Life is a bowl of raspberries when you have magic beans!

Our raspberries are so happy now on the south side of the embankment, they are producing whole bowls full of raspberries each day. Rather small bowls, but still a bit improvement from last year when we were each getting a quarter of a raspberry. We are also harvesting our first beans. The girls were not too eager to try the purple beans, but were excited to learn that they turn green when boiled. Magic beans!
My flower beds have become infested with these black and red caterpillars. I am not sure if they are poisonous, or what they eat, but suspect they are up to no good, so I have been gathering them up with disposable chopsticks each morning and dropping them in the river.
Feeling blue.... I planted cornflowers and campanula seeds in all different colors, but only the blue and purple actually grew, so my south flowerbed is a little monotone.
Some of the more colorful flowers are starting to revive in the north flower bed now that that the daffodil leaves have been removed.
First lily...

June 4 harvest

First raspberries and lebanese zucchini. End of the snap peas. Peak of the strawberries. And zucchini are ramping it up.

today's pickings and today's dinner

Our spring veggies have finally reached the point where they constitute a major portion of our dinner. Here is today's harvest. I also ran back to pick toppings (green onions, oregano, thyme, chives) as I was cooking.
We don't grow rice ourselves, but get it from relatives. The onions are from a neighbor. The konyaku (icky-looking gray triangles), mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, milk, tofu, and miso are store bought. And we didn't catch the tuna (negitoro donburi). The eggplant is in the soup and I used one of the zucchinis for tomorrow morning's bread. The girls' dessert of a few raspberries and half a blueberry each was supplemented by loquats from the next door neighbor's tree (some of the branches hang over our yard).

turtle and raspberries

Yesterday, I was headed out to the pumpkin patch, zapper racket in hand, ready to kill some evil orange bugs, when I saw this turtle on the path up the embankment laying eggs.
It was pretty hard packed dirt as we use the path daily. Used, I should say. She dug a hole, laid her eggs (I presume) and covered them up again with her rear legs. If I hadn't seen it, we wouldn't have noticed and the baby turtles would be squished.
From the opposite angle, showing her position smack dab in the middle of the path.
Here is a close up of Mama Turtle headed back to the river. I read the incubation period for turtle eggs is 2-3 months, so we may or may not be back by the time they hatch.
The raspberry and blackberry bushes are on the far side of the embankment. Out of sight out of mind. I really need to weed them. Luckily, we had followed the turtle and noticed the raspberries were starting to ripen.
The girls ate 2 each. The verdict was "Yummy"

fruit and veg

The raspberries that my husband moved to the embankment are making buds.














M insisted that we plant the melon seeds from the melon we ate the other night, and of course my husband can't resist her entreaties. Where we are going to put it? Who knows?












Speaking of space issues, my husband bought EGGPLANT! I have declared our garden a no eggplant zone (though I do like the flowers) because my father-in-law grows bushels of eggplant. As it is I have to deal with 20-30 eggplant/week at the height of the season. What am I going to do with more? Not to mention we had no space left, everything already having been designated.








So my husband had to make an extra row next to some of the extra cherry tomatoes...














zucchini (forward) and okra (rear). The okra are really being attacked by the aphids.














watermelon. Once again, my husband couldn't resist. He says we can let them grow over the strawberry patch.














Tomatoes finally planted. Four are still on hold in larger pots.




















Cucumbers, the first planting. We had 4 or 5 plants last year and had to consume 10-12 cucumbers/day during the season, so why my husband felt that tripling that number was a good idea???












Our broccoli thinks it is a green cauliflower. Or perhaps a green brain. It is very odd looking.

enbankment 4.1.09

This is the south side (by the river) of the embankment to the south of our house. It is prefectural land. DH cleared the 2m high weeds last summer/fall. Over the winter he planted lots of trees. He collects and plants acorns, I collect and plant Rose of Sharon twigs, so we have tons of baby trees.








He also transplanted the raspberries and blackberries to the south side of the embankment this past winter.












This rose of sharon was in a pot with an anemone I thought was dead, but it has revived once planted.



















The river and south side of the embankment. I hope to get "wild" flowers growing here eventually as well as our baby tree farm.











North side of the embankment, the side near our house. I have planted daffodils, hoping they naturalize. Also, dh moved the blueberries here as they were not happy next to the strawberries. And, of course, more baby rose of sharon.










The north side of the embankment. We have taken over the flat bit for veggies and dh's wild tree nursery.