First Day on the Farm

Yesterday afternoon, we loaded up the back of the car with all the gardening stuff, including the plants we’d grown on the balcony and a couple of tomato plants and a pepper plant that we purchased for 100 yen each and drove out to the garden space.

The garden plot had been tilled up and the spaces marked with string and sticks.

This beer box held 24 bean plants that were grown on our balcony, each in its own section.

 We looked around at what other people had done so far and tried to learn. Some of these gardens look like serious farming already. We saw another nearby plot where the gardener had dug a ditch for the line of onions, so we did the same, trying to space them similarly. In the row next to the onions we planted some corn that had spouted on the balcony.

The dirt has a lot of clay, but Ted found this worm, so I think that’s good. Maybe worms will crawl through clay dirt and break it up. Ted was farming in shorts and a sleeveless shirt while everyone else out there was totally covered up.

This elderly woman rode to the garden on a bicycle with two boxes on the back and the basket full. She carried more on the bike than we had in the car.

Ted planted flower seeds in this pizza box (that we saved from Cosco – everything gets recycled here) and put the little spouts in the corner of the garden space. We also have a sunflower sprout in each corner of the garden.

The beans that sprouted on the balcony already had roots that are six inches long.

Other gardeners came and went while we were out there and I noticed people talking with each other.  It would be nice to be able to talk with the other gardeners. After watering the little plants from a little canal that runs along side the garden, we were ready to call it a day. When we come back we will bring the lettuce and other seed packets. This is going to be a fun summer activity.

Farmer Ted