Italian Garden

So, when we were in Italy we went to the super glamorous and chic hotel San Michele outside of Florence. After eating more than we could ever imagine that we could - we had to recuperate in their beautiful gardens. I just adored what they did with their lemon trees. Darling, always looking for his next DIY project was happy to oblige me when we got home and built me a 'lemon house' a la San Michele!

Don't you think the terraced garden is so smart. As for the classic white canvas furniture - nothing like it!

The Lemon Tree I wanted.

The lemon tree I got! - albeit a long way to go!! I think I'm going to paint my pot white.

* A note from the Crafty Sisters:

Building a structure to use as a bush or hedge

shaper is very simple. Simply go and buy some bamboo poles

from a nursery or somewhere like builders warehouse. Stick

the poles deep into the soil around the the plant in the desired shape. Then simply tie pieces of string around the bamboo poles in which to train (or contain) the tree or bush.

A note from Mrs Potter:

Lemon trees are very easy to keep as long as you have plenty of sunshine.

They love a good six to eight hours of sunshine a day. Also, they are not crazy about drafts, so try to plant them in a protected area.

A small tip when squeezing lemons for juice is to roll the full lemon under your hand on your counter top to already get the juice flowing. It makes squeezing much easier once you have cut your lemon.