adekun’s japan blog

I’ve been too hasty planting out the summer vegetables. It probably would have been okay if it wasn’t for the weather that soon followed. Since the cold and the rain it has been super hot; a bit too hot for digging. The leaves on the tomatoes promptly grew dark brown spots. I wondered if I might be in with a chance of winning a prize for the quickest onset of blight. After an anxious week they seem to be in the clear. There are even a few tomatoes forming.

The rest of the veg are in a similar state, not perky but alive. Hopefully we’ll have some rain and save them from being frazzled.

I was thinking of giving this post the title of adekun’s arse smorgasbord. It’s really been a two pronged assault. Firstly, my wife decided to quite wisely store my garden clothes outside in the plastic ‘bunker’ along with the biting insects. The other more lately, is the onset of warmer weather and with it mosquitoes. I guess the worst of it followed the aforesaid carrot picking when I unknowingly donned my trousers.
Anyway, early March I got told to cut down the four tsubaki (camellia) trees in the corner of the garden. An irritating type of caterpillar is overly fond of them, little Mr Investigator might meet with similar results as his father when playing in the garden. It’s a shame to have to do away with the trees. The upshot is the veg garden has greatly increased in size and somebody else’s tired knees get saved from the weeding.
Before: (Last year and a little mulch)

After: (It does look a bit barren)

Last Monday was hot. I bought most of the summer vegetables, a replacement spade and a compost fork (hurrah). Just as the last plants were going in (early again) the next day it started to rain. What great timing I thought, only it was so heavy and lasted until Saturday night. Toyama gets a mention again; the news Wednesday morning reported pictures of drifts (I think) 4 or 5 metres high. Today, the plants look okay and the potatoes planted where the trees were have emerged. As it’s been dry a day, digging started again.

I’m probably going to regret not going hanami last Sunday. Since then, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. The last few days the rain has been heavy and I wonder if there will be any sakura blossom left on the trees. It’s good for the garden though. No amount of rain was going to turn around my carrot’s fortune. I think it’s apparent with everything else this year, being frugal with the organic stuff (through want of more) has stunted or slowed it. The cores of the carrots had turned woody. Yesterday, under a pale sky, in moderate drizzle, they got yanked out. The roots got their whiskers scraped off before going into the compost bin, whilst the tops got scattered on the ground. The most direct route to the thankfully good asparagus can perhaps be likened to that of a scene from Palm Sunday. As it got even wetter outside, I took the best specimen I saved and performed a simple vegetable autopsy. Running a knife around the circumference, down the front and back, and with a twist…

It’s been a busy month both in and out of the garden. The cabbage went to soup; eight mini ones (those that didn’t swell) with some of the beetroot. My wife made lots of kimchi with the hakusai. I’ve been trying to manage the consumption of the latter around teaching. On Tuesday I espied the first asparagus thrusting through the earth. Once I’ve finished in the current undertaking in the garden I’ll post a photo. In the meantime, anyone interested in Japanese rock gardens may want to check this article I got sent.

Plenty of snow fell over the weekend. On Sunday I started heaping some on the half buried snowman. The carrot nose and hair we gave him was nowhere to be seen. Despite a late start, it was still light as my fingers grew purple. Maybe with a wooden handle and the warmth from shovelling I could have continued into the evening. Anyhow the mound was complete enough so I headed in. Curry and rice for dinner.

After padding out the top further the next day and a break to let it refreeze, the fun bit started. It was warm and sunny mid morning and I found the carrot.

Kento had woken up. We spent some time together inside peering out, as the snow tumbled like those small polystyrene balls. Inside the quinze (quinzee, quinzhee etc.) it was snug.

I meant to post this the middle of December. The current garden developments only add support. Reading through last years notes the brassicas seem to be about six weeks behind. I think the hakusai are of a different variety as they have bristly trichomes along the veins and seem to be squatter in shape. The latter could be a difference in the weather my wife suggested.
In my idleness, putting off erecting netting for the peas has turned out a good call. Only about a fifth of one variety has made an appearance. I guess being laidback doesn’t always work; I should have got them sown earlier after giving them a longer soak.
On the upside, the garlic, onions, carrots and beetroot look strong. The spinach has been a success as has the mizuna, the potatoes given up for lost, came good in time for Christmas.

It seems just about everybody has the snuffles. I didn’t help myself by going to the nearby brewery to indulge on the last nomi nodai; drink as much as you like. Our party proved why it would be a commercial disaster in our own country. As a result, I doubt we will be well received on our next occasion. Monday was spent feeling much the same as I did at the beginning of the month.
The following day, enlivened, I set about transplanting the onions. By lunchtime and after moving some of the other plants around, the following were squeezed in:

84 Japanese White, 3 months drying
48 Japanese White, 5 months drying
48 Red

The leftovers were stuck amongst the garlic chives of which I had neither last year. It felt really good to be out there, fingers in the dirt etc.

Yesterday two rows of peas were planted just before the rain, which I thought may have turned to snow.
On the news this morning, there was footage of heavy snow up in Aomori prefecture.

The latest typhoon has brought heavy rain to Honshū. It’s passing south of Tokyo at the moment. The brassicas have taken a weathering as the gusts have been strong.
I took a photo a few days prior on what was a nice day. From the left:

Garlic
Sweet Potatoes
Hakusai, Cabbages, Broccoli
Spinach
Carrots
Beetroot
Mizuna
Potatoes (jumble of oddments in front)
Asparagus at the back

A day during the past week I was left to fend for myself. Having got a few beers, I took to the garden to see what could be dinner. It was an opportune time to give the sweet potatoes a test. Regrettably, my garden nemesis had the same idea, only a few months previous and is still at it. The first pulled was a surprise as it was sprouting, normally the shoots (called slips) are planted rather than growing them from the tubers.

Fumbling around a bit more, I came to one that wouldn’t budge. Rather like in the story of the Giant Turnip. After some effort, it came free to reveal a gnawed outside. Several plump nekirimushi were unearthed at the same time. I wanted to bake a large sweet potato in the oven, but this one would have taken hours. They are sometimes sold for ¥88 per 100g instead of by quantity; this weighed one and a half kilos.
My wife came home early as I was prepping thick slices in the microwave. We went out to a sushi restaurant instead.

Over the following days, it got finished off, despite being of bad flavour. Although the same problems persist from the bugs, the more modest sized ones taken today are much more agreeable. As is Kirin’s latest beer.

Over the past week, the nights have been noticeably cooler. So much so, I seem to have disappeared deep under the covers, in lieu of concluding anything (except beer).
Today was hot. In the morning, I checked on the brassicas and found that the tender centre of one of the hakusai had been devoured. The glum feeling was soon vanquished as I spotted the first shoot of garlic to have speared through the soil.
The garlic is adjacent to the herb garden and a presently unkempt corner of the garden. Prior to lunch, I went out again to see if there were any more developments. I counted a further two and heard something rustling between my feet. I looked down to find an incoming snake, rather like that scene with Roger Moore in Live and Let Die. Without a cigar and aftershave, I could only hop to the side as it raised its head and call to my wife. It scuttled back from where it had come, which was rather good of it, giving me a decent look of it. It might have been a Shimahebi or Hibakari?
Most lunchtimes, my wife’s aunty takes her break at the house. She said she has seen a few Aodaishō (Japanese Rat Snake) in the front garden, they reach a length of between one a two metres. Still, it was somewhat unexpected.