Skip to content

Garden & olive grove

Garden & olive grove

The grounds are the fastest-changing part of a property and the first thing you see on arrival. They are also the only part where skipping a season shows up a year later.

The sloping olive grove of an Umbrian villa, after the late-winter pruning
The olive grove of a property we look after, a few weeks after pruning

A year of work, season by season

This is not a call-out contract: the calendar of the grounds is made of things that have to happen when the moment comes, not when somebody notices.

  1. A freshly pruned olive tree in a hillside grove

    Winter · January — March

    Pruning

    This is the work that decides next year’s harvest, and there is no catching up if the season is missed. The olives are pruned, the fruit trees are put right, and anything the frost would ruin is protected.

    • Pruning the olive trees
    • Firewood cut and stacked
    • Checks after frosts and high winds
    • Citrus and potted plants protected or moved

    A freshly pruned olive tree: the crown is open again

  2. A bed in an Umbrian garden with herbs and wild flowers in spring

    Spring · April — May

    Everything starts at once

    In April the garden puts on several centimetres a week. This is the point at which a house left alone starts to look abandoned: lawns, hedges, beds and paths are brought back into order before the season begins.

    • First cuts and mowing
    • Beds and pots replanted
    • Irrigation switched back on and checked
    • Paths and low walls cleared of weeds

    April: the garden changes character in a fortnight

  3. Roses in flower beside terracotta urns in a villa garden

    Summer · June — September

    Holding the line

    In summer the work is constant and largely invisible: watering, regular cutting, roses and hydrangeas kept in flower, the pool in order. It is also when the villa is most used, so we work early, before anyone comes down.

    • Irrigation and system checks
    • Cutting and light pruning
    • Flowering, pots and terracotta urns
    • Coordination with pool maintenance

    June: roses and urns, kept in flower into September

  4. A gravel path between olive trees and cypresses in a villa garden

    Autumn · October — December

    Harvest

    In November the olives are picked and taken to the mill. If the owner wants, we organise the harvest and the milling so the oil from the property comes back to the house; otherwise we coordinate the people who do it for a living.

    • Olive harvest
    • Milling at the frantoio
    • Leaves, gutters and drainage channels cleared
    • Garden put to bed for the winter

    October: the path cleared before the rains

Details of the grounds

The small things — a pot moved, a hedge in shape, a swept path — are what make a property look cared for.

  • A cypress framed by a stone arch
    A stone arch, with the cypress behind it
  • Lavender in flower against the wall of a stone house
    Lavender up against the house wall
  • Jasmine in flower on a fence, against the sky
    Jasmine on the fence, in May
  • A red hibiscus in flower in a terracotta urn
    A hibiscus in a terracotta urn
  • A lemon tree in a large terracotta pot
    The potted lemon tree, moved indoors in winter
  • The clean pool of an Umbrian villa, ready for the season
    The pool, opened at the start of the season
  • The back of a stone house with an olive tree and a small garden table
    Stone house and olive tree, round the back
  • Terraced hills planted with olive trees, a village on the crest
    Terraced hills, olive groves all the way up

In depth

We have written more about this

Let’s talk about your villa.

Every property has different needs. Tell us about yours: we’ll put together a tailored proposal and reply to you personally.

Contact us