Challenges

Starting to garden in Umbria I began to realise how many challenges we have to face here. Unfamiliar pests and diseases can catch us unawares. The battle with wildlife who want to share in the land and destroy our gardening attempts in the process. The local flora seems intent on swamping our gardens with weeds - if that is what we consider these invasive species to be - and the vagaries of the seasons mean that sometimes, with the best will in the world things just don’t work out. We ourselves often make mistakes - or at least I do - but sometimes our lack of skill can result in something unexpectedly lovely.