It wasn’t something I expected to see in Venice, a man wheeling a heavy load of turf down the Strada Nuova in Cannaregio. He gave his permission for a photo to be taken, then we went our separate ways.
The only information I got from him is that he has a small garden in Cannaregio. Now, I wish I had asked where he got the turf, and how he’ll keep it cut. I’ve never seen a lawn mower in Venice, although I have seen evidence of grass having been cut.
I hope he has success with his little patch of grass and with whatever else he’ll grow in his garden.
I would of planted basil
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Yvonne- we owned a lawn mower at our Santa Croce apartment, and mowed that whole garden regularly. We thought about buying another mower for the new garden here in Sant’Elena, but decided instead to put the whole thing under plow and restore the old beds. Now we have our own “Orto”, and in a few years I hope to have some gorgeous flower beds too. The man who owns the garden next to ours just has grass, he mows too. So yes, there is grass in Venice!
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Hi, Karen. Was it a push mower? (That would make sense, having never heard the roar of a 2-stroke in Venice.)
How is the labour of love, on the garden, going?
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Grass? In Venice? Surprising to say the least.
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I understand there are quite a few hidden gardens, so there’s no doubt more grass than we can see from the street.
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Sod is very heavy – moving it would be hard! I note Bert’s comment….
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Bert usually complains about someone in red in the photos, but not this time!
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Perhaps they use the same method for cutting grass that they did when I lived on the island of Grenada in the Caribbean. They would cutlass the grass. Yes, old fashioned pirate type cutlass bent over from the waist reaching down with a small tool in one hand….like a tiny rake to pull the grass up and then whack it with the blade. Very labor intensive. But then it was usually a well muscled young man in shorts and shirtless. Sorry, don’t have a picture….but a delightful view for the ladies.
For the small patch that turf would make some hand clippers wouldn’t take too long.
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One day, we’ll see someone in the act of cutting that Venetian grass, Michelle. And, settle …
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Perhaps he is bringing the turves 4 at a time. Only 196 to go.
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My eye was unaccountably attracted to the patch of red, top left.
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The things I do for you, Bert!
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It’s going to be a very small lawn!
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Hi, Andrew. That’s what I thought, too. The other thing I should have asked him was in which calle we could find his garden.
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That’s something else I should have asked him, how much it cost.
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I bet it was a precious commodity too!
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