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.

As mentioned before it has been windy and rainy the past week. The sakura held out for the sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival) on Saturday. Cloudy early on, it soon warmed up. We walked through the park, through wafts of pink petals and barbeques.

A little further to the south, the following afternoon was spent around Shoyama. Countless trees line the river.

It’s hard to portray in a couple of photos, especially being overcast. I had a really nice time despite sneezing myself inside out.

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…

A year and two weeks ago I put up a post about haruichiban, the first strong winds of the year. Just as this year’s winds arrived we had our own mini whirlwind as the Yoshihara family descended upon us. Both parents are long time friends of my wife and the have four young daughters; there must be some truth in old wives’ tales. Their planned visit had been put off three successive weeks because of the snow. I kept to the kitchen with my heavy cold and got to try out the pie dish my parents kindly sent me. O what excitement enamelware can bring. To try to clear the guise of sarcasm, I’ve have been waiting for the right moment and I’m really happy with it. You just can’t get stuff like that here.
In the news, along the coast to the east, a breakwater in Toyama was breached forcing 150 families to evacuate their homes. An old man was swept out to sea as he watched the waves from a costal road. It’s been calmer here and today the sun is out. The compost has defrosted. Soon I hope, I’ll be able to get some digging done in the garden.

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 thought I would be uploading a photo of a pristine snowfall taken from an upstairs window. I must have been awakened a dozen times as a slab of snow slid off the roof and landed with a weighty thud on the veranda. Returning back with some milk, Kento bore the brunt of an earlier flurry. Sitting behind the handlebars on the bike, he got most of it in the face as I peddled hell for leather with my own kind of snow blindness. The milk was soon put to use, and he was soon jigging about like Michael Flatley cum Stevie Wonder spinning out mudrās.
By the time I lumbered out of bed this morning there wasn’t much left outside but a wet mess. It is still cold.

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

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.