My wife and I started gardening in Fukuoka (Japan) in 2003. There was nothing but muddy clayey sloping land. At the beginning we made several structure such as steps and paths, and planted turf, fruit trees, roses, herbs etc.
In 2010, we visited several famous English gardens, including Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Mottisfont Abbey Garden and Hidcote Manor Garden. We were shocked by the glory of those gardens. Since then, we have been trying to make small but glorious gardens by ourselves.
White Japanese anemones are now in full bloom at the base of the plum tree in the shade garden. As the spot receives little sunlight, the plants have grown quite tall and are prone to toppling over. So I’ve used the plum tree as a support. Although the plants are occasionally affected by disease and don’t grow very large, this year they’ve produced more flowers than I expected.
I have been keeping medaka in my bathtub pool to help eat the mosquito larvae. The white medaka stand out more than the black ones in the pool, making them easier to spot. This summer was extremely hot, with a long spell of dry weather. Even though the water level dropped, as it is a small pool, adding too much tap water all at once would kill the medaka, so I could only add a little at a time, which led to a deterioration in water quality. In summer, the water lily leaves grow thick and block out almost all the sunlight, but even so, the water temperature rose considerably. Only just a few medaka managed to survive the harsh summer. When I feed them, they come up to the surface to eat the food scattered across the water. If you watch them closely whilst they’re eating, they look rather cute.
Passing in front of the brick wall and walking through the Mube arch, you come to the bluebell garden. This year, the Mube arch has only two fruits, which are beginning to turn colour. Right next to it, a Leucophyllum tree has been producing a succession of lovely pink flowers for over a month. Looking up, you can see lots of quince fruits. Some of them are already turning slightly yellow. Harvest season is just around the corner. Whilst I was filming the quince, two Japanese white-eyes happened to arrive and were flitting from branch to branch. They are such lovely little birds.
We harvested the edamame once in August, but we’d sown the few remaining seeds again. Just as the plants were coming into flower, the leaves were being eaten by caterpillars, but somehow the pods formed and the beans began to grow, so I harvested them. It’s only a small amount, but we’ve managed to get our second harvest of the year. They’ll make a nice snack to go with a beer at the pub in the garden room.
The small lantana on the retaining wall in my neighbourhood is currently in full bloom, turning the whole area a shade of pink.
近所にある擁壁に今コバノランタナが満開で、一面ピンク色に染まっています。
To its right, the wild grapevine (Ampelopsis glandulosa var. heterophylla) is in flower and bearing plenty of green berries.
その右横にはノブドウが花を咲かせてたくさんの緑の実をつけています。
Further to the right, the wild grapes are already beginning to change colour. The blue and purple berries are truly beautiful—they look just like jewels. As autumn deepens, even the berries that are still green will change colour, promising a magnificent sight.
The olive tree I’ve been growing in a pot in the main garden since the start of this year has borne fruit, and as they’ve started to turn colour, I’ve harvested them. There are just over ten of them, but as it’s my first time, I’m delighted.
I’d heard that they’re too astringent to eat as they are, so I looked into various methods for removing the astringency, but decided to try the one that seemed simplest: drying them. First, I pricked small holes in the olives with a fork, then left them by the window to catch the sun; once the sunlight had faded, I dried them in a food dryer. After repeating this process for two days, they became shrivelled and were quite dry. When I took a small bite, the astringency had almost completely disappeared.
I heard from my neighbour that a monkey had turned up, so I went to have a look. It came down from the persimmon tree onto the roof of the shed with a thud, then walked off, munching on something. I wondered if it might have eaten a persimmon, but they’re probably still too astringent. However, as I didn’t want it to come round too often once they’d ripened, I went ahead and picked all the persimmons—even the green ones. I decided to soak the ones that had started to turn colour in alcohol to remove the astringency.
