The dwarf crape myrtle in a pot by the entrance at the bottom of the garden has started to flower. It grows to a height of several dozen centimetres and produces beautiful purple flowers in summer. It also re-blooms. The flowers are lovely, with frilled petals and yellow stamens at their centre.
庭の下の入口の所にある鉢植えの矮性サルスベリの花が咲き始めました。数十センチの樹高で夏に紫色の美しい花をつけます。返り咲きもします。フリルのような花びらと、その中にある黄色いしべが美しい花です。
The purple chaste tree is a beautiful shrub with purple undersides to its leaves. It produces small blue flowers in summer. As the flowers are not as showy as those of the common chaste tree, they do not stand out. This shrub really comes into its own as the temperature begins to drop. In summer, the undersides of the leaves have a faint purple tinge, but the colour is so pale that it often goes unnoticed. However, as the weather turns colder, the undersides of the leaves turn a distinct purple. In the depths of winter, it should be heavily pruned to a height of several tens of centimetres above the ground.
セイヨウニンジンボク・プルプレアは葉の裏が紫色の美しい低木です。夏に小さな青い花をつけます。普通のセイヨウニンジンボクのように立派な花ではないので、花が目立ちません。この木が目立ってくるのは気温が下がってくる季節です。夏は葉の裏はほんのりと紫がかっていますが、色が薄いのであまり気づかれません。しかし寒くなってくると葉の裏がはっきりと紫色になっていきます。真冬には地面から数十センチの高さで強剪定します。
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| In February ２月 |
In the potager, the dwarf cherry tomatoes—which I sowed a little late—are now bearing plenty of fruit in the square raised beds. Rudbeckia and marigolds are also in bloom in the same raised beds. Some plants withered due to the intense heat or were damaged by pests, so only two plants are currently bearing fruit. As they are a dwarf variety, they produce fruit without growing very tall. I’d been growing small watermelons in two triangular raised beds and had harvested about ten of them. Just when I thought the season was over, they set fruit again, and I was able to harvest one more. It doesn’t seem they’re growing as large as they did at the start of the season.
ポタジェでは少し遅く種をまいて育てた矮性のミニトマトが四角いレイズドベッドでたくさん実をつけるようになりました。同じレイズドベッドではルドベキアやマリゴールドの花も咲いています。猛暑で枯れたり、害虫で枯れたものもあり、実をつけているのは２株だけです。矮性品種なので草丈は大きくならずに実をつけます。２つの三角形のレイズドベッドに育てて、１０個ほど収穫できた小玉スイカは、もう終わりかと思っていたらまた実をつけていて、一個収穫できました。最初の頃のように大きくは育たないようです。
‘Angela’ is a climbing rose that produces clusters of tiny flowers in May. In summer, it sends out new shoots, which also bear flowers at their tips. The shorter shoots should be pruned, whilst the longer ones should be left in place to serve as flowering branches the following May; at the same time, older branches should be cut back to make way for the new growth. This rejuvenates the plant and improves its flowering. The new shoots should be trained to lie flat for the time being, with final training carried out in the depths of winter.
アンジェラはつるバラで、五月にはたくさんの小さな花を房状に咲かせます。そして夏にはシュートを伸ばして、その先にまた花をつけます。短いシュートは剪定しますが、長いシュートは次の年の五月に花をつける枝として残し、古くなった枝を切って交代させます。こうすると枝の若返りができ、花つきが良くなるのです。新しいシュートは仮に寝かせるような誘引をしておき、真冬に最終的に誘引をします。
Flowers are blooming on the seedless kumquat tree to the right of the chaste tree. Although the flowers are small and white, it is curious to see tiny fruits growing alongside them. This is because kumquat trees flower repeatedly; the fruits that formed from the flowers that bloomed around June are now growing slightly larger. The fruits will continue to grow gradually and will ripen to a yellow colour between January and March, at which point they will be ready to eat. As they are seedless, they can be eaten whole and have a wonderful flavour.
セイヨウニンジンボクの右側の種なしキンカンに花が咲いています。小さな白い花ですが、花の横に小さな実がついているのが不思議です。これはキンカンが何度も花を繰り返し咲かせるためで、６月頃に咲いた花についた実が少し大きくなっているのです。実は少しずつ大きくなって、１月から３月頃に黄色く熟して食べられるようになります。種がなくてまるごと食べられ、とても良い風味です。
After the chaste tree bloomed for the first time in June, it continued to grow, producing side shoots and forming numerous buds, and by August began flowering profusely once more. The flower spikes, laden with countless small, bright blue flowers with a faint purple tinge, look refreshing as they sway in the breeze. In a garden where the intense heat persists, this flowering shrub offers at least a sense of coolness. Once these flower spikes have finished blooming, it produces more side shoots and buds, allowing us to enjoy its flowers right through to November.
セイヨウニンジンボクは6月に最初の花を咲かせた後、さらに成長して脇芽を伸ばしてたくさんの蕾をつけ、八月になってまたたくさん咲き出しました。わずかに紫がかった明るいブルーの小花がたくさんついた花穂が風に揺れると涼しげに見えます。猛暑がつづく庭で気持ちだけでも涼しくさせてくれる花木です。これらの花穂が咲き終わると、また脇芽を伸ばして蕾をつけ、11月まで花を楽しめます。
It’s been about 70 days since we sowed the seeds at the beginning of June, and the edamame are now ready for harvest. We started by harvesting the very early-maturing variety. Perhaps because we’d been using insect netting since sowing, there was hardly any damage from pests. The harvest was much larger than we’d expected. We boiled them straight away and enjoyed them as a tasty snack with a beer.
六月の初めに種をまいて７０日ほどたち、枝豆が収穫の時期を迎えました。極早生エダマメから収穫をしました。種まきの時期から防虫ネットをしていたせいか、害虫の被害はほとんどありません。思ったよりたくさんの収穫でした。さっそく茹でてビールのつまみにして美味しくいただきました。
