Berries... blue, goose, and kiwi...

Blueberries are lovely, ain't it?

Planted three plants some years ago...

Didn't grow that well, so I moved them to a sunny location...

And mulched them with pine leaves...

Seems like they are comfortable with the new site...

Am looking forward to plucking them... 

Gooseberries... could not resist grabbing one...

It is a pretty shrub, a bit thorny though...

But... but... the fruits are really nothing to shout about...

I'd say they resemble a bit like grapes...

only that they are inferior in taste...
When ripe, the seeds protrude out, breaking the skin...
Not a very good investment...

Still, a joy to have it in the potager...

Could not resist grabbing the kiwi berry as well...
Two plants, in fact...

It is a climber, so I grew them near the fence...

A long bean plant nearby killed one of them...

The surviving one is doing well...

And the fruits are quite cute...

Still tiny, about one centimeter in size...

Apparently, they taste great... 

Persimmons, olives, grapes flowering...

There are five persimmon plants in our property...
One is a matured tree but the fruits are nothing to 'whoaa' about...
These are flowers from a young tree...
think this tree came about from seeds 'air-dropped' by crows...
Size of the flowers... maybe less than one centimeter...
they look so pretty, like inverted bells... 

We love everything about the olives...
The tree itself is ornamental, the fruits, so delicious when processed...
Planted three plants two years ago...
Two species... Manzanillo, with large fruits suitable for extracting oil and making pickles...
and Nevadillo Blanco, originating from Spain... is good for making olive oil...
Flowers are tiny...perhaps not even half a centimeter...
If luck is on our side, we should be having our first harvest in autumn...

Our potager is also home to several wild grape trees...
We are still eating the preserves made from last year's harvest...
Had them pruned to size and they are flowering very nicely now...

Been raining pretty heavily all day today...

which is excellent for my plants...

Am not supposed to be out in the garden, under such conditions...
But couldn't resist the urge...

I must be sick... garden-sick...

Moved some amaranths...

Nipped off some sweet potato slips for planting...

Straightened up some corn and tomatoes that fell over in the wind...

Lime coming to fruition...

Am excited upon discovering the flowers in our citrus trees...
My favorites are navel orange and Ponkan (Citrus reticulata Blanco)...
Mandarin orange and Hassaku orange is also lovely... 
Plus, there is a lime and lemon tree as well...

Last year was like a practice session for them...
None of their flowers bore any fruit...
This year, we hope to see some of them coming into fruition...

Fava beans in salad...

Bought a packet of fava beans last October for 50 yen. 

Two seedlings came out of it... 

Last year, the crows got the better of me. 

They seem to know exactly when to 'harvest'. 

This time around, no more crows... hence the protective net. 

Fava beans are great in soups...
they almost 'melt' in the mouth, so to say... 

We also tried boiling it lightly to go with a salad...
consisting of homegrown buckwheat sprouts and dill...
on top of carrots and avocado...
and of course, tossed in olive oil as usual. 

Mulberry 'shoe' and 'chick'...

Mulberries are in season... I am quite perplex with this plant in that they do not seem to flower. It is like, suddenly, you see the fruits forming. We bought two plants from the local supermarket when they drastically reduced the price... why not, we thought. And it has turned out to be an excellent investment. Fruits are plentiful and the harvesting season, pretty long... we have to make preserves out of them as we cannot eat them all when they mature.

The picture above... looks like a chick, doesn't it?  

And this second picture, a shoe perhaps?

 

The third shot shows some un-matured fruits. Colors are more attractive, but the taste, sourish...

The Japanese black kite

I am trying to make a cursory count of the number of bird species that we can observe from where we live. I say about ten, and my missus intercepts... thirty... no no... make that fifty... she adds...

Hmmm, one day, we shall list them all up and see. Among one of my top favorites, I'd say, is the Japanese pygmy woodpecker... they are small like sparrows and so cute...  I have been trying to photograph them but they are hopping here and there all the time... so, no luck so far... (please see photo here). But this post is about kites... Japanese black kites... I wonder they are called 'black' as they look more brown to me... These resident kites are aplenty over here.  They fly very low in the early mornings, right above our potager. This morning, I saw one of them picking up a twig from one of our vegetable beds.

They appear to be nesting nearby. When the winds blow, they are at their prettiest... wings fully opened, and just cruising gracefully... The picture above shows a female resting, barely ten meters from our house. It is the season of love for these birds, and on several occasions, the male comes along to mount the bird waiting on the beam...  and they merrily go 'pee‐hyor‐r‐r‐r'...

But too bad, I am always caught without my camera...