Konnichiwa from Kyoto

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Paletti
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Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by Paletti »

Hi there, I'm Paletti from the now defunct CSL forum - I'm glad to see that a good number of you have kept the thing going here on this board!

We (missus and I) live in Kyoto city at the moment, growing as many plants as we possible can on our window sills. Also constructed my herb tower to use the vertical space on our narrow balcony. We're planning to move to the countryside (Honshu - probably Kyoto/Shiga) in the not too distant future. Aiming to find a piece of land to continue our passion for growing plants - and build/renovate our house. Would like to focus on fruit trees/shrubs/vines as I have most experience with grapevines (I was a winegrape grower for about a decade).

I'm very interested in self-sufficiency. Picked up a copy of John Seymour's 'New complete book of Self-suffiency" the other day at BookOff. Last year I threw out store-bought deodorant sticks and this year it's Sayonara to commercial shampoo and conditioner. Baking soda and apple cider vinegar are your friends!

Anyway, happy to have found you and hope to share experiences and knowledge on life in the countryside with you.
~Paletti

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Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by gonbechan »

Hi Paletti, great to see you again and look forward to hearing about your veranda farming and then your future move to the countryside.

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Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Welcome Paletti,

Glad you could make it here and thank you for taking the time to create an account. We really do appreciate that.

Did you make the herb tower yourself or purchase one ready made ? I'm thinking something like that might be useful near Mrs N's cafe so she doesn't have to schlep off over the hatake when she just wants a small sprig of herbs. Have got to say that was a seriously lucky find at BookOff, can't imagine there are that many copies over here and it's an invaluable book to have.

Looking forward to hearing about how your project develops once you find some land and could we perhaps hear about a new vineyard opening up at some point in the future ?

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Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by Paletti »

Thank you Zasso & Gonbechan!

Yes I will try to share some information on veranda growing here - it can be quite challenging at times (try mixing perlite and potting soil on a windy day on the 9th floor lol) but I like the idea of getting a big output on such a small surface - I think it was Geoff Lawton who said many times its often the urban gardens that are the most productive ones.

Anyway the herb tower is something I constructed myself. I used some ideas I found online and just adapted it a bit to match the stuff I could find in stores like Konan (where I buy most of my gardening stuff). Below is a photo of last year with smaller 1L pet bottles covered with hemp cloth and holes drilled in the cap. I did find that the herbs stayed very small in 1L containers. Evaporation was also very high - possibly because the plastic is very thin and light so on windy days things tend to move a bit.
Image

This one shows the tower how it is now, I used larger 4.5L containers that I find much better for the herbs - 10 containers in total. They are not as pretty as the smaller ones with cloth - but much easier to handle and I think the plants will do much better. I screwed these containers into a wooden post that is inserted in one of those square concrete slabs to hold flags etc that you see on the streets everywhere. Bought it new for about 600yen.
Image

What I really like about these towers is that you can optimise the conditions for each herb, so I made sure the mints get some shade in the afternoon while the thyme, oregano and aloe vera get maximum amount of sunlight.

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Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Those are some great ideas for a herb tower and they look really neat. I reckon a veranda farming thread might be a good idea, not everyone is living in the countryside yet so it would be a good idea for city dwellers to share what they have going on in their veranda or balcony and we could have a share hatake thread as well if anyone was inclined to do one ?

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Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by Paletti »

The veranda/balcony thread sounds like a good idea!

mahc-booey123+

Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by mahc-booey123+ »

Hello
Good luck with your venture. I am thinking of doing the same thing. cheers

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Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Welcome to JSL Matt,

Hope you enjoy the site. What are you aiming for in a move to the countryside ? A slower pace of life perhaps or some kind of self sufficiency or something else entirely ? We'd love to hear what you are looking for.

mahc-booey123+

Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by mahc-booey123+ »

Zasso Nouka wrote:Welcome to JSL Matt,

Hope you enjoy the site. What are you aiming for in a move to the countryside ? A slower pace of life perhaps or some kind of self sufficiency or something else entirely ? We'd love to hear what you are looking for.
Hi Zasso,
Yes quieter life. Self sufficiency. Concentrate on art stuff. Restoration projects etc...

mahc-booey123+

Re: Konnichiwa from Kyoto

Post by mahc-booey123+ »

Hi Zasso
I like your name. I find weeds very interesting and enjoyed many of the ones growing around Sendai. Many had great colourful flowers. I actually want to collect seeds of the Kudzu Vine which is everywhere in Japan and I want to introduce to Australia...It's a good edible plant with most parts of the plant being edible. Do you have it over there?

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