The Autumn Giraffe, among others...

Autumn days at Shikoku have been super pleasant... 
Cool, dry, and simply heavenly to be outdoors...

Took a shot of our potager today...
The marigolds are still blooming, as are the zinnias...

This dwarf of a flower is called 'wild chrysamthemum'　（野菊）in Japanese... 
They grow so well in our garden, without any attention from us...

The Japanese folks call this flower 'Hototogizu' (ホトトギス）, which is the name of a bird belonging to the cuckoo family... Apparently, the spots of this lily-family flower is similar to the spots on the chest of the bird...

Think this is called Larkdaisy or Porcupine flower.
The Japanese name is Murasaki Rushan （ムラサキルーシャン） or Ringo Azami（リンゴアザミ）...
Leaves emit apple-like smell when rubbed...

This chrysanthemum is endemic to the island of Honshu in Japan... 

It's scientific name is Chrysanthemum pacificum Nakai but I prefer the common name Isogiku (イソギク) meaning, Rocky Shore Chrysanthemum...

 

We enjoy looking at this wild flower in our morning walks... 

Took back home a specimen of this 'Aki no kirin so' （秋の麒麟草）, literally, Autumn Giraffe flower...

Am linking this post to GBBD, which is hosted by May Dreams Gardens...

Potager Y on a hot, humid summer's day...

Been really busy with work lately....

It is during times like this when I ask myself, 'now why didn't I choose to become a full time farmer?'...

I have full freedom to decide how I want to work, when I wish to work, and nobody (except my sweeto haaato of course) tells me what to do...

Hee hee hee, now wouldn't that be nice...

If only I have the courage to decide so... :)

Ok folks, you will all have to forgive me while I put up some 'not-so-nice' pictures...

I worked last Sunday, and I am taking today (Wednesday) off...

Had planned to shoot some pictures with the 'real' camera but unfortunately I left it at my office...

So, I am making do with a point and shoot camera for these pics...  

Well, my cute little plants are growing...

Cucumbers (the Japanese and the US types), jalapeno chillies, nasturtiums red and yellow, few types of tomatoes, zucchinis, pumpkins yellow and green, sweet corn, basil of the sweet and Thai types, dill, marigolds and zinnias aplenty, rows of coriander, Malabar spinach red and green, kangkong, long beans, wing beans, fuji beans, loofa Egyptian and angled, the long-slender-green-real bitter gourd, butter scotch pumpkin, green beans, sweet potatoes, the normal potatoes just about ready for harvesting, peanuts that are starting to flower, bell peppers, amaranth red and green, Korean shiso or Perilla aka Beefsteak plant, Japanese yams of the round and long type, mini watermelons, okra, chard... did I miss anything?

We obtained some Black-eyed Susan seeds from an elderly lady on one of our walks in the neighborhood...

Took us more than two years to get them to flower in our potager...

Harvested some onions some time ago...

Had been hanging them out in the shade to dry them for use during the rainy day...

The Japanese folks call these hydrangea beauties, 'Ajisai'...

Of the several types in our property, this is my favorite...

And the tiger lily....

When we are done with enjoying the flowers, it is time to harvest the edible root-bulbs...

That is, if the wild boars do not get to harvest them first...

Friendly neighbors...

Several kind readers commented on the friendly neighbors we have here at Aji...
Lucky as we are, my missus on one of her morning walks in the hills met an acquaintance by accident...
The acquaintance was just heading to her garden plot and woah, my missus found herself coming home with a big head of lettuce, a bunch of 'mamba' greens (sort of like a type of Japanese mustard,belonging to the cabbage family), and some big red turnips...  

These fist-sized red turnips, how I wish I can grow them myself...
Ok, next season Ishall try and see...

My wife sliced the turnips and have them seasoned in vinegar...
We love to eat these stuff...

The 'mamba' is a local favorite vegetable of the people around here...
The leaves are large and with just about three leaves or so, we get a plateful of goodies for dinner...
I tried to grow them but only one plant is surviving now...
And it is as usual, quite 'tiny' due to my low gardening skills...

Now, what happened to the sour oranges we received from another neighbor?
Yes, my missus made marmalade out of them...
She relied on several online recipes and came up with her own concotion...
And, this morning, we had the marmalade with some homemade pancakes... umm...

The marmalade is stored in re-cycled bottles...
We also tried using the concotion for hot drinks...

Ok, a change of topic...
I had posted a picture of the tiger lily...
I mentioned about using the edible bulb into a bean dessert...
The picture above shows the bulb which we bought from the store...
We shall be peeling off the outer 'petals' for consumption...
I plan to keep the innermost layers as a 'seed' to plant in the potager this coming spring...

Tiger lily... pink rose...

We put on the kerosene stove to keep us warm in winters...
On top of the stove, we sometimes put a pot there...
From the pot, we cook soup, boil water, and at times, red beans...
With the red bean soup, we put in the bulb of the tiger lily...
My missus bought them from the neighborhood market...
The bulb peels off like the onion...
And we kept the inner innermost layers, so as to try planting them...
(Actually, my missus did the planting, and me, only the picture-taking...)

See the pretty flowers?
They are the result from the bulbs...
The so-called tiger lily... pretty and delicious...
Shall be planting them this weekend...

We bought our Honda CRV more than 10 years ago from the local Honda dealer...
I am hopeless with machines, so we send the car to the Honda workshop once a year or so...
Never have had a problem all these years...
The pink roses... yes, birthday presents for me...
As in the last few years, the Honda salesman had been bringing me birthday presents...
Madagascar jasmine, garbella, anthurium, rose... 
I suspect he is trying to win my heart into buying a new car from him...
Anyway, we always try to plant these plants after a period of enjoying them at the dining table...
They all died...
And my missus just told me a minute ago, that the rose had probably died too... sigh...