Crop failure
Comments: 6
It hasn’t been a good summer for the garden. We have the best-fed bugs in Setagaya ward. The bata — that’s one in the picture above — ate most of the herbs, the slugs ate the nasturtiums (although I did manage to get one caper off them which I peeled and ate in the garden – are they called capers before they’re pickled?), the shiso, a gift from our neighbour, lasted less than a week before it was stripped completely bare, the ants discovered the wild strawberries just after I’d tasted the first one (delicious!) and that was the end of them (the strawberries, I mean; the ants are indestructable), and birds, audacious with thirst, have pretty much picked clean the blueberry bush. I plucked one of the few remaining ones today and it was a little tart but sweet enough to make me hate the birds even more.
The oregano survives, however, and the lemongrass is flourishing. The bamboo continues to do well but given the overall success rate this year I wouldn’t be surprised to wake up one morning and find a panda out there eating it. And of course my nemesis, the jasmine, is doing best of all just to spite me. How I hate jasmine.
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Posted to General Rants • 2004.08.20 (Fri) • 22:56
Comments
Posted by alis 2004.08.21, 00:17
Oooh, very nice pic indeed. The curve of the leaf and the just-ever-so-slightly-off-centre break of the bata: gorgeous. The colour's good too.
Posted by Silus Grok 2004.08.21, 05:14
Hey Jeremy… I doubt very much that you're eating caper buds. Caper buds grow on an evergreen shrub that is indigenous to the mediterranean ("caper" coming from the same term that gave us the name of the "Isle of Capri", which means "goat"). But if you are, I'm jealous!
: )
Posted by jh 2004.08.21, 12:08
Silus —
I didn't know about capparis spinoza, but capers come from nasturtiums, too. The Shorter OED also says other plants provide them, but doesn't say what they are.
Not sure about c. spinoza but the nasturtium variety aren't nearly as tasty pre-pickled. You definitely get the essence of the taste, though.
Posted by Melbell 2004.08.22, 03:56
PANDA!!! If you find one in your yard eating your bamboo please take pictures! ;)
Posted by Peter 2004.09.01, 20:14
That should be a batta, I believe.
Posted by jh 2004.09.04, 11:27
Peter — I prefer "bastards," but yes, you're quite right.
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