We are growing vegitables and flowers on the porch of our condominium.

Actually my wife take care of them almost at all, and I just take the photos of them. I present these photos on this page.

Although we have grown various plants, we failed to grow some seeds. We just enjoy growing them, so it is not a big problem. Professional farmers, however, must surely grow plants perfectly anytime. I feel how difficult their work is.

Click photos to enlarge. Almost all photos were taken with Olympus C-5050 digtal camera. Some photos including wider ones were taken with Panasonic P905i mobile phone.
The date shown at the end of each explanation indicates the date of taking the photo.

"Natural water from the Southern Japan Alps"

Flower and vesitable seeds were appended as free gifts to "Natural water from the Southern Japan Alps," a brand of bottled mineral water, last year. The followings have been grown from these seeds. We started to grow the flowers in the spring last year, and the vesitables in the autumn last year.

Flowers

Wild strawberry

 

The wild strawberry produced fruit like this. The right photo shows its flower. The inside of the flower turns to the fruit as shown left. (fruit: Jun. 7, 2008，flower: May 5, 2008)

 

Although a lot of small insects like powders are put on the fruit, we washed and ate it. It was unexpectedly not sour, and the taste was plain but graceful. (Jun. 7, 2008)

We planted it in this pot at first, but it dit not bloom at that time. It bloomed just after moving it to this large planter.(Apr. 22, 2008)

 

These are the wild strawberry in January this year. We moved the plants on the porch to the inside of our house at that time, since it was about to snow. The right photo was taken 10 days after the movement. It looks that the plants capture more light by making the leaves coarser in darker environments.(Left: Jan. 20, 2008, Right: Jan. 30, 2008)

Thyme

 

Thyme, used as a kind of herb, bore pretty flower as small as 3mm, as shown right. (Jun. 7, 2008)

Large pinks

 

Large pinks bore buds at the time of the left photo, and then flowers as shown right after that．(Left: 2008. Apr. 22, Right: May 5, 2008)

A new bud appears from a pruned stalk. (Jul. 19, 2008)

Chamomile

 

Chamomile also grew up and bloomed beautifully. Reaped chamomile smells very good. (Left: Apr. 22, 2008, Right: Jun. 7, 2008)

New leaves have appeared on the stem after the reaping. (Jun. 14, 2008)

Cosmos

We sowed seeds of cosmos last year, but unfortunately failed to grow. A new sprout appeared in the soil containing dead stalks. We wish it grows this year. (Jun. 7, 2008)

Vesitables

Radish

 

Radish bore red roots already in the last January, as shown in the photo on the top. The the stems grew and bloomed as shown in the left bottom, and bore seeds as shown in the right bottom. (Top: Jan. 26, 2008, Left bottom: Apr. 22, 2008, Right bottom: May 5, 2008)

Scallion

 

We already cut and ate scallion three times. The smell is very good if it is chopped and put on soba and tofu. (Left: Apr. 22, 2008, Right: Jun. 7, 2008)

Small carrot

We put carrot at the early spring this year, but it did not grow well. Leaves like carrots have appeared recently. We hope it grows well. (Jun. 7, 2008)

Other plants

Rose

 

We bought this rose in the late autumn last year, and it was in a small cup at that time. It has grown large like this and blooms a lot. (Left: Apr. 26, 2008, Right: Apr. 27, 2008)

 

The flowers appeared later were different from those at the end of April in color. Actually, the color of the flower when we bought it was the same was this one. Is it because of the difference of nutrition? (Jun. 7, 2008)

More scallion

 

We bought seeds of scallion and put them into a planter. It sprouts two or three days after the seeding, as shown right. The planter in the back of the left photo contains turnips, which were also the free gifts of the bottled water. They grew up very early, and we ate them already. (May 14, 2008)

 

The scallion have grown very well, as shown here. Some of the sprouts will be removed, and they are also edible. (Jun. 7, 2008)

Shiso, Basil, and Parsely

   

Shiso, basil, and parsely from the left. We grew all of them from the seeds. We hope to enjoy the harvest. (Jun. 7, 2008)

 

Flowers of basil have bloomed. (Jul. 19, 2008)

Shiitake

This is a "Shiitake growing kit," obtained in Kochi, Japan. After putting it in the water for 24 hours and leaving it in shade, shiitakes appear as shown here. Since new shiitakes do not appear in summer, we will enjoy it in autumn again. (May 14, 2008)

Appendix: kabocha squash

 

After eating kabocha, we processed the seeds together with other garbage in a garbage drier and put it into the soil in a planter. It was more than one year ago, and kabocha somtimes grows like this after that. It grows very fast; The right photo was taken just one week after taking the left.

It is known that seeds of lotus slept 2000 years ago sprout and bloom. The seed is really tough. (Left: Jun. 7, 2008, Right: Jun. 14, 2008)