This Journal issue chronicles the ongoing effort to build new wooden boxes for the Orti Dipinti plants, financed by Il Bisonte.
Starting today we have a lot to do. The plants in Orti Dipinti are in motion. Yet they don’t switch places at night. As if to surprise the volunteer gardeners. Skilled hands are stitching together new clothing for the flower beds. So what’s going on in the Gardens?
MEASURING THE NEW FINERY: 45 MM OF FIR.
An assembly line is underway. A green line. The steps and operations are as follows. It starts with (1) purchasing and cutting fir boards to size, in order to fit the areas. Followed by (2) a protective treatment that involves blackening the wood inside with a flame, then washing and coating it with linseed oil to create a waterproof seal. Then comes (3) pre-assembly which looks like a wooden puzzle spread out on the Orti track, and is completed with hammer and nails, and the addition of a special cloth which serves as mulch (4). The new boxes are ready and laid out (5), with fragments of old boxes, leaves and soil added (6). Finally (7) there’s the planting. Voilà, Orti Dipinti flowerbeds in motion.
TIME TO GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY.
This is a detailed explanation of how the new boxes are being made. Il Bisonte is financing the operation. It’s the second one following the installation of the so-called “wireless” irrigation system. These are large wooden planters, more resistant, sustainable and pleasing to the eye. But the work is only just beginning and we’ll have to get our hands dirty here for several months. Giacomo and the volunteers will. And so will the architect and project co-author Jan Bigazzi. All of Il Bisonte. And those hands in the community that will one day pick new flowers from these new boxes.
