Welcome back to the 72 gardening seasons of Japan. We have reached the midpoint in the year. This is the season called The Great Heat and it is made up of three distinct phases: Trees produce seeds (23-28 July); Earth is damp, air is humid (29 July – 2 August); Great rains sometimes fall (3-8 August). In Japan at this time of year the weather is unbearable – stratospheric heat, sapping humidity and endless bugs. There used to be a tradition where people sent each other small postcards with images of cool things – ice cream, fish swimming, a waterfall, a shaded garden. The idea was to distract from the breathless heat and remind people to take care in these conditions. We’ve needed a bit of that over the past weeks. We were away in Cornwall, even venturing into the Eden Project (from the frying pan into the fire some might say). On our return the garden needed resuscitating and bringing back to life. So that’s what we’ve been doing.
The salads had bolted and gone to seed. Courgettes had grown huge, nestling under leaves, morphing into marrows. But despite the exhausted nature of so many plants, the Red Kuri squash (image above) have galloped ahead. They’ve crawled all over the raspberry cage, their tendrils finding ways inside so it resembles Jurassic Park in there. I think it’s going to be a bumper year so long as the whole things doesn’t collapse. Which it might. These things are the size and weight of old fashioned medicine balls.
My granddaughter, Maxima, has become (at two and a bit) a professional raspberry picker. Being somewhat smaller than me, she can find raspberries in places I didn’t even know existed. The unwritten rule of ‘one for me, one for the pot’ was ignored as a tonne of berries went one way. Who can blame her. Picking raspberries is a craft and she’s a quick learner. Finding the ones that are slightly darker, almost bruised, purple-y in colour is the sweet spot. The Autumn raspberries are coming in now which means the Summer ones have finished. This is happening earlier than normal. What can you say …
I’ve collected the most beautiful poppy seed heads (image above). So full of colour, and sound. They rattle. Another lovely sound comes from the lavender bushes which are now in flower, the bees providing a constant drone of excitement. So produce is being circulated one way or another. The hosepipe ban comes into play on Saturday. That’ll be interesting.
If you can’t stand the heat, look at an image of an ice cream and have a moment of cool calmness!