Garden Report - June 2006 -

Sad news. I won’t be able to get rose hips from my balcony garden this autumn. My dog rose is sick. :(　 Remember how it looked just one month ago? All the leaves were green, looking completely healthy, and pink flowers were so lovely. Then it happened. At the end of May, some leaves started turning yellow. Then more and more leaves… When I looked close, I found tiny black spots on the leaves. This is a common rose disease, right? I used a fungicidal spray, and kept removing yellow leaves as much as possible every day, but obviously it was not enough for saving the flowers and hips from turning brown and falling. How disappointing… I heard that in other countries, dog rose just grows wild on the roadside, so I assumed that it was a disease-resistant kind which needs very little care. But with our hot and humid weather, it’s a different story here, I guess… Well, let’s not be too disappointed, because other plants are doing fine. Sweet Marjoram (blooming) and chervil. They are just perfectly fine. Blueberries are gradually ripening. :D Mizuna mustard. This is a less-bitter variety which is good for salad. According to the package, the seeds came from Denmark! Is mizuna popular over there??? Mom’s neighbor gave her 2 young tomato plants and this is one of them. According to the neighbor, this is supposed to have oblong tomatoes, so I hope this is an Italian tomato plant. If so, I’ll make dry tomatoes this summer! Dill is doing fine, as always. I’m hoping to be able to get more dill seeds than last year. These are called “chima sanchu,” a variety of leafy lettuce(?) with long leaves and a little bitter taste. Well, that’s what I heard. They say it is great with yakiniku. Think about tasty yakiniku wrapped with crispy chima sanchu leaves… and accompanied by ICE COLD BEER!(← Very important.) :D Categories: Garden