This is quite a record, to have a second, massive, vicious typhoon ripping through the Japanese archipelago within such a short span of time...
The eye of the typhoon had cut across Kochi Prefecture in the south and through Kagawa Prefecture, and is now slowly creeping towards Okayama Prefecture...
After experiencing blistering winds and rains for hours, it was surreal to witness a momentary calm as the eye dawned upon where we live...
I changed into my rain-gear and made a quick inspection of the potager...
Oooh, how heart-wrenching it was to see damage inflicted...
the okra plants, twisted...
the purple corn plants, contorted with some stems broken in the middle...
the moroheya bush, mutilated... Oooh, how heart-wrenching it was to see damage inflicted...
the okra plants, twisted...
the purple corn plants, contorted with some stems broken in the middle...
the Fuji-mame (hyacinth bean) vines, badly torn... and the pumpkin plants, brutally beaten...
Oh well, this is god's way of doing things...
Luckily, other 'low-lying' plants like sweet potatoes, chillies, malabar spinach did not suffer much damage...
The rains and winds began to resume...
I promptly harvested some okra, amaranth, long beans, and chillies...
and made a quick dash back into the house...
Anyway, two days ago before cycling off to work, I recorded this Hime-hasu, literally Princess Lotus...
This is a gift from an elderly gentleman whom I have known since 1997...
It is actually a mini lotus, rather small compared to the 'normal' large ones...
This was the only lotus flower we had this season...
I had requested my sweeto haato to cut the flower and bring it into the house...
The following day, to our pleasure, it bloomed beautifully...
I was quite intrigued with how tiny the seed pod is...
The seeds do not develop into the roundish seeds we see in larger specimens...
Now, our pear trees are pretty pathetic...
Or rather, their fruits are...
They are so 'teeny-weeny'...
In the words of my missus, 'the size of ping-pong balls'...
Harvested a few days ago this Kodama Suika aka Mini Watermelon...
Their skin is exceptionally thin when compared to the 'normal' watermelons...
They tasted just as good and we have kept the seeds for next season...
And like the Hime-hasu, seems like the Japanese folks are doing a great job creating mini versions of such plants...
In addition, there is also a Bochan Kabocha, mini pumpkin so to say...
Will definitely try to grow them as well, from seeds next season...
How nice to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour, wish I have green fingers too!
ReplyDeleteJeannie... if I can do it, I am sure you can train your fingers to be green as well... it is fun and not difficult...
ReplyDeleteOh no!! At least you can look on the bright side of things :)
ReplyDeleteTanya... yeap, have to look at the bright side... tomorrow, I shall be out there, mending the damage and straightening out the branches and all...
ReplyDeleteI can't help smiling with the given name "bochan kabocha". That suika look very juicy, I wish I can have a piece of that too. I heard that in some prefecture, people eat the white skin flesh of suika too.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear of the plight of your plants. Hopefully they recover quickly. You are living in a country with quite a few natural disasters...I hope Mother Nature becomes more gentle.
ReplyDeleteMalay-Kadazan girl... 'bocchan' meaning (rich?) little boy... yeap, some folks use the white parts to make pickles to go with rice...
ReplyDeleteOne... very true that our place is prone to natural disasters... just have to learn to cope with it...
I saw in news too! It's really scary to face one after another disaster!
ReplyDeleteHope your plant recover soon!
Thanks very juicy looking watermelon!
°º♥
ReplyDelete°º✿
º° ✿♥ Olá, amigo!
Lamento muito pelo tufão e pelas perdas de sua horta.
Estou encantada com a flor de lotus, nunca vi uma de perto, apenas em fotografias, mas elas são tão delicadas e tem um colorido tão suave.
Beijinhos.
Brasil°º♥
°º✿
º° ✿♥
Oh dear. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI love the hime hasu. :)
Malar... scary it was, really... still, there are people who risk their lives going out to check their fields or boats and ended up being victims...
ReplyDeleteInes... I am always 'tickled' to receive your comments... it is quite fun to use the Google translation to read your comments... I am really happy that you are the only one to greet me 'Ola Amigo'...
lina...the hime hasu is really a cute little flower...
Beautiful! Luckily... you are all safe and sound :)
ReplyDeleteOpen Kitchen Concept... thank god there was no bodily harm on us, for now...
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the typhoon. Lrong, that's a pretty lotus flower! Btw, next time if the wind and rain is too strong, you better stay in ;-)
ReplyDeleteStephanie... that lotus was a multiple-petal type as opposed to the single-petal specie... actually you are right about staying indoors during strong typhoons... it is dangerous to be outside checking out the garden...
ReplyDeleteThe typhoon sounds very scary. I wonder what is the strength of our Angin taufan in the east cost as compared to this? Do stay safe, yeah. The lotus flower is really very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLrong, I hope everything is ok with the weather and you had a memorable Mid-Autumn Day!
ReplyDeleteIf you have a mini-garden with mini-vegetables, maybe you can make do with a portable planter? So you can bring them in when there are typhoons.
ReplyDeleteAutumn Belle... today (16th, Friday), we are experiencing another typhoon... this year is a bit unusual due to the rather high frequency of the hits... really lots of rain and wind... still, we had some pretty nights viewing the amazingly beautiful moon in this mid-autumn season... simply lovely... hope you had a memorable season with your loved ones as well...
ReplyDeleteBom... now, that would be nice... perhaps we can do so with one or two plants with a little 'value', like the rocoto plants...