Il giardino di Natale

Il giardino di Natale Volpe e sua moglie Anna è adornato da rose multicolori e da un assortimento di fiori insoliti. Questo è solo un preludio agli alberi da frutto nell’orto sul retro di casa.

Natale Volpe and his wife Anna reside in a neat two-story house on the main street of Coraopolis, a small town just outside of Pittsburgh. Their front yard is adorned with multi-colored roses and an assortment of unusual flowers that most of us could not even begin to name. As colorful and eye catching as the flower garden is in the front of the house, it is just a prelude to the fruit trees and vegetable garden in the backyard.

Over the years, as I passed by the garden, I admired the large unusual looking tomatoes, bowling ball sized cabbages and oversized purplish black eggplants growing there. As it turns out, this was only the beginning of the story. I was determined to find out about the garden and more importantly about the gardener. Little did I know that Natale had the skills and instinct of a self taught botanist. His unique and successful method of growing vegetables is evidenced by the yield of his harvest.

Natale came to the United States in 1971 from Partanna, Trapani, in Sicily.  His wife Anna was from Pacentro in Aquila. He worked for Shenango Corporation, a coke manufacturer. He liked his work, but he loved the land more. Like many Italians who immigrated to America, Natale brought with him an ability to transform his backyard into a garden paradise.

He starts his plants in a hot box with seeds that he brought from Sicily and tills the rich dark soil by hand. He always took the largest of the fruits and vegetables from his garden and saved the seeds for next year’s crops.

In the garden, he experimented with crossbreeding various types of tomatoes and he now raises what he calls a “Banana Tomato.” It is about three inches in diameter and five to six inches in length. The tomato is a little lumpy and odd looking, but according to Angelo, their son, it makes a “world class” sauce.

Natale and his friend, Fiore Bruno, experimented with a pear tree they were raising. These two “dottori di piante” (plant doctors) grafted limbs from three other pear varieties to the tree and now the single pear tree produces four different types of pears. Natale would try to grow almost anything in his garden. One year he attempted to raise purple potatoes from Peru. He was assured by his son’s friend, that they could not be grown in this region’s soil.  The potatoes grew beautifully and tasted wonderful.

Some of the other vegetables that Natale raises are lettuce, escarole and bell peppers larger than those at Giant Eagle; braids of fist-sized garlic and onions along with grapes to make homemade wine and delicious white and purple figs; a variety of beans and a six foot long Sicilian zucchini. Sometimes bigger is better!

Anna is just as talented with her ability to grow beautiful roses and large beautiful red and burgundy Cox Comb, which turn the heads of passers-by, who often stop to ask to pick her flowers or share her seeds, both of which she is always willing to do.

I cannot fully express what a wonderful time I had with this special couple while sharing a cup of espresso and homemade pastries while discussing their garden. Natale’s conversation enabled me to recall memories of my own family’s gardens. Natale gave me lots of good advice for my own garden. Now if I could only get him to come over for some private tutoring, that would be great!