VEGETABLES IN OUR POTAGER

Temperature drops under 20 degrees Celsius in the morning and evening these days.  Today, I write about our potager now.

We can still harvest mini tomatoes, and the standard rose 'Mary rose' has flowers with them.  Sweet peppers are becoming bigger, and Perilla has begun to flower.

From the entrance of the potager

A standard rose and mini tomatoes

Sweet peppers

Perilla

Flowers of Perilla

Seed potatoes, radish and comatsuna shows young leaves in pentagonal beds.  In the cold frame, young asparagus (left) and California poppy (right) are growing for the next year.

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FINISHED GOTHIC ARCH WINDOWS

Today I have finished arch windows on the right side.  It was breezy and nice day, too.

Marple took my photo yesterday.  

 The width of windows are different, and it was a bit difficult to fit the panel between posts.  Thanks to Marple's help, they fitted and finished.

From inside to the southwest. 

From the main garden.  

From outside of the windows

Neck, shoulder, elbow and hand pain will come tomorrow. . . . .

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ADDITIONAL GOTHIC ARCH WINDOWS

Gazebo windows have been unfinished.  It became cooler these days, and it's a nice day today, Poirot  the carpenter restarted making Gothic arch windows of the gazebo.

I had planned to complete the right-side windows this weekend.

Tenons were made both ends of window posts.  

 Mortises were made on crossbeams.

A tenon and a mortise for joining were finished.

Next, long mortises were formed for fixing a window board.

The window posts and crossbeams were temporarily fixed and checked whether it's OK.

In the afternoon, I had cut Gothic window boards by using a electric jig saw.

The parts were painted blue-gray colour.

It was fine today and the high temperature was 27.5 degrees Celsius.  It was hot enough to bring out a slight sweat and  I rigged an awning over the gazebo to shade the place from the sun.

Tomorrow, the weather forecast says fine, Poirot will finish the Gothic windows of the right side of the gazebo.

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AUTUMN FLOWERS

Today I post some pictures of autumn flowers in and around our garden.

The first one is cosmos（コスモス）.  It flowers beside the kitchen garden under the gazebo.  It is trembling gently in the wind.

The next is aster（アスター）.  I love this blue purple color.

And the last is Hagi (萩、Lespedeza).  It is commonly known as bush clover or Japanese clover. It is one of the representative flowers of autumn in Japan.

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MAKING RICE DUMPLING & RICE CAKE

We made rice dumpling (おはぎ） for an equinoctial week (when Buddhist services are held).  It is a old Japanese tradition to make rice dumpling in this season.

Rice dumpling is a rice cake (mochi) covered with coarse sweet red bean paste.

Making rice cake （もちつき）is the first time for us in two years.  

At first, glutinous rice is steamed for about 45 minutes after overnight soaking in water.  

A large stone mortar is heated by filling with hot water and putting a lid on it.   

Glutinous rice has finished to steam.  It is delicious to eat as it is, too.

Steamed rice is put into the large mortar and is pounded by a large wooden pounder.

When Poirot is pounding, Marple turns the rice and add water in the mortar between hammer strokes.

After pounding, rice cake is torn to pieces and made in round shape.

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CHESTNUT

There are many chestnut trees in our neighborhood, and September is a harvest season of it.  I take a walk every weekday morning with Marple before going to work, and we found a first chestnut on the road on 30 August.

Chestnuts had been becoming bigger on 30 August

The first chestnut on 30 August

Since that, we have been checking the chestnut trees along the walking course.  Half a dozen of chestnuts we found on some days, and nothing on the other days.  It's a fun to take a walk in this season.  Many neighbors are taking a walk, and they must be looking for the chestnut, too.

And, on 18 September, we found as many chestnuts as Marple's hands could hold!  Total of this season until this time was over 500 gram.

Marple peeled off the shell and boiled and sweetened with their skin  (astringent coat) still attached.  （渋皮煮） It tastes really delicious.

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PLANTING VEG IN AUTUMN

Last weekend, we planted potatoes in the beds of our potager.  Next morning we found that the potatoes had been dug.  Fortunately, they had not been eaten at all.  We thought that the suspect was badger.

We sowed seeds of radish and komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach) beside potatoes, and we covered the beds with garden fleece to protect potatoes and seed from badgers and birds.

We expect to harvest radish in October, and potato in December.

Seed potatoes in the bed (13 September)

Planting radish & komatsuna seeds (14 September)

The beds were covered with fleece.