Potager update for mid-march...

Gentle rains continue to fall in the garden...
The sun has yet to appear, and it feels cozy to be at home...
And yes, to be able to spend a tranquil morning at home with the one you love...
Oh, isn't this simply the ultimate bliss of them all?

Meanwhile, we thank god for the privilege to be able to return home safely last week amidst all the commotion surrounding the earthquake...
Like most of the people the world over, we remain deeply concerned with the current happenings surrounding the disaster...

The Japanese have an interesting name to this specimen...
They call it 'Himalaya Yuki no Shita', literally, 'Under the Himalayan Snow'...
Did a check on the net and found that it goes by the scientific name 'Bergenia stracheyi'...
Hmm, I'd probably have difficulty trying to remember this name, so perhaps the Japanese name is more apt for my inclinations...

The winter daphne looks pretty even in the rain...
We have two large bushes of them and they smell so good...
They are native to Japan and China... 

A comet goldfish comes to the water surface in our pond...
They self-breed and currently, we have about 30 of them... 

Meanwhile, the fava beans in the potager are flowering...
This one is the 'wa-se' or 'early harvest' type...

 
The strawberries did not die on us even after being showered by frosts and snow...
Flowers are starting to appear... 

The self-seeding lettuce is growing fine...
Poppy plants, also self-seeding, keep them company... 

 I bought some green lettuce seeds from the store...
This type of lettuce is crunchy and is very popular with the Korean restaurants serving grilled beef...

The corianders are doing super fine...
We are really hooked by their fragrance...

Which brings us to the fried rice my sweeto haato dished up...
Urmm, the tiny little fish, small bite-size chicken meat, garlic, onions, carrots, black pepper, and yes, coriander as garnish... 

While our white Japanese plum flowered some time ago, the red one finally did...
The fruits from the white flowers are big and fleshy while the ones from the red plant are not so...  

GOLDFISH IN THE POND

Last weekend, decided to buy some goldfishes...

Went to the local DIY and bought three Ko-aka goldfish... literally 'Little Red' goldfish...

Size... about 4 centimeters from head to tail...

Had planned to get the fast swimming, elegant Comet or the pretty but hardy Shubunkin...

But chose the Ko-aka because they were the cheapest (ahahaahaaa... Lrong the el-cheapo!)...

The water in the pond was rather cool, so I took time to orientate them to the temperature before releasing them into the water...

They seemed so thrilled... darting and swimming around the pond...

Wooh... another aspect of joy to look forward to each day...

Meanwhile, the water in the unlined pond is getting clearer...

Initially the color of milk tea, we now have what looks a bit like 'lemonade'...

In other words, the pond is becoming more translucent and pretty (?)

The tadpoles are becoming fatter...

I feed them nothing, so they must be consuming some minute organisms that found their way into the pond...

I had added in a patch of water plants and the baby kermits seem to enjoy chewing on the moss that gathers around the plant leaves...

Yeeeee...