In Bec and Wilma's December Garden

December 1 was a rainy day but we found Bec and Wilma's Bonville garden fascinating. Bec has planted lots of exotics, especially fruit and nut trees. Wilma and Bec's vegetable garden is extensive with vegetables at all stages of production.

 Wilma extracts some well composted mulch from the pile.

This mini hothouse well stocked with seedlings.

This pumpkin is leaping up the wire fence.

We usually bring food and feast before our meeting. Beryl brought her award winning muesli slice. Her recipe is in an earlier post. Nell brought delicious steamed choko shoots, some buttered and some mixed with coconut milk. We also enjoyed Kay's tasty pizza  with balsamic onions, goats cheese, tomatoes and herbs baked on a puff pastry base. Part pre-baking of the pastry will ensure it does not go soggy. A pizza stone will also help.

This Atherton Oak was thriving. Can you see the nuts? Click on any pic to enlarge. This will be another nut for us to try. The fruit is bright blue.

Extensive raised vegetable gardens mix flowers and veges.

A bore (under the box cover) produces perfect water says Wilma.

A globe artichoke, lacking thorns and unlike my prickly beasts, is starting to flower.

A turmeric, in full flower, ready for planting out. Heinze uses these as a ground cover along his riverbank.

 Runner beans clamber up the fence.

A spring onion sets seed.

A Dragon Fruit has climbed up this palm. Bec uses a long stick to knock down the delicious red fruit.

The temperate loving Silver Beet  will gradually fail with rust in this humid summer weather. Nell says that this is the time the subtropical vegetables become the 'greens' for salads and stirfries. Choko tips, Sweet Potato tips, Edible Hibiscus, Brazilian Spinach, Amaranth, Kang Kong, Ceylon Spinach,  Rungia (Mushroom Plant) and Warrigal Greens flourish in the heat and humidity.

A bright red Canna provides a showy corner.

Wilma and Bec's vegetable corner.

These Saba Nut (Malabar Chestnut) trees are setting seeds around their trunks.

A garden arch makes a showy climbing bean support.

Borage in flower in the semi shade. Wikipedia suggests the leaves as well as the flowers can be used in salads.

Vegetables are crowded into beds.

Beetroot grows in front of coriander.

A Brachychiton tree shows off its full pink glory.

Growing Vegetables and using Bamboo; Ideas from Japan

We thought folk might be interested in how vegetables are still grown by many semi-urban and rural Japanese. Carol and I took a few photos as we explored Kyoto, Takayama, Hiroshima and Osaka by rail and bus. Don't forget a double click enlarges the photo.

This sign did catch the eye and seemed most appropriate for the Bellingen Seed Savers blog. In reality this shop was selling clothing.

 We were visiting in early to mid June and the weather was very hot and steamy, just like a NSW Mid North Coast summer but following the very cold Japanese winter. Many of these gardens were in a rural village in the mountains surrounded by still snowy peaks. Black plastic was commonly used to warm the soil for some crops and to suppress weeds. Interesting to see here the use of recycled plastic stakes in a land that has made the use of bamboo an art.

Japanese cities merge into villages with rice fields and vegetable gardens. Only the hilly and mountainous ground remains uncultivated. Note the onion tops bent over to ripen the onions before harvesting.

I think these might be tree onions.

Another vegetable garden seen from the train between Kyoto and Takayama. These gardens were alongside the tracks in the river valleys.

I suspect these are cucumbers, started with black plastic to warm the soil. Outside Takayama we visited a 'traditional' village where we could get close up to many more vegetable gardens.

I would never have thought of growing a potato patch with black plastic but these plants seemed to be flourishing.

These are climbing beans, still out of season when we visited.  However, we ate soybeans in tempura (delicious) and salads and drank lots of soy milk in coffee (not so delicious). Maybe soy beans would be a useful crop in our gardens as well?

Beans, tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums. The netting was commonly used to grow beans.

Why not grow a raft of water-loving vegetables or herbs on our ponds? This raft also sheltered the fish.

We could also grow a grapevine in a pot on the terrace. It might be easier to protect the fruit from the birds on a plant in a pot.

Ancient pomegranate trees, pruned and shaped for beauty over many years, were still producing fruit. It was rare to see a tree in a garden that had not been heavily pruned and shaped and sometimes supported. This allowed a dense planting in ornamental gardens.















An ancient plum tree orchard at the Shukkeien Garden, in this case the plum trees are grown more for the flowers in Spring rather than the fruit. Note the support for an ancient branch trained for a weeping effect.

When you see the meticulous pruning of the branch tips to induce a 'cloud pruning' effect it is easy to understand the time and care the Japanese expend on their trees. It might take a few days to prune a pine tree this size. You can clearly see the technique removes the growing green tip and leaves a smaller twig now inclined to branch and to grow densely and horizontally rather than vertically.

In the Bellingen area we often grow bamboo to use around the house and yard. Here are a few ways the Japanese use bamboo. It is used extensively, in this case to retain a bank.

Bamboo makes a useful barrier.......
















.... or fence, here a lattice attached to pine poles. The lattice is screwed or wired to the poles  and the black cord is tied over the screw to achieve a more authentic effect.

Here the bamboo is used to contain the bushy tips of the plant to achieve a brush effect. There is also a small gate inserted to allow access to this bamboo grove on the outskirts of Kyoto.

Here the bamboo lathes are used cleverly to disguise a PVC pipe emptying storm water into a garden drain.

Larger bamboo poles make a comfortable seat when tied to a steel frame.

This gate is more decorative than useful but the design could easily be adapted to achieve a gate more resistant to livestock.

If you are growing Camelia Chinensis (tea) at home, the bushes do thrive in our climate, then you may be interested in this small tea garden in the larger Shukkeien Garden in Hiroshima. The bushes are kept to waist height. Small tea gardens, this size, were seen attached to many houses on the outskirts of the cities and towns. I think I will be taking cuttings from my bush and planting out more to achieve at least a row of bushes. I grew to enjoy the green tea easily made from the tips of the bush.

A miniature rice paddy with irises grown for effect in the same garden.

All this pruning, shaping of trees and the use of bamboo adds up to a truly beautiful garden. The Shukkeien Garden is now restored to its full glory. The buildings and vegetation were restored after the A-bombing of Hiroshima.


Camphor Laurel trees are treasured in Japan and used extensively. They are constantly pruned to manage their growth and to create a cloud effect but I doubt their fruits are a problem to the native bush in Japan. These trees (below) grow around the A-bomb dome in Hiroshima, a sacred site for many. Folk in Bellingen, with its controversial Camphor Laurel trees, may be particularly interested in this photo.

Bellingen Seed Savers Visit to Carole's Garden, May 2011

Carole has a netted garden split into two sections. In one section the netting goes to ground level to keep the small birds out. The other area is netted sufficiently to protect from larger birds and fruit bats.


In the foreground you can see Carole's compost heaps, some covered to protect from rain and to conserve heat.


The Taro plant at the corner of the garden (bottom right) is thriving. This was the first day without rain after a week of showers.






Here are more compost heaps at various stages of development. Carole says that her self-seeded avocado (in the background) is really shading her garden too much so she keeps pruning out the top. This avocado has prospered in contrast to grafted avocados that have succumbed to root rot.

  
An old bath filled with Water Chestnuts is an ideal way to keep control of a plant that can become invasive and also makes harvesting a 'breeze'.

 

The garden that is fully netted has a variety of healthy chilis.

Aren't these chilis decorative? They also look super hot.

Nestled against the warmth of a north facing wall of Carole's house are these healthy pineapples. They look as decorative as any of the bromeliads.

The view from Carole's verandah where we enjoyed our usual afternoon tea feast. We especially enjoyed Lynda's slice made from sweet potato and polenta. Our gardens are flush with sweet potato at the moment so this a useful way to use this sweet vegetable.

Elaine had brought along a branch of her Clove Basil in full seed. This is a useful place to post Elaine's recipe for her delicious punch flavoured with Clove Basil.

HERB TEA PUNCH

Ingredients:


Berries of the Forest (or a similar cordial)
Lemon Grass
Lemon Myrtle leaves
Clove Basil leaves/seeds
Rosella fruit (Cranberry Hibiscus leaves might substitute)
Garden Mint and Peppermint
Orange rind.

Place a tablespoon of each of the above ingredients in a stainless steel saucepan or glass basin. ( Snip them a little with your kitchen scissors, to release more flavour.)

Cover with a litre or more of boiling water, stir for a minute and cover with lid, to prevent loss of flavours from evaporation.
Infuse until almost cold
Strain, pour over iceblocks into Punchbowl.  Chill.

The strained Herbs may be used a second or third time to extract the flavours and constituents.  Add to the punchbowl. Keep covered in the refridgerator.

When ready to serve, add a bottle of sugar free, preservative free, juice of your choice and a bottle of mineral or soda water. Stir to blend  and pour the PUNCH into glasses over some icecubes.

Elaine used sugar-free cranberry juice but advises that pomegranate, apple or blackcurrant juice also blend well.

Homer added wine to his 'erb teas. ENJOY.