EXPLORING NARITA, JAPAN

 This past month I spent two weeks in Narita, Japan. I stayed in a budget, business hotel right next to the Keisei- Narita train station.  This was my first time to Japan and it was an introduction to a country that I hope to visit many times again.  It is a straight non-stop flight from Hawaii so I have deliberately gone for the longer trips up to now and left this easier flight for my old age.  Ah yes!  That time has arrived.

Although I did take the train one day into Tokyo, I spent most of my time exploring Narita and the smaller towns in the Chiba prefecture by train and bus.  Narita has a lot going for it and there is an important temple complex which is approached through a long street filled with old heritage shops.  The temple has an extensive garden park as well.  I loved the rural views from trains of rice fields bordered by the houses on higher ground and up next to the islands of mature forest.  I soon learned that often there was an old Shinto temple hidden away in the forest trees or bamboo.  Even just walking around the urban areas was so interesting with a mix of modern and traditional style houses with their container gardens or beautiful Japanese style gardens.  As usual, I enjoyed peeping over fences to see what was growing in their vegetable plots.  It was autumn time so persimmon  trees were covered with their golden fruit.  The deciduous trees were just starting to change color so I missed out on seeing the full autumn show.  Chrysanthemums were just starting to bloom.

Here are a few garden photos taken around Narita.....remember you can click on them for a better view. 

Pine trees near entrance to Naritasan Shinshoji temple.

A street intersection garden filled with Cosmos flowers which 
seemed popular in other towns too.
The Yakushido Hall is the background.

A view from a walkway in the temple park.

I am not sure what this shrub is called but it was 
in flower everywhere...in gardens and containers.

The garden center at the big Oeon Mall in Narita
Lots of pansies for sale.

Compact and private.... house and garden.

I loved these little mini parks with paths that
connected streets in the urban area.

Most businesses and homes in the old town  center would
have at least a few container plants by their entrance.

Lots of container plants at this home.

Entrance to an old Shinto temple in a grove of ancient
trees in a town park.

Aloha

SILVER BUTTONWOOD (Conocarpus erectus var. Seriseus)

Near my home and only about 100 yards from the beach is a Silver Buttonwood tree that I walk pass as I go for a swim. I am not sure how old it is but it is at least 30 years.  Despite the winter salt wind that can devastate the trees in my garden this tree stands steady and healthy.  I have grown great respect for this tree over the years so want to recommend it to anybody who is trying to grow a garden near the beach.

Leaves and seed balls.

The Silver Buttonwood looks a little different to tropical plants because of it silver gray color but it is a tough native of Florida.  Back home it has various degrees of green to silver.  Seriseus has been started by a horticulturist who cleverly propagated a new silver gray variety from a particular silvery plant.

The beautiful twisty trunk.

Silver Buttonwood trees remind me of olive trees around the Mediterranean.  They can grow 15-25 ft. in height with wide spreading branches.  They are highly wind and salt tolerant and can make a lovely, shady accent tree to have your garden chairs under.  The tree I walk pass often has grown away from the wind somewhat so it really needs to have that side trimmed back to restore a nice shape.  I have seen other Silver Buttonwoods severely shaped and even trimmed down as a hedge.  They are very forgiving of the pruners.  The older trees develop a twisted trunk appearance that has its own beauty.  Th silver leaves have a soft velvet touch and the flowers are tiny balls that turn into small seedy balls.

The tree that is near our beach.  You can see that the
branch to the left needs to be cut way back to shape
up the tree.

The Silver Buttonwood likes full sun but can tolerate some shade.  It is tough but a lack of water will make some of the leaves turn yellow and drop off so a few drinks from the hose in the summer will keep the foliage full.  It also benefits from a yearly trim to keep its good looks.  If propagating this tree you will need to get clones to keep the strong silver leaf color so cuttings or air-layering are the ways to go.  I grew some Silver Buttonwood babies many years ago from cuttings and I remember not having a big success rate.  Definitely use rooting hormone and it seemed that cuttings of small starts growing out of the trunk worked best.  Maybe getting a bit of the trunk tissue attached on the end of the cutting was what helped.

Aloha

CUCUMBERS (Cucumis sativus)

 

This has been a Cucumber summer for me.  It is the first time I have ever grown Cucumbers and I had no idea that Cucumbers could be so much fun or that baby Cucumbers could be so cute.  I have two plants of the long skinny Japanese/Asian variety Cucumber and so far I have picked thirteen with a few more still coming.  Growing vegetables is still a learning process for me as my kitchen container garden only got going after I retired and had the time to give it.  I used to read gardening books for information but now it is Google and You Tube that we all turn to.  Either way I am sure the learning process is good for my old brain as is the food grown.

Male flower with female attached on young cucumber fruit.

From those sources I have learnt that Cucumbers are warm weather vegetables that have fast growing but short lives.  One needs to make sure that you keep up with picking the fruit often and early to keep new ones growing.  An unpicked, yellow, ripe Cucumber sends the message to the plant that its job of procreation is done and the plant will die.  Another important fact is that Cucumbers need a lot of water and certainly should be checked every day.  Mulching will help the plants not dry out so fast.

Cucumbers like rich, well drained soil.  Compost is always good.  There are bush and trellis growing types of plants.  The bush ones are good for container growing but my vine ones are doing good with support.  Any long strong stick laying around has been called to duty with string ties to help hold the vines on them.

Young cucumber plant growing on a 
trellis of sticks and the trunk of a 
tall lau pele plant.

Powdery mildew can be a problem so a trellis allows air to flow around the plant to help prevent this.  Removing the lowest leaves and not watering the leaves, only the soil, (like you would with tomatoes) also helps.  In Hawaii pickle worm can be a problem with Cucumbers too.  Several times I have bought local Cucumbers at a store and found a larvae tube going through the fruit when I cut it open at home.  Some people cover their Cucumbers with bags to protect them from this while on the vine.  I have been wrapping mine with onion bag netting and so far have not had any problem.

Cucumber wrapped in onion bag netting to keep away
the pickle worm bug. Plus the red netting helps for
easy finding of the fruit amongst the leaves.

The Cucumber has distinctive male and female flowers.  The first lot of flowers that show up are all big, yellow male flowers and it is suggested to remove those to give more energy to plant growth.  The female flowers are not so showy but grow on an inch long prickly looking stem.  If the female gets pollinated that stem grows into the Cucumber but will just wither and die if it does not.  Within 5 days or so you will be able to twist the grown Cucumber off the vine as it seems to double in size every day.  This whole process is what makes this plant so interesting.  First thing every morning I have to go see what is happening on my two vines and find any fruit that is ready for picking.  I also love showing my grandchildren the process and they get a mini lesson about plant sex life as part of it.

Two male flowers on the left and a female flower on 
the right showing the stem that grows into a
cucumber if the flower is pollinated.

I grew my plants from seed in a small pot and then planted them up in two large 5 gallon pots which I keep covered in mulch.  In the future, I think one plant at a time is enough for me, but I will try growing a replacement a few months later to keep my supply up.  August heat has arrived and I am not sure how long these two plants will last into late summer. Some leafy vegetables are definitely wilting with the heat despite getting water. Will I be able to grow them in winter?  It will be an ongoing Cucumber education.

My very first cucumbers!

Meanwhile, I love eating Cucumbers.  I grew up eating the occasional Cucumber salad or sandwich.  I remember my father getting excited about growing a new white, round apple shaped Cucumber.  My travels in the Middle East made me see Cucumbers in a new light.  If you are living in hot desert countries like Egypt or Israel, Cucumbers become an extra source of cooling hydration. After all, they are 95% water.  Cucumbers get served at almost every meal including breakfast.  In Nepal street sellers would have long spears of cut Cucumbers to sell as refreshment along with other fruit.  Although Cucumbers are not super high in nutrients, those that they do have are mostly in the skin.  This is why I like the local Japanese cucumbers as they are very thin skinned and do not need to be peeled.  I can happily eat Cucumber slices with salt as a side dish but for special meals I like making the rice vinegar based Japanese Namasu  or the yogurt based Indian Raita.  Of course there are also Cucumber pickles to consider.....especially if you have too many Cucumbers.

Aloha

P.S.  November 2024

I saw these thin Japanese cucumbers on sticks for sale in Narita, Japan.  A cooling treat for the many visitors visiting the big temple complex there.  There are bags of ice on top of the cucumbers to keep them cold.

One for 200 yen.....about US $1.30

MAY IN MOROCCO

 In May I spent a month of slow travel around Morocco.  This is somewhere I have long wanted to go and have years of collected travel magazine articles to prove it.  Morocco is really trying to attract tourists these days so I am sure it was easier to navigate the country now than a few decades ago.  The place I enjoyed the most was Fes (Fez) with its busy old medina full of political and religious history.  The city is also surrounded by a beautiful Mediterranean agriculture landscape.  I loved the golden wheat fields in the process of being harvested and all the olive trees.  I could not get enough of the shepherds out in the fields with their herds of sheep and goats.  I fell in love with every donkey and pitied them for the heavy loads they sometimes were pulling.

Oranges were in season so I made the most of the fresh squeezed orange juice sold at street stalls.  Every day I ate luscious local apricots, nectarines and peaches.....something I refuse to buy here in Hawaii because the shipped fruit are so disappointing.  Morocco cities are very proactive in creating plazas and shady parks where their citizens can relax in the cool of the evenings although the parks could do with more weeding and trash cans.  A few private gardens with paid entrance are very popular with the tourists.  One curious thing I noticed was the presence of pink oleander bushes all along river and stream edges in the north part of the country.  The seeds must get carried around in the water.  It was spring time when I was in Morocco and the botanical highlight of the trip was all the wild flowers in bloom though out the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilus. It was just fabulous.

As usual after my trips, I have been sorting through my photos and here are a few garden related photos for you.

Sunken citrus grove at the ruined Badi Palace, Marrakesh 
Note the modern palms at the far right and the stork nesting
up on the wall.

View of the private Secret Garden from the 
rooftop café. Olive and orange trees plus lavender
interplanted with pink flowering society garlic.
 Marrakesh

Plants for sale on the street in the Mellah area of Fes.

House door ways in a Fes medina alleyway.  The 
one with all the plants is a Riad guesthouse.

Public gardens outside of Fes city walls.

Bunches of herbs being sold in the street by an elderly woman.
  All of them are used for making medicinal teas.

The  public Jnane Sbil Gardens in Fes.
Jacaranda trees were in flower though out the city.

Local olives being sold in Meknes market.  
Olives are eaten at every meal in Morocco so
people there were very concerned with the
recent big increases in cost of the staple food.

A bougainvillea in full show...in an alley in Fes.

 A view of the Kasbah gardens and walls from the tower
with the blue city of Chefchaouen behind.

The ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis showing some of
its wild flowers and the golden wheat fields beyond.

Aloha

SPRING IN SOUTH ENGLAND

 

In the last few months I have been off traveling again and as part of the trip I spent two weeks in  England.  I based for that time in the historical city of Reading.  The train station was just a few minutes walk away to go off on day trips to London and Oxford while the local buses would get me to Windsor and Heathrow Airport.  It was Spring so my favorite sightings were the bluebells flowering in ancient graveyards. Reading is built where the River Kennet joins up with the River Thames so there were scenic river walks to enjoy.  In the middle of the city is the lovely Forbury Gardens next to the medieval abbey ruins.  I was finally able to visit Kew Gardens on this trip.  To get there I took a tourist boat from Westminster pier which I heartedly recommend.  I got back to the city via train/tube.  Kew Gardens was in full tulip mode and I enjoyed seeing the historic glasshouses with their exotic plant collections.  I guess Kew Gardens was the garden highlight of the trip but another was a quiet walk around the water meadow behind Magdalen College in Oxford.   Here are a few glimpses from the trip for you.  

    

Bluebells in church cemetery behind pilgrims hostel,  Reading 

                                                                                                                                       

The Geoff Hill Memorial Garden 
behind Watlington House, Reading

                

Windsor Castle

House entrances down alley, Windsor

Addisons"s Walk around the water meadow
at Magadelen College, Oxford.

Tulips and wall flowers in stone trough, 
at entrance to St Edmund Hall,  Oxford

Back garden at Kew Palace
Kew Gardens

New Zealand natives in the Temperate Glasshouse
Kew Gardens

Part of a large, mind blowing tulip display
Kew Gardens

Aloha

KALE (Brassica oleracea)

 

A year ago, I planted two Kale plants with a few perpetual spinach (Swiss Chard) plants in a large tub and hoped they would cooperate with each other.  After a few months it was obvious that one Kale was the dominate plant and overpowering the others.  As it grew bigger and bigger I decided it needed the whole tub to itself, so the other plants got pulled up and eaten.  I have included a few photos of my Kale plant in this post.  It is the first one I have grown to get so big, and I am thrilled with it.  I looked with envy at Kale I saw growing in a community garden on Bainbridge Island, Seattle a decade ago (Oct. 2014) but now I have one of my own!  One plant is all I need to keep me fed.  I use it in soups, curries, stir fries and salads.  I would never have thought to use it in salads until Costco introduced us to their wonderful kale salad.  I have also heard of Kale chips but have never seen or tasted them yet.

Kale is a cruciferous vegetable and like cabbage and broccoli etc. in that family, it is said to have anti-cancer properties.  It is high in fiber, calcium, vitamins C and K plus other antioxidants.  Kale is native to Europe and there are three main types:  Curly, Tuscan (also called Lacinato or Dinosaur) and Red.  You sometimes see a colorful ornamental type grown in city landscapes too.  No doubt they are edible in a pinch.  My Kale plant is the Tuscan type.....usually called Dinosaur around here and seems to be the best in local gardens.

Kale is a biennial plant so in our warm climate it will last two years even though it actually prefers cooler weather.  It likes rich loam which is kept moist but well drained.  It loves high Nitrogen and compost.  Grow it in full sun or partial shade.

When harvesting use the older leaves first leaving the center top ones to keep the plant growing upwards.  The leaves stay sweeter if the plant is kept watered and not stressed and allowed to dry out. The stems on the leaves are rather tough so I usually cut them off when cooking.

You can see in the photo that my older plant is now getting lots of small Kale heads growing up its stem.  I do pick these small leaves for cooking too, but I have also started removing the whole keiki and planting it up in potting mix.  This should give me some new Kale starts for the garden.  Kale can also be grown from seed and takes 2 1/2 to 3 months from seed to harvest.  The keiki taken from the stem will be faster.

You will notice I have some netting over the kale.  That is to prevent white butterflies from landing on the leaves and laying their eggs.  I have had to pick a few of their little green caterpillars off and check for them if I see any holes in the leaves.

Aloha

SPEARMINT (Mentha spicata)

One always hears how easy Mint is to grow and that once you get going it will take over your garden.  I wish!  It took me several years to get a decent Mint supply in my garden and I learned a few lessons along the way.  One day I was at a garden center, and I could hear a lady telling the store attendant that her Mint kept dying on her.  So....I was not the only one having problems with the plant.

I am just going to call this plant Mint even though the proper name for the common Mint used everywhere is Spearmint.  Most of us just call it Mint.  There are many varieties of Mint that are similar although they have different scent and flavor.  Mint is native across Europe and the cooler parts of Asia with a long history of use by many cultures.

Mint needs to be grown in rich, well drained, but moist, soil.  Compost added to the soil is very important and give it an extra sprinkling at dirt level every few months.  Low release fertilizer is good too.  In Hawaii I make sure that the Mint is shaded from the hot afternoon sun.  The key is to not let the plant dry out so make sure it is watered at least twice a week.

If you have strong healthy plants Mint can get aggressive and spread beyond its boundaries so it is wise to grow it in a container.  It also can get quite leggy and bushy so sometimes it needs a good haircut that lowers it down to 3 inches or so to promote new lush growth with stronger leaf flavor.  Give it a feeding at this time with a light layer of compost and mulch.  Although a perennial, in the hot summer Mint can go dormant to protect itself.  I am not sure if my plants were just dormant in the past and I thought they were dying.  Maybe if I had just mulched and watered, they would have come back. On the other hand, maybe I was just not watering enough.  Either way I ended up buying a new plant.  My Mint is so much happier now that it is under the light shade of the curry leaf tree.  Just picking leaf sprigs for kitchen use keeps it trimmed most of the time but every several months I give it a haircut.  Harvest the leaves in the morning when they are fresh, and you can keep them perky by standing the sprigs in a glass of water.

Mint is easy to propagate.  The easiest way is to just divide up a mature plant.  You can cut through the root ball with a knife like you are cutting up a cake then easily plant up each of the slices. It is good to divide up your container plant every few years.  Mint naturally spreads by sending out root runners that send out new roots at the nodes (joints). Find healthy growing runners of several inches that you can cut off and plant in potting mix to get started.  You can also get cuttings rooted first in a jar of water before you plant them up if you like doing it that way.  It is possible to buy Mint seeds online, but I have never known anyone to propagate Mint from seed in home gardens.  Cuttings are the way to go.

Mint is not just a garnish for your fruit salad but a nutritional green leaf we can use in our daily diet.  I love it in salads or in spring rolls.  It can be blended into plain yogurt for a dressing.  The leaves can be used fresh or dried to make peppermint tea or just add the fresh leaves to your black tea as they do in the Middle East.  In Nepal I was introduced to a homemade green lemonade where a hand full of Mint leaves, lemon juice, ice water and sugar were all thrown into a blender. The result certainly hit the spot after a hot day of exploring and I love making it a home now.  My childhood memory is the very Kiwi mint sauce that you could not eat roasted lamb without.  Home cooks made it from minced mint leaves, vinegar and sugar.

Aloha

PS  July 2024

Mint being sold in Essaouira, Morocco  medina which
is mostly used for adding to hot tea.

KAFFIR LIME (Citrus hystrix)

Kaffir Lime is a citrus tree native to tropical S.E. Asia.  Unfortunately, its common name is also used as an ethnic slur in South Africa although the name is thought to originate in Ceylon... deriving from the Arabic word kafir meaning infidel. There is a gradual PC movement to have the lime go by its Thai name which is Makrut Lime although I have used the old name up top because most of the world still knows the plant by that.

Kaffir Lime leaves are synonymous with that flavor of Thai curry that we all love.  Thai restaurants seem to be in every city of the world these days, so we have got used to this exotic leaf.  I realized how much it had conquered the world when I saw fresh Kaffir Lime leaves being sold in a supermarket in Iceland.  I am not much of a cook but have always fancied being able to try my hand at Thai cooking.  I even took a cooking class once in Thailand where I realized it was a rather complex task to prepare the spice base.  Thankfully now I can buy Thai curry paste already prepared at my supermarket and make up an easy Thai meal in 20 minutes or so.  Just cook together the paste, vegetables, canned coconut cream, and some cooked meat together in a pan. Then of course you can add a few Kaffir Lime leaves to the mix, and you really have that authentic taste and appearance.

I have a small Kaffir Lime tree growing in a pot.  It is several years old, but it is still small and bonsai like, because of keeping it root bound in a small pot.  Some years ago, I spied a Kaffir lime fruit on the ground at a botanical park and took it home with me to see if I could get some seeds growing from it.   This gave me my first tree which I planted out in the garden.  However, it became such a gangly, sprawling tree with big sharp thorns that I decided I did not want it in my yard.  That is why I now keep my Kaffir Lime as a small tree in a pot.  It is not as if I am using the leaves on a daily basis, so this small tree is just a nice addition to my herb garden.  I could see it doing well on a patio if you live in an apartment.  If it grows too big it is an easy matter of pruning it down to size and then you can freeze the removed leaves for later use.

The rind of the small bumpy fruit can be used for flavoring as well as the leaves.  The actual inside of the fruit is rather fibrous and sour with lots of seeds so not usually used.  When making your Thai curry you can add whole leaves to flavor it, or you can cut up the leaves in thin strips after removing the midrib.

Healthy leaf on the right while the two on
the left have leaf miner problem.

The Kaffir Lime has a different looking double wing leaf appearance.  I believe I am right in saying that this shows it to be of ancient citrus origin.  There are a few other citrus trees that show similar leaves like my Jambhiri Lemon. (June, 2013 )  The Kaffir Lime flowers in spring to produce its fruit in the summer.  I am still waiting for that to happen on my tiny tree.  Trees can be propagated from seed or cuttings or even from a single leaf.  Like all citrus trees, it likes water and extra feeding at least a few times a year.  I do have a problem with citrus leaf miner on the leaves sometimes. At first you see the silvery trails of the leaf miner in the leaves and then the leaves curl up.  I usually just pull off the old, affected leaves and the plant will grow healthy new ones.

Aloha