I started vegetable-gardening in 2008, expanding the plot-size a bit at a time...
By the end of 2009, the potager was more or less in full swing...
I kept a journal to record the activities and progress...
And why not some indices to track the harvest, I thought...
Some indices that can be used a proxy of how I am doing with the crops...
So I came up with this so-called POP thingy...
Potatoes, Onions, and Pumpkin, that is...
Now, why these three?
Reason is, they can all be conveniently weighed as they are harvested in one go...
I can't do this with other crops like peppers or spinach or okra...
I have two potato crops in a year...
My first ever potato harvest in 2009 yielded 6.1 kgs. and the second, 11.5 kgs.
Not bad...
But in 2010, the yield dropped to 3.1 kgs (planted too many companion plants), and 5.4 kgs. (planted too late in the season)...
We also grow another type of potatoes, the sweet ones...
Sweet potatoes was one of the first crops I took up...
We had 5.5 kgs in 2008, followed by 7.0 kgs in 2009...
In 2010, the racoons got the better of the harvest, leaving us with only about 1.5 kgs...
My wife is fond of red onions...
I grow one crop each year and the harvest for 2009 was 6 kgs...
Again, in 2010, as with potatoes, the yield dropped to 1.5 kgs...
Pumpkins... we love pumpkins...
As in onions, one crop per year...
In 2009, we had 11.6 kgs. of that good stuff...
But come 2010, it was zero kgs... complete failure, that is...
I would love to try growing that Butternut squash or better still that Queensland Blue Pumpkin next season...
Yes, my POP index sort of nose-dived in 2010...
Which can only mean one thing...
That is, to improve that POP thingy in the 2011 season...
Vegetable gardening in Japan... We grow about 40 to 50 types of vegetables, and about 20 types of fruits in our potager-garden... This photo-blog represents an attempt to document the thrills and challenges of a 'student-gardener'... For me, it is 'heavenly' enough just to be able to connect with the soil and nature, and if we get to eat the fruits of our labor, it is but an added bonus...
I hope 2011 you will have many harvest than previous 3 years. Racoon te tanuki kanaa?
ReplyDeleteGambarimasu!
ReplyDeleteRacoon is native to America and was brought to Japan as pets... now they have adapted to Japanese soil and is causing quite a lot of damage to agriculture... familiar story with many 'foreign' animal species...
Yes, we are playing with too many uncertainties with open gardening... some parameters are not in our hand like weather and pests.... Hope 2011 is a better year.
ReplyDeleteYes, the uncertainties... which makes it more fun to 'play' with...
ReplyDeleteIn Malaysia, the prices of many staples have increased since 2011 started. At the rate it is going, I should grow more vegies to make ends meet :(
ReplyDeleteI love red onions too, raw and cooked. I have only successfully grown spring onions. I don't know how to grow onion bulbs.
AB... flowers are pretty and fragrant, but I would strongly encourage you to try vegetable gardening... no matter how small the scale is, it is so rewarding... what more, veges offer the same benefits as flowers do (the beauty, the frangrance...), plus you get to eat them fresh...
ReplyDelete