Things that go munch in the night

Written by: adekun on 19 July, 2007 10:01 pm - Filed under: blog — 5 Comments »

From a distance it looked like tiny metallic baubles stuck to the underside of a sweet potato leaf. Uncertain what laid them or what they are going to develop into, the shadow offers a hint? I guess whatever grows isn’t going to restrict it’s feeding to wee hours. My elderly neighbour has spent the past week, dancing around his peas with his butterfly net. Hopefully I can find these again, amongst the sea of leaves and vines and check up on their progress.
Caterpillar Eggs
Yesterday the potatoes got harvested. The area they occupied along with the onions and garlic was dug over.
When I was putting away the tools I spotted a Kamikirimushi that had expired, the ants already at it.

Although the spuds didn’t get earthed up, I am content with the crop. Really pleased with the Danshaku, considering the lack of attention.
My wife did slap some sun lotion on my back, the finger marks can still be seen against the sunburn. As a result, I didn’t spend too much time outside today. A load of weeds were turned in, along with the mother-in-law’s tulip bulbs. Two consecutive days of sunshine and it’s nearly August.

Tags: garden, sweet potatoes

Earlier Summer Vegetables

Written by: adekun on 27 April, 2007 12:49 pm - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »

After a long and tiring day under the unrelenting sun, the summer vegetables were planted yesterday. There is still a little space to accommodate something else, perhaps a cucumber plant.

From the left:

Tomatoes (iko, momotaro & tsugi momotaro)
Aubergines, Peppers
Sweet Potatoes
Cucumbers
Red Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
White Onions

Although I didn’t cadge any cowpats, I did cadge some greens for the compost heap. After being offered a few barrow loads of compost from my neighbour’s compost mountain, the offer of a similar sized stack of shungiku (chrysanthemum) came.
I had made a short deviation from my no chemical strategy and treated my own heap with some pellets to deal with only* beetle larvae and woodlice.
It seems quite timely; it will make an excellent addition. I shall be spending the next week clipping away with the secateurs.

* I can only hope so.

Tags: garden, sweet potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Written by: adekun on 9 November, 2006 2:44 pm - Filed under: food — No Comments »

As with most things this year, done in a rush. It was mid June and I bought a bunch of cuttings for a few hundred yen, most of which I didn’t use.
The rows were built about 60 cm across, and the shoots inserted every 40 cm. This can be seen in far right of the picture.
It’s common practice here to cover the mounds in black plastic sheeting.

Sweet Potatoes just planted

All of the Sweet Potatoes have been harvested, early November. Got about enough to fill a wheelbarrow. Seem to have got quite a menagerie.

Sweet Potato harvest

Tags: garden, sweet potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Written by: adekun on 23 October, 2006 9:00 am - Filed under: recipes — No Comments »

some sweet potatoes
drizzle of olive oil
good pinch of salt

Wash the potatoes and trim the ends. Prick all over and rub them with olive oil and salt.

Cook at 200ºC for an hour and a half. It’s a good idea to use baking parchment as they have a tendancy to ooze.

Can save cooking time by sticking them in the microwave first.

Tags: recipes, sweet potatoes

Satsumaimo harvest

Written by: adekun on 22 October, 2006 7:26 am - Filed under: blog — No Comments »

Not quite the bumper sweet potato harvest I was hoping for, the two I pulled last week must have been the biggest. My neighbour said what I took was good, but I have decided to leave the other row for another month. Stiil, the smaller ones are quicker to cook and I’m less inclined to scoff them all myself.
I’ll probably leave them in until just before I transplant some onions.

Tags: garden, sweet potatoes

Satsumaimo check

Written by: adekun on 11 October, 2006 7:25 am - Filed under: blog — No Comments »

I’ve been expecting a meagre harvest of sweet potatoes in November. They were planted in a rush and pretty much left to it. Today I thought I’d have a quick peek and see what’s going on. It would appear there is a promising supply of baby food.
A reasonable sized sweet potato costs about ¥200 (£1), so I’m well chuffed with this.

Following on from the previous entry, I haven’t seen any slugs since I put down the eggshells. I have overlooked things that fly, namely butterflies. I suspect the caterpillars I found today had caused most of the damage to date.
So I charged my new carrot shaped hand sprayer with milk and gave them a good dousing. I hope it will work?