多田錦柚子など Tada Nishiki Yuzu etc

 今日も冬の前の草むしり、ユリ球根の植え替え、使用済み土の再生準備などで午後が過ぎてしまいました。秋になって自然光が変化したのか、写真がどれも白っぽくなります。玄関前の菊の蕾が膨らんできました。いつもは玄関ドア前を陣取るタイガが、

Another afternoon spent getting ready for the winter, by tiding up weeds, more lily bulbs repotted, recycling used soil for future use, etc.  With the arrival of autumn, the natural light seems to have changed a lot - plants in recent photos look pale.  

Flower buds on the chrysanthemums in front of the porch are getting ready for flowering.  Today, Taiga is absent from the picture.

今日は玄関の中でリラックスして、呼んでも出て来ません。昨日は蚊取り線香の煙を嫌がっていたので、たぶん今日はそれを避けているのでしょう。

She preferred to stay inside the porch, relaxing on the cool tiles.  I think she wants to avoid the incense that I burn in order to repel mosquitoes while I work outside - she hated it yesterday.

秋は果樹の最後の施肥の季節。近所のJAで初めて見かけた肥料を試しに買ってみました。Pが突出しています。骨粉たっぷりの肥料だそうです。これまで果樹のために骨粉だけのものを買っていましたが、結構高い。そこで、リーズナブルな値段で骨粉中心のこの肥料を試すことにしました。

Autumn is the last time I apply fertilisers to my fruit trees.  When I went to the nearby JA, I saw a new type of fertiliser and decided to try it.  I give bone meal to my fruit trees, but it is not cheap.  However, this fertiliser with lots of bone meal was quite reasonable.

さっそく牛糞と混ぜて多田錦などに施肥。この苗は去年買ったばかりですが、今年の春に地植えにしたあと急に枝が繁茂して、現在樹高は1m+。今年の夏はずっと台風の雨続きで、数個の実が裂果して落ちましたが、まだけっこう残っています。

I mixed the above fertiliser with dried cow dung before using it on Tadanishiki Yuzu.  I bought this plant in spring last year.  After I put it in the ground this spring, it grew rapidly and it now measures just above 1 meter.  Due to the long rains during summer this year, several fruits cracked and dropped off the tree, but there are still quite a few surviving.

ほんのり色づき始めた実もあります。

This fruit is starting to turn yellow.

完熟したらマーマレードにする予定。種が殆ど入らないので加工しやすいです。

When these are ripe, I will make them into marmalade.  Tadanishiki is a seedless yuzu which makes it easy for marmalade.

多田錦の隣にはカラカラが植わっています。数年前に地植えにしたあと、初年度に１個だけ実を着けた以外、今までろくに花も咲きません。来年こそ。

ただし、カラカラに高接ぎした星タンゴールの枝に、今年１個の実が生りました。

Near Tadanishiki, there is Cara Cara Orange.  After I planted this tree in the ground several years ago, I had one fruit.  Since then, the tree hardly produces any flower buds even.  Hoping for a better result next year.

However, the Hoshi Tangor Orange branch that is grafted onto Cara Cara has a fruit this year.

栄養を独占してか、星タンゴール本体でも見たことない大きな実になっています。収穫は来年の４月頃なので、さらに肥大するかもと期待しています。

This one fruit gets all the nutrition it requires, and it is already larger than any I have seen growing on the Hoshi Tangor tree itself.  This variety ripens in April, so there is still time to grow.

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健康な食生活のために黒色の食品を摂るべきだそうですが、黒豆は時間がかかるし他に手軽なものはあまり思いつかないので、身近な黒ゴマをおかずに添加しています。今日は黒ゴマ入りの丸パンです。小麦粉400gに黒ゴマ20g (5%)

I am told that for a healthy food life, you should consume black food items, too.  However, I cannot think of many such items that I can take with little effort - black beans take a long time to cook, black garlic is very expensive.  So, I add black sesame seeds to my cooking, and today, I baked buns with black sesame seeds.  I used 20g (5%) sesame seeds with 400g flour.

発酵済みでオーブンへ。

Final proofing done, and to the oven.

もう少しゴマを入れても良かったかも。

Perhaps I should have used more sesame seeds.

キンカンライムなど Limequat etc

 水遣り以外、軒下でほとんど放置状態だったキンカンライムの苗を引っ張り出してびっくり。枝が左右に伸び放題で、こんなに樹形が乱れていました。

This is Limequat growing in a pot.  Apart from watering, I have been neglecting it by placing it under the balcony.  When I pulled it out into the open, I was shocked to see how the branches had grown - they looked out of control.

世話しなくても良く実がなる品種で、しかも粒揃いです。

This plant produces lots of fruits even with little care by me.  Also, the fruits' sizes are quite uniform.

１個だけ、色づき始めたものがあります。

One of the fruits seems to be maturing.

もう使えそう。料理やお茶など、ほんの少しだけ香酸類が欲しいとき、使い切りサイズなので便利です。

It looks ready to be used.  When I need only drops of citrus juice in cooking or for tea, I find this very handy by using the whole fruit.

今年は早めにユリ球根の植え替え作業をしました。うちには紅筋山百合がありますが、その中で２つのタイプに分かれています。

こちらは去年の夏に練馬の渋谷園芸本店で買ったほうで、比較的安価でした。去年の冬の植え替え時に肥料をたっぷりやっておいたので、今年の開花は去年買った時の花よりも大輪。

This year, I am repotting the lily bulbs earlier than usual, while it is warm and pleasant to work outside.  I grow Red Yamayuri and they are grouped into two types as below.

These are the ones I bought in summer last year, from a shop in Nerima, and they were inexpensive.  The flowers were small then, but after giving the bulbs plenty of fertiliser when I repotted them last winter, this year's flowers were much larger.

これ↓が今日 掘り起こしたときの球根で、それぞれの上根に１個ずつ子球ができていました。

When I dug them out today, I found each original bulb had a baby bulb among the upper roots.

こちらはヤフオクで買った球根からの花。球根は高かったけど、本格的な紅筋山百合です。

These are the flowers from one of the bulbs I bought on an auction site.  The bulbs were expensive, but the flowers are authentic Red Yamayuri, and different from Dizzy Oriental Lily.

今年花をつけたのは右の大きいほうの球根だけでしたが、今日の状態を見ると左の小さいほうも来年は咲きそうです。右の球根は買ったときよりかなり大きくなっていて、上根も沢山出ていました。

This year, only the bulb on the right produced flowers.  However, looking at the smaller one, I think it has grown mature enough for flowering next year - it has grown much larger than when I bought it, as well as having lots of upper roots.

この２個の球根には上根に子球ができていませんでしたが、まるで球根が分裂しそうな箇所はありました。ユリ栽培に慣れた人なら、うまく子球として取り外すことができるでしょうが、私は自信ないので、そのまま植えておきました。

Although these bulbs had no baby ones among the upper roots, each of them has a potential baby that seems ready to be detached.  A person with enough experience might be able to separate the baby and make it an independent one, but I am too scared to do it.  So, I simply repotted them as they were.

大きい球根のすぐ横に支柱を立てて越冬です。来年の春、だいたいどのあたりから芽が出るか、予想がつきやすくなります。

I placed a prop next to each of the large bulb, ready for winter.  This way, I would know where to look for the new buds in spring next year.

売れ残り苗を買ってきたパッションフルーツは、８月下旬のこの状態から

The leftover passion fruit plant that I bought in late August has grown from this state

いまは２個の実をつけています。

to this currently, with two fruits growing on it. 

最初に着果した下のほうの実と

Of the 3 flowers that appeared, the lower fruit is from the 2nd flower.

次に結実した上のほうの実は、だんだんと同じサイズに近づいてきています。明日の朝の最低気温は15℃の予想で、来週の後半には15℃を下回るようなので、そろそろ２階の南向き部屋に取り込む時期になりました。

The upper fruit is from the 3rd flower, and its size is getting close to the lower fruit.  Now, the expected lowest temperature for tomorrow morning is 15℃, and the lowest temp is forecast to fall below 15℃ in late next week.  I will be taking this pot to a south-facing room upstairs soon.

同時に買ったビラフランカレモンも順調に育っていて、大きいほうの実が若干黄色くなってきました。

The leftover Villa Franca lemon that I bought at the same time has also been doing well.  The larger fruit has grown a lot, and it is starting to turn yellow.

大雪棗など Big Snow Jujube etc

 東向きバルコニーに置いてある大雪棗に、1個だけ色づいた実があります。これは８月の開花からの実ですが、他の枝の日陰になっている７月開花からの実よりも陽当たりが良いから早いのかも。

The Big Snow Jujube sits on the east-facing balcony, and one of the young fruits seems ripe.  This fruit is a result of August flowering.  Unlike the two larger fruits from July flowering which are hidden under other branches, this fruit is exposed to the morning sun.  That is perhaps why it is maturing before the fruits from July-flowering.

写真左下にも色づき始めた実がありますが、やはり朝日が良く当たる箇所です。

In this photo below, there is another fruit starting to ripen, in the bottom lefthand corner.  This one is also exposed to the early morning sun.

でも今回の着目はこれ。果皮がテカテカで、果肉がスポンジ化していないことが明らか。

However, this is the fruit I am interested in for now.  The skin is shiny which means that I can expect firm flesh, instead of spongy one.

試食のために採ってみました。これが最初から見えていた側面。

I picked it for tasting.  This is the side I was looking at earlier.

その裏側はまだ完全に赤くなってはいませんでしたが、全体として食すに最適のタイミングです。

The other side was not yet totally red.  However, as a whole, this is the best timing to taste the fruit.

重さを計ると15gで、意外と軽い・小さい。まあ、苗の栽培初年度だし８月の開花からのものなので文句は言えません。

The fruit weighed 15g, which was below my expectation.  Never mind, this is the initial year of growth for the plant which arrived in poor condition in the previous winter.

半割にして糖度を計ると、種のあるほうは46.5度。

I cut the fruit into halves, and the one on the left showed sugar content of 46.5%.

もう一方は46.4度でした。実際に食べてみると、果肉はサクサク、酸味と甘みが十分あって、とても美味しいです。

The other half's sugar content was 46.4%.  When I ate them, they were crunchy and delicious with enough acidity and sweetness.

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去年の春に買った中国大実棗は、１年で育ちすぎたので今年の春に盆栽風に仕立てようとしたら、結果は大失敗でした。

This is another Chinese variety, but whose proper name is not known (the street name in Japanese is meaningless).  I bought it in spring last year and it grew vigorously during the summer.  So, early this year, I tried to re-shape it into a bonsai tree - I failed miserably.

新しい恒常的な枝が出てこない一方、一年限りの枝は陽光面にだけ着いたので、裏側は坊主です。

No new permanent branches came out, while the annual limbs grew only on the sunny side.  The other side of the tree is bare.

そして実は２個だけ。うち１個が色づいてきました。去年は豊産性がありました。

Last year, this tree proved to be prolific, but this year, it produced only 2 fruits.

採ってみると、裏面もほぼ着色済みです。

I picked it off the tree.  The other side was almost all red as well.

果重は、これも15g。

This one also weighs 15g.

糖度は種のあるほうが45.9度で

The sugar content was 45.9% with the one on the left, 

もう一方は46.3度でした。食感も風味も大雪棗とそっくりで、サクサクの果肉に味は酸味と甘みが強くて美味しかったです。

and 46.3% with the other half.  The crunchiness and taste were also very similar to those of the Big Snow Jujube - they were both very delicious.

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種の形は実の形を反映して、左の丸っこいのが大雪棗、右が中国大実の種です。

The shape of the seed reflects the shape of the fruit: Big Snow Jujube on the left, and no-name variety on the right.