Vegetables

It has been blazing hot this week and I am a bit frustrated because I really want to spend more time in the garden, but between about 10:30-3:30, when I have time, it is just too stinking hot. From the time I get up until about 10:30 I am busy getting everyone fed, dressed, off to school, walked, laundry, etc. And from 3:30...picked up from school, walked, changed, snacked and then M insists upon going to the park every day to work on her monkey bars (and see her friends). Oh how I resent those 2 hours of prime gardening time spent pushing L on the swings and rescuing M when she monkey bars too high. Then back home to cook, feed, bath, etc, and it's dark. They love it, but I wish we could get a jungle gym in our yard. Too bad they don't seem to sell them here like in the US. Anyway, here are some photos from yesterday.
My crazy husband has planted the next generation of cucumbers. I managed to force my students' mothers to take home 30+ today. He does realize that the overlap between first and second generations will happen while the girls and I are in the US and he will be responsible for 25 cucumbers/day all by himself, but yet...he plants them. The rose of sharon (mallow?) trees along the fence are starting to bloom. They have grown so fast. They were foot long dead sticks only 2 years ago. I hear they are particularly good for fighting air pollution, so we planted them along the west fence facing the big road. We aren't nearly as rural as our photos may make it seem, and air pollution is a problem. There are some cosmos blooming in this photo as well. And the lemon grass (sticking out from the left) LOVES being next to the compost bin.
Eggplants are coming along really well. So well, that I am glad we only have 3 plants. You can see some of the sugar lump mini tomatoes in the background.
I tried to take a photo of my single reddening Reisentraube tomato for Mr. Wignall, but it is in a rather inaccessible place. Hopefully some of the others will ripen before we leave and I can tell you how they taste.
Shiso Shiso and more Shiso. I have to start actually using it. I think I will make shiso gyoza this week.
Watermelon (left), okra (center), no-longer-producing zucchini (right) and some marigolds. Strawberry patch and gladiolus in the back. These were not really meant to be an attempt at companion gardening, we just didn't have anywhere to put the watermelons. So far so good, as long as the watermelons don't attempt to climb...
Cinderella pumpkin is getting big and turning orange. Now if I could only find a cool dry place to store it until October...

vegetable flowers

My daughters' books say that bees collect pollen on their legs. This one seems to be more into the whole body experience. We are grateful, of course, however they choose to pollinate.

pumpkin flower
eggplant flower
green pepper flower
okra flower
cherry tomato flower
tomato flower
watermelon flower

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).

pollinating pumpkins

M pollinated our first pumpkin flower this morning! It is one of the Cinderella pumpkins. Of course, the timing is all wrong because I want them for Halloween, but exciting nevertheless. They say the best way to store pumpkins is in cool, low humidity conditions. If a place with such conditions existed in Gifu in the summer, that is where I would like to be stored as well! Both the pumpkins and I are out of luck.

Lily
The annuals are starting to spread out and cover the fading bulb foliage...
We have 3 baby eggplants.

odds and ends

I thought it would be fun for the girls to grow these multi-colored carrots. It is fun to pull them up and see the different colors. Unfortunately, they taste dreadful! Especially the purple ones. The white ones are kind of bitter. The purple ones are extremely bitter and fibrous. But, the power of gardening! The girls ate them! I couldn't believe it...I wouldn't eat them myself!
This pink ground cover flower has started to bloom. The blossoms are much bigger than I expected. I think I will try to find some more, as my other flowers in this area are not doing so well.
I planted campanula mixed seeds a year and half ago. I was worried that I only would have purple ones (though they are my favorite, it is nice to have some variety). But a white one started blooming this mornng! It also gives me an excuse to post another photo of my mystery blue flower...Anyone know what it is???
I finally broke down and allowed my husband to plant 3 eggplants this year. But only three. And only because I have a weakness for purple flowers. My father-in-law grows bushels of eggplant, and really, there are limits to how much eggplant one can be expected to cook (and eat!) Luckily, Japanese eggplant are smaller and tastier than American eggplant. I recommend trying them if those of you in the US have not yet.
Green beans are starting to flower.
Yesterday we had male and female zucchini blossoms on the same day again! This means there is hope for two zucchinis bigger than my thumb. Today only male flowers. I shouldn't have planted so close to the okra. I thought it would be taller by the time the zucchini got this big, but it (the okra) was fighting off aphids and got a slow start.
One of the pumpkin vines, our only surviving Cinderella pumpkin, has started to show vine-like tendancies. It gets spared the worst of the evil orange beetles because they go after the cucumber...
After an interrupted orange beetle attack on a cucumber leaf.
The zap and stomp pest control method. Not terribly efficient or pleasant, but the only way I have found short of poison. And I always thought I was a pacifist...

May 8 veggies

tons of snack peas, my favorite. I think I eat at least 100/day. Really!














pumpkins (Howden and Cinderella) planted















tomatoes staked




















cherry tomatoes, too















Salad bowl lettuce liked the rain and cooler weather. But it was hot today! Eggplant and peppers in the background.

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.