The rain and the humidity over the past week or so is perfect for the plants and, unfortunately, the weeds too.  At one point the soil turned to a carpet of green.  Buitsu san let us use a small mechanical plough to turn over the largest patches of earth; the rest was a case of hoeing by hand.  Very satisfying.

Once the soil was fresh and raw umber again, tomatoes went in and more sweetcorn (Buitsu san’s sweetcorn – we are having a competition to see whose sweetcorn is best).  We built a bamboo frame for the tomatoes and tied the stalks gently with string.  Next to the tomatoes, Oba (Green Shiso), Goya (Bitter melon) and Okra (see top photo – you might have to use a magnifying glass but watch your eyes – I take no responsibility if your retina turns into a rubik’s cube).

60% of the lettuce survived, which isn’t too bad.  The Watermelon failed to sprout, sadly.  The squash sprouted and has been moved onto a raised bed and the sweetcorn looks green and strong (see below)

Yesterday we were kindly gifted some sastsuma imo (sweet potato) vines.  They consisted of stalks with long stems and smallish leaves.  There were no visible roots so we asked how best to plant them.  Buitsu san again returned with an even larger plough and dug three large trenches.  The sweet potato was then carefully laid horizontally with the main stem inserted about 3 inches into the earth.

Buitsu san with the trench machine.

Eri with the rake machine and trench machine.  We were told that there is a particular way to rake the tops of the mounds… Apparently we will only be able to do it correctly when we are older.

We did actually do some work, it wasn’t all Buitsu san.  Here he is showing us the way to plant the sweet potato vines.

Look Eri working hard.  We had some Komatsuna (mustard spinach) sprouting in pots and these went in along with a plant that I don’t know the name of >_< .  Yamada san (another friendly neighbour farmer) helped out.

Buitsu san’s corn in the background, the unknown plant, Komatsuna and two rows of sweet potatoes in the foreground.

No need for watering – its rainy season ne?