My tomatoes with disease (Bacterial Wilt Disease)

I found today my tomatoes which were planted in a plastic planter seemed to have some problem.
As the photos show, most of the leaves have become shabby and vigorless.

I believe my tomatoes have been infected with Bacterial Wilt Disease.

I'm very shocked when I found the fact but I know what I have to do for avoiding further infection.
I immediately removed the plastic planter out of my garden. Many young tomato fruits were on the trees but I had to throw them way......






-- from iPad

Summer vegetable's fruits

A bunch of tomatoes.
It seems to take a few weeks to be harvested...

My green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris l) 
We harvested some of them and grilled  with say sauce.

Now it's the best time when my mature egg-plants is harvested!
We saw many flowers and small fruits on the trees so we can enjoy them
for nest a few months!

-- from iPad

Growth of my black chili

I know some bloggers are waiting for the update on my black chili's growth.
It's been hot and sunny days with no rain shower in the past few days and the weather seems to boost the growth of my vegetables including my black chili.


About 15 flowers are found in the trees with other many buds.


Some fruits are so perfectly formed that we can see what they are at a glance.


I thought the color of the chili was black and it was introduced as "black chili" but I found the actual color was not black but very deep purple when I looked at them closer. Should I call them "Purple chili"?



-- from iPad

Harvesting all of my potatoes

As I said in my previous blog, we are in the mid of a rainy season starting from the mid of May and have less opportunity to harvest my potatoes. But I found it was cloudy in the morning and rainfall was not forecasted so I saw it the last chance to dig out all of my potatoes.

Digging out potatoes for short time requires more manpower. I could get help of my wife and daughter today. Thanks to their help, we could managed to finish harvesting all of them despite scattered shower, fortunately not heavy.


I had some extra seed potatoes after seeding in my garden so I planted them in a plastic planter.


That sounded experimental to me and I wondered if they could grow in the tiny space but we got 10 potatoes! That is a discovery which shows a potato can be grown in a planter.


All of harvested potatoes are dried and preserved in a balcony of my house.



-- from iPad

Harvesting in a rainy day

 I had a plan to harvest all of my potatoes today but seasonal rain (梅雨/Tsuyu) didn't allow me to do that and I had to wrap up today's work in my garden with harvesting just 5 cucumbers.
 I get worried about my potatoes in soil because if they are left in soil with a lot of water, they can be easily rotten or infected with disease.


 I believe the best way to enjoy taste of fresh vegetables is eating sliced or cut ones with simple seasoning like "cucumber-sticks" with mayonnaise. Now I'm drinking highball and the cucumber-sticks go well with sparkling alcohol....





-- from iPod touch

Harvesting potatoes.

Today I and my wife harvested potatoes in my garden while the weather was good in our place. Digging potatoes in soil is like a treasure hunting and we were excited with searching for big ones.


Although we had to suspend today's harvesting due to scattered rain, about 20 potatoes were dug out and some of them are as big as my fist. Those potatoes were found under only a few potato trees so we can expect more and bigger potatoes can be harvested this weekend from the rest of 15 potato trees. I can imagine my kids will be also excited digging them out!


-- from iPad

Flowers and fruits of my summer vegetables

Seeing flowers and fruits of summer vegetables is enjoyable and exciting for all gardeners in Japan during a rainy season, I believe. In my garden many flowers and fruits are found and they can alleviate my fatigue during working in a rainy day.




My cucumbers are blooming and they stretch their vines and wind them around plastic poles. The fruits of cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants are also growing.






-- from iPad

Black chili's flowers and fruits

Since my last blog on my black chili, much flowers of my black chili are blooming. All of the black chili's trees also have became taller so the growth gives me a hope for good harvest of the black chili.


The flowers are small but so cute and attractive that My kids are also very curious about the flowers.


I found one more thing beautiful and exciting today! One black chili's fruit was found in a tree of the chili! I expect that it will take a few weeks to see mature fruits and harvest them. The black chili is a indigenous type, which was produced and grown in the limited areas in Nara prefecture for long time, so I wondered if mine could grow in my garden.



-- from iPad

Funguses in my garden

It took about 2weeks since a rainy season had started. As I expected, less sunny days but humid days has continued. Rain water in this season is essential for healthy growth of my vegetables but other things in my garden also seem to need it.

Some funguses have been germinated on s planting bed for my potatoes. My kids found them first and told me that today. I have less knowledge of funguses and couldn't identify them so I told my kids not to pick them up and eat them since they can be poisonous.



I would like my blogging friends to help me identifying them. My kids are also very interested in the funguses. If they are poisonous, I'll have to pull them out of my garden for safety.



-- from iPad

Digging out potatoes for test

 How can we see when we should harvest potatoes? I've been wondering when I should but today I found some leaves of potatoes have turned into yellow and fallen on to the ground, which is a sign for harvesting potatoes many gardeners say. So I dug out some potatoes for a test and see if I can harvest or not. 
 Before digging out, I thought it was still early to harvest them but my assumption has changed into my hope! I dug the smallest potato sprout but 5 or 6 middle size potatoes were found in the soil!! A half of all leaves of my bigger potatoes are yellowish so in a few days I can harvest most of my potatoes!
 The point I worry is the size of potatoes. The early start of a rainy season might shorten the time for potatoes to getting ripe.


-- from iPad

A sunny day in rainy season

 According to weather reports, Japan's rainy season (梅雨/Tsuyu) has already started and the start is about 10 days earlier than usual. I don't know that means the rainy season will last for longer or will end earlier than usual. Anyway, optimum precipitation in the rainy season is must for healthy growth of my vegetables while I feel it dull to spend long rainy season with less sunny days. 
 Today' weather in Osaka is very fine and sunny so I can't miss this opportunity to work in my garden for long time because a sunny day like today is so rare in the rainy season.
 While working in my garden, I found growth and flowers of my vegetables. Those can alleviate my fatigue.

A flower of cucumber

Some cucumbers are getting ripe and long.

Eggplants also have small fruits.

My pea's growth is amazing with long winding vines. 

-- from iPad

Flowers of black chili

 I know some of my blogging friends are interested in the growth of my black chilies and they are waiting for my update on the vegetable. Today I would like to show you a good news of the black chili. 

 I found today some flowers of my black chili are blooming and many buds also are growing well and will bloom in a few days. I saw the flower for the first time and I feel it curious to see the flowers. They are small but have five beautifully violet petals which are associated with the color of black chili's fruits. The violet petals are so interesting and attractive because usual red chili's flower has white petals.


-- from iPad