your own don’t thrive.
Intermediate: Fattoria del Rocio
Fattoria del Rocio
In Le Cure, Il Roscio is an easygoing solution for a slice of earth and community of like-minded gardeners, guided and assisted by a simpatico group of young guys who are passionate about orti and chickens (who could blame them?).
Orti sociali comunali / If you’re a retired resident of one of the quartieri of Florence, get your name on a waiting list for a piece of earth to cultivate that comes with a free social club for the elderly, and probably much advice, too.
This article was published in Issue 277 of The Florentine.
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