種無しスダチ Seedless Sudachi

 連日の雨のあいだに種無しスダチの枝がボウボウに徒長していました。台風25号が去って、次の26号の影響でまた雨が降る前に剪定です。３，４年前に苗を地植えにした場所は玄関横、タイガの視線の先です。

During the rainy days that lasted for more than a month, new branches of the Seedless Sudachi kept growing long and lanky.  Today, we are having a break from rains, with the typhoon No. 25 gone, and before the effect of the new No. 26 starts to reach Tokyo.  I planted the Seedless Sudachi in the ground a few years ago, after growing it for several years in a 30 cm in diameter pot - it is standing close to the front door and at the end of Taiga's glance.

写真では分かりづらいですが、肉眼で見ると徒長枝が大暴れしている状態です。

The photo does not show well, but the new branches are getting out of control.

伸びた枝の間から覗くと、実が大きく育っています。

Peeping through the new branches, I see bunches of sudachi fruits.

                 

だいぶスッキリしました。苗の上のほうに実のかたまりが見えます。

After pruning, the plant looks much better, and I can see the fruits at the top of the tree.

今年は雨のおかげか、あるいは木が充実したからか、今までにない大実です。

I do not know whether it is because of the weeks of rain or the fact that the tree is becoming more mature, but the fruits are larger than any I have seen in previous years.

もう9月下旬なので、一気に収穫しました。

Sudach fruits are consumed while they are still young, since the flavour is most intense at this stage.

この一番大きな実の重さを後で計りたいと思います。全体的に、デパ地下で売られている「ハウス栽培」の高級スダチに負けない出来だと思います。ただし、お店のスダチは種入り、うちのは種無しです。

10号ロングスリット鉢で育てていた間、実は小さく、雨が数日続くと裂果が多発していたのに、地植えしたあと、今年の夏の長雨にも拘わらず１個も汚損果が発生していないので大満足です。去年は地植えの初成りで3個が生り、今年はより多い結実だったので、将来が明るいです。

This fruit seems to be largest, and I am going to weigh it later.   Overall, I feel that these homegrown fruits are as good as any that are sold in department stores as high-end sudachi.  Moreover, those in the shop are regular sudachi with tonnes of seeds inside, whereas mine are basically seedless.  

While this tree was growing in the pot, the fruits were much smaller, and after a few days of continuous rain, there used to be cracks on many of the fruits.  This year, in spite of the weeks of rain, there has been no crack or any other form of spoilage.  Last year was the first time of fruiting after planting the tree in the ground and it produced 3 fruits.  So, it is getting better every year.

一番大きな実の果重は40gでした。

The largest fruit weighed 40g - quite heavy for a sudachi.

半割にした状態。果汁た～っぷり！ 果肉の色は、実物はもっと浅緑色で、写真のような黄色ではありません。この外皮の薄さにも拘わらず、雨による裂果が無かったのには再度驚き。

When I cut it into half, the juice spouted out.  As to the colour of the flesh, my camera is misleading, since the actual flesh was light green - the right stage for consuming sudachi.  Considering how thin the outer skin is, it is amazing that there was no crack on the fruits after days of rain.

絞ると種は一個だけ。期待以上に果汁が多いです。

There was just one seed.  The amount of the juice exceeded my expectation.

多田錦柚子など Seedless Yuzu etc

 去年買った多田錦柚子に幼果が育っています。この苗はおととしの冬に買った多田錦が全く芽吹かず１年が経過して掘り出してみたら、根っこが無いことが分かったので、急遽他の店から取り寄せたものです。去年は鉢で養生して、今年の春先に地植えにしました。現在90cmほどの樹高です。まだまだチビ苗なので、最近勢いよく伸び始めたラズベリー苗に埋もれています。

The seedless yuzu, Tadanishiki, has young fruits growing.  This is the second plant - the first one I bought 2 years ago arrived with hardly any leaves, nor did it grow any new leaves.  When I dug it out in spring last year, the roots were rotten.  So, I got another one from a different store and this one is doing exceptionally well.  I kept it in a pot last year and planted it in the ground this spring.  It started growing a lot of new branches since then and had quite a few flowers.

地植えなので、このまま完熟まで行きそうな気がします。

Thanks to the benefits of growing in the ground, as opposed to a pot, I think these young fruits will grow to maturity.

その横に植わっているカラカラは、もう数年たっていますが今年も花さえ咲きませんでした。そのかわり、高接ぎしてある星タンゴールの枝に１個だけ実が着いています。これも、ここまで大きくなれば落果せずに行けそうです。

Next to the yuzu plant is Cara Cara orange tree which has been here for several years.  It continues to concentrate on growing the tree, instead of producing flowers.  However, the branch of a golden orange variety, Hoshi Tangor, that is grafted onto Cara Cara has one fruit for the first time.  I think this fruit is secure and stay until maturity.

門とカラカラの間に置いてある鉢植えの素芯オニユリも咲き始めました。年々 球根が増えるので、鉢の置き場に困ります。

Between the gate and Caracara, I have several pots of Spotless Tiger Lilies that have started to bloom.  The number of bulbs increases every year, and I am running out of space for the pots.

道の横に咲いているので、通りがかりの人たちが褒めて行きました。

These flowers are standing next to the road, and some passers-by have made kind remarks.

玄関横の鉢植えのは蕾の数が多いので、咲き終わるまでまだ楽しめそうです。

The ones in front of the porch are continuing to flower.  These are mature and large bulbs, so they have lots of flower buds to go through yet.

今年の３月に買った「トゲ無しノイバラ」の苗は、

The thornless wild multiflora rose plant I bought in March this year looked like this then.

今ではこんなに大きくなりました。元々 樹実した苗が出荷のために枝を切り詰められた状態だったので、最近の毎日の雨で枝がビュンビュン伸びました。来年からの開花が期待できそうです。ここまで成長してもトゲ無しなので、良い買い物でした。

It has grown to this size.  To be fair, the plant was already mature when it was bought - the branches had been severely cut down close to the ground immediately before shipping out.  The warm and nurturing rain we are having has added to the growth.  With all these branches, I am optimistic that the plant will have flowers next spring.  Another encouraging thing is that the plant has remained thornless even at this size, so I made a lucky purchase.

昨日届いたクコの実から種を取り出して播いてみました。左が黒クコ、右が赤実のクコです。種播きの適期はあるのか分かりませんが、これで発芽しなくても他の季節に何度かトライします。

I extracted some seeds from the goji berries that arrived yesterday.  The pot on the left contains seeds of black goji berries, and the one on the right contains seeds from red goji berries.  It may not be the best season to sow seeds now, but I can keep trying in all seasons until I get a few plants.

ブドウ山椒など Japanese pepper etc

 朝散歩の途中で高稲荷神社公園の横を通りました。先日、狂犬病予防接種の会場となったところです。

During our morning walk, we passed by the park where we recently visited for Taiga's rabies shot.

その公園の入り口横のノイバラが満開になっていました。最近買ったうちのノイバラ同様、トゲ無しの個体です。

Near the entrance of the park, there is a bush of Japanese wild rose.  This is the same variety as the one I bought the other day - i.e., thornless multiflora rose.

うちの苗は蕾の兆しが全くありませんが、来年は少しでも咲いてくれたら嬉しいです。

My plant shows no sign of having flower buds, being too young.  However, I am hoping to see some flowers next year.

花蜂が飛び交っていました。

Bees were flying among flowers.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

ラベンダーの開花がピークのようなので、お茶用に昨日のうちに花を摘み取りました。60秒間蒸したあとは夕方だったので、ひと晩 部屋干しにしてありました。

The lavender flowers seemed to be at their peak, so I picked them yesterday afternoon.  I immediately steamed them (60 seconds) and spread them on a piece of baking sheet in the room last night.

今朝になってバルコニーの物干し竿に移動。直射日光に当たると、あっと言う間にカリカリに乾燥しました。

First thing this morning, I put them outside on the balcony.  Thanks to the sun and heat, the flowers became bone dry in no time at all.

摘み取ったものを直接干すよりも、一旦蒸して乾燥させる方が変色しないと思っています。

After picking, I always steam the plant material instead of drying them directly.  This way, I feel that the original colours are preserved as much as possible.

約半分を使ってお茶を入れました。

I used about half of them to make tea.

かなり薬草っぽい風味ですが、私は日頃からローズマリーの生葉を煎じて飲んでいるので全く抵抗ありません。

It tastes like a herbal medicine, but I have no problem with it since I am used to drinking tea with fresh rosemary leaves.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

鹿沼土が無くなっていたので近所のJAへ行ったら、またしても誘惑に負けました。ブドウ山椒の苗が入荷したばかりで、６個入りのトレイの中から選び放題でした。対して、先日の赤葉山椒の苗は、最後に１個残っていたのを買ったので、他の苗はどんなに大きかったかなど全く分かりません。写真↓は、右がブドウ山椒、左が赤葉山椒。両者の値段は同じでしたが、幹の太さが違います。

As I had used up a particular type of soil, I went to the nearby JA where I saw another Japanese pepper variety.  It is called Budou (grape) Sansho.  This is another rare variety which produces pepper fruits in bunches resembling grapes.  In the photo below, the one on the right is Budou Sansho, and the one on the left is the copper leaf sansho I bought recently.  When I saw the copper leaf sansho, it was the last one left on the tray, whereas with the Budo Sansho, the plants had just arrived, and I was able to choose the best one out of the whole tray.  It was priced the same as the copper leaf sansho, but the size of the trunk is much larger.

接木の箇所もきれいです。

This is also a grafted tree, and the fusion point is very neat.

去年の６月に買った種無し柚子の「多田錦」に、もう蕾が出ています。購入時で２年生苗だったと思います。鉢植えで管理していたのを今年の春前に地植えにしたら、暖かくなって急に枝が増えました。今年は着果がなくても、咲くクセがつくだけでも満足です。
The seedless yuzu (variety called Tadanishiki) that I bought in June last year has already flower buds.  I kept it in a pot until early spring this year, when I planted in the ground.  Since the weather turned warm, a lot of new branches came out with flower buds.  I think it was a 2 years old plant when I got it.  It may be too young to produce fruits this year, but it is nice to see flowers at least.

リスボンレモンは去年の春まで２階バルコニーに置いていましたが、10号鉢で根詰まりを起こしていました。そこで、去年の春に根っこを整理し、地上部も根っことのバランスが取れるよう枝を切り戻して、全体的にダウンサイズしました。それが効果ありだったようで、今は小さい苗ながらびっしり蕾が出ています。花の香りは最高です。

This Lisbon Lemon used to be on the upstairs balcony, but it became root bound in a 30 cm pot.  So, I reduced the roots drastically in spring last year and also pruned the branches in order to achieve balance with the roots.  The downsizing had a good effect and, although a small tree now, it has a lot of flower buds.  The scent of the flowers is really sweet.

他に色々と庭仕事をしていると、近所のジャーマンピンシャーのリアちゃんが通りがかりました。リアちゃんもタイガも大興奮です。

In spite of my sciatica, I managed to do a lot of tasks with my plants.  As I was being busy, Leah, my neighbour's female German Pinscher passed by.  Both Leah and Taiga were super excited.

興奮の原因はワンコ同士の再会よりも、相手の飼い主と挨拶するため。お互いを素通りしてそれぞれに甘えています。

However, the pooches were excited to see each other's mom, rather than having a doggy reunion.  So, they passed by each other.

何とも可愛い。

Leah is soooo kawaii.

キリがないので、リアママが呼び戻しました。

There was no end to their excitement, so Leah's mom called her back.

オシリまで可愛い。この５センチほどの尻尾をピコピコ振って甘えてきます。

Even her botty is so cute.  Her tail is only about 5 cm, and she wags it furiously when she snuggles up to me.