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Japanese Gardening and Agriculture
Japanese Gardening and Agriculture is quality focused.
Photos: Copyright 2005-2006 Carolyn Allen. All rights reserved. You are welcome to link to these articles. For more articles about URBAN NATUREUrban Agriculture for Outdoor AdventureEarth's Most Successful Life Form Kudzu Grows a Foot per Day Meow How? Should I keep my cat indoors? Habitat on Your Balcony and Garden Patio Keeping ants in nature where they belong
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Grapes
were abundant in the Obuse town area. Their umbrella trellises never ceased
to fascinate me. One technique used to protect these precious vines from the
cold mountain temperatures was the use of a rice straw wrap. The farmers made
a wide variety of uses for the straw that was left after harvesting the rice.
One use was mulch. Another was material to use at festivals. We saw piles of
carefully protected piles of the straw being reserved for the Fire Festival,
and other applications.
Apple orchards
were everywhere! Some were a couple trees in a backyard garden...others were
square blocks in size, nestled among the homes in Obuse, a town of about 15,000
population. And on the outskirts, there were large commercial fruit orchards
raising a variety of apples, persimmons, chestnuts and pears. Obuse has a growing
confectionary industry based on their local bumper crop of chestnuts. These
mile, sweet nuts are ground and made into a variety of paste and baked goods.
Chrysanthymums
are the symbol of the Emperor and
fall is a spectacular display of Japan's passion for beautiful mums of every
size, shape and color.
From tiny little button mums to the large, lavishly duo-colored mum unique to
Obuse town, mums
are carefully
pruned, trimmed, and
shaped into bonsai,
But let's
not relegate Japanese gardners to landscaping! Tiny patio gardens were frequently
filled with seasonal color and creative trellises. These mums and pansies were
just a few of the coloful container gardens seen at a well stocked garden center.
While colorful
ornamental cabbages are striking display accents, almost every backyard in this
small community contained a vegetable garden. And there were numerous communty
gardens nestled in neighborhoods, as well.
This
gardener, Hashu Koyama, was very proud of the foot-long radish he pulled to
take home for our dinner, and his well tended neighborhood garden was only one
of the gardens he and his wife tend. They also have a garden with fruit trees
and larger perennial plants nearby.
Traditional rakes
were always handy to sweep up the fall leaves -- even at the most modern architectural additions to the community like this museum. These were not ordinary metal
or plastic rakes... they were made from the branches of trees or shrubs. Very
lightweight, they were another link between everyday activity and nature. Another
way to use natural products in the care of nature.
