My progress in turning an unworked patch of the garden it into an organic mini-farm. Encounters with bugs, typhoons etc.
Being somewhat constrained in the middle of a city, the garden offers a decent start on the road to being self-sufficient. Whilst I’m no expert on gardening, I’m keen as mustard. Over the past few years, trying to grow a variety of vegetables without the use of chemical feeds, sprays, and potions.
Planted summer veg
After an extra trip or two to buy a few more plants the summer veg planting is done. Even after a good look around, there doesn’t seem much to bridge the gap between mini and large tomatoes.
This year a few of the small アイコ (aiko) and 少桃 (lit. little peach) were planted, at the large end, the usual 桃太 (momotaro). I did come upon some grafted tomatoes with fruit around 60 g a piece. I hope they turn out to be a good investment… Continue reading
￥2000 of summer veg for planting
Buying plants from a nursery or home centre is getting expensive. Each year they seem to increase in price several hundred times the rate of inflation.
Still, the price of a regular tomato plant is less than a handful of tomatoes from the supermarket. No doubt the fickle weather and the glut of retiring baby boomers play part in these yearly increases.
Seed tub
Parsnip seeds have been in since the end of last month. A week on from those, different chilli peppers and herbs followed. Since then, the unspringlike weather has favoured everything else in the ground. I hope it warms up and the sown seeds spring in to action.
If I’m going to risk sowing everything in situ, then in the least, I should contemplate tunnels and cloches. The weather is too erratic. The first few months of the year felt drier and warmer. Now each day is different, drifting down in temperature. It is truly miserable.
There has been a lot of bird activity in the garden. 
Kitaakari potato seed
Along side the ubiquitous May Queen, two rows of キタアカリ (kitaakari) potatoes have been planted. These are reputed to be of great flavour and high vitamin C content. In addition, they reveal an attractive yellow colour which offsets the rather poor appearance. Another plus point is their greater nematode and disease resistance. The potatoes are one to watch when boiling/simmering as they disintegrate to a mealy texture. Good for croquettes and I hope curry.
Rhubarb in April
Vigorous is a good word to describe the rhubarb. It’s growing so fast that it I will have to thin rather than transplant the intermediate plants.
Even those whose initial leaves were broken in the previous months winds have recovered. I wonder if I will have rhubarb coming out of my ears by the summer.
Veg garden in March
The garden has been awaiting attention a good while now. The most pressing job is to sort out the asparagus bed. Rainwater collects there and does a good job of preventing the plants from drying out. The downside is that many seeds also get washed up there. I expect many of the roots are entwined and a heavy handed approach is the only way to clear it of weeds.
Rhubarb
I had accepted that yet again the rhubarb had come to an early demise. However, late last month just as the weeds moved in, a row of new leaves suddenly appeared. Now, a few weeks on, the rhubarb is still with us.
I’ve weeded around the plants and mixed in a little composted manure. Perhaps, almost optimistically, this could be it.
Japan Australia: I hear that it has been an extremely hot and dry summer this year in Japan and more extreme than ...Japan Australia: Thanks for the recipe. I have never tried making ice-cream before. How much do ice cream makers usually cost? 
~fer: Hello my name is Fernando
I am a fellow gardener from japan.
I want to meet other people who share my passion ...
Gardening Guru: These are so delicious... I think the frozen corn won't be as tasty as that which has been freshly picked. 
phil: i've also been looking for some rhubarb to grow. almost all seed companies sell starts, not seeds. besides the ...