Growing up in La Valle dei Mulini Gragnano in the region of Campania situated in Southern Italy, INSEASON’s new Garden Editor, Franco Sessa, could not have had a more perfect childhood.
Learning about the seasons and gardening with memories of old traditions handed down through his family, he has brought these lessons with him to his backyard garden in Torbay, Auckland.
“I am now using that passion to grow fruit and vegetables for my family and share the abundance with friends,” he says.
A perfect gardener for INSEASON, Franco is full of hands-on experience, tips and tricks to get the very best from your backyard plot.
Each season he will look at different solutions for your garden in growing the best crops and harvesting them, so more time can be spent with family and friends.
Franco’s water-saving tips
- Terracotta pots are great to display on our patios, but the porosity of the terracotta allows moisture in the soil to evaporate quickly. Group terracotta pots together to keep them cooler as they will cast shade on each other.
- Coolers and chilly bins. After parties and barbecues, there is often melted ice left in chilly bins. Do not waste it! Fill your watering can with it. Salt ice, used for fishing is not ideal though.
- Plastic bottles can be pierced at the base and buried upright in the soil next to vegetable plants with the opening standing a few centimetres above the ground. Once filled with water, they will drip-feed plants for days.
Get more gardening tips and delicious recipes in INSEASON Autumn
Franco, shares his guide to growing your own autumn garden with tips that will get soup pots bubbling all over the country in our latest issue of INSEASON.
