Frilly bamboo edging and a 'no-dig' meadow planting day

Last week we created this, just before my little visa trip back to Melbourne. Its a bamboo edged, no-dig (sheet mulched) meadow garden, a start for us in creating Community Garden Lemon for CLCA.

First we split the bamboo, and cut to 20cm lengths, to pound into the soft soil.


I've never seen an edge like this, and hope it looks good a year from now. I needed something that would curve, they needed a way to use up the large bamboo that overran their other gardens. The curve is a walking path that will be filled in later with bamboo chips, or whatever lovely waste materials turn up when we need them.

Then we started making our 'no-dig' garden, also known as Lasagna, or sheet mulch garden, and crazily popular with Aussie Permaculture enthusiasts - a few hours, and your whole garden looks like someone else's came to visit.
We started with layers of newspaper directly on the existing grass, tucked nicely into the corners, so nothing will sprout back into the light, not this year, at least.



Over the newspaper went straw. In Australia I usually use the softer, more delicious alfalfa hay, but this is a rice district, not a cow district, and I'm thankful for whatever I get.


So over the rather hard rice straw we sprinkled rice husks - because they were there.


On top of the rice husks I was expecting to spread some good old manure. The ladies proudly presented a fancy little bag of pelleted manure from the shop. But they area resourceful bunch, and when they saw me looking puzzled, up they went to the mountains for some fuyoudo (leaf litter mulch). Its dark and beautiful, with threads of white fungi, and smells foresty and wonderful.


We realize we need more 'potting mix' to place around the new seedlings. Farmer Hota dashes out to one of his stomping grounds, and digs us up some treasure.


Under a big pile of branches he had left to decompose we found this rich crumbly mess,


sifted it like cappacino cocoa,
then used it to bless the garden - full of wonderful little creatures, it will really bring things to life.


Mrs Toda, one of the directors, is looking pretty lively


We decide part of the meadow will be japanese mountain herbs, the other side western.
The Japanese side got this red and green shiso again from Farmer Hota. Shiso's companions were nira (garlic chives) mitsuba, miyoga (like ginger), little ferns, and lots of pretty wildflowers I don't know much about, not yet.
The stepping stones for now are cardboard - we wanted to keep our big boots from compacting too much of the gardens fluffy new structure, so made a pretend path. It works just fine, and will some day just get tucked under everything to participate as more compost.


Joining its offcuts - here we soaked them to softness before hiding them under all our layers.


Just as we finished our planting, late for lunch, dirty and spent, the warm rains came down and did the final task - watering our garden, washing off ourselves.
Its a happy beginning, now we just wait and hope it succeeds.

Can you do this on a balcony? Why not! Ive never seen one, but somebody will one of these days. Just make the layers thick enough, make sure they are well watered and not sloshing over the edge, and don't forget to send me the photo



So now I tell you why its called a lasange garden - its of course about layers, but also getting the right balance of 'pasta' and 'meat sauce' - the carbon-rich straw, paper, rice hulls, and the nitrogen rich manure and whatever else you have.
And its going to be delicious.

Fragrant Ruby-Red Shiso drink from Japanese summer 'Weeds'

Shiso juice drink, one of the blessings of Japanese summer

Shiso is one of summertime's blessings. It self-seeds in the spring, grows fearlessly through rainy season, unbothered my most pests, and ready to be turned into wonderful summer dishes. It comes in red or green. The flavor is a cinamon-minty, with a kind of face-cream fragrance you don't expect of food. When In Melbourne, I get it from Asian Grocers, called 'Asian Basil', or Perilla.



The last weekend of my spring-summer tokyo stay had me creating a Layer garden at community Garden Lemon in Odawara. Farmer Hoda was the star of the show, dashing off site every time I realized I needed something, and coming back with the goods.
His day of generosity wound up with me doing an evening harvest of the excess shiso at his home garden.

Here is how I turned it into food:

First
Took it home on the train with our other bundles of mountain vegetables and treasures. My elegant garden-creating friends and I were the first truly dirty people I have seen in a Japanese train these 16 years. What is going on here, I wonder?
The other passengers seemed generous about it, and offered to take our photos.

Next
Easy. Washed the leaves, boiled them 5 minutes in a pot.
The water was murky brown, the red leaves turned to wilted green.
Then...I added the juice from Farmer Hoda's organic Lemons. OOOH! It went a vivid ruby-red.
Next some honey, soda water, and ....' bitter' was the most prominent flavor, not at all like how other people's mothers make it.

Then
Then I doctored it with the honeyed 'drinking vinegar', my farewell present from my dear cameraman Mr. Iwamuro.

Amazingly delicious!

Be patient. Dont give up. Plant shiso seeds this spring - thats the lesson from my adventures in Shiso.





Shiso drink recipies from Obachan's Kitchen

Go wild decluttering - Permaculture makeover in the jungles of Shibuya

My current design challenge: Permaculture makeover of RuuRuu and Q's vast garden, rich in self-sewn trees.

Shibuya Crossing by Altus

Its an 8 minute walk from Shibuya Crossing. Which kinda makes me wonder how my life got to be this interesting. Right now we are gathering designers to attend weekly creation planning parties, so if you are in Tokyo, Come.



Our first task, as always, is to define 'Zone One', then give it back its power.
Zone One is that that area that is just a hands-reach away from where you spend time, and here you place things that need your attention, things that are in danger of being forgotten, put off, and whithering.
Here I put my seedlings, my hand sewing, and my grant applications (with a helpful pen). Here is where I realized my Japanese text book should be, and the result is that an indolent, not-very-bright lady like me has a job writing magazine articles in Japan, and an international life.

This zone, like a lively river, needs to be in constant motion. If you don't tend to the task this week, you probably won't next week either.
The power of Zone One dissapears if its clogged with 'non-active' objects - magazines you will not read, , tools that you left in the rain, the half-dead aloe vera plant you could use, but never will.
This is when we start telling painful truths, and send things to the bin or to Zones 2 or 3 or4 for infrequent use or storage.

Mui the artist and aspiring Pirate of Creativity, with Dad Q and participant Sofuku

So I call out 'I need somebody who is overly kind', and give her the secateurs, with instructions to send a misplaced plant to its next life, via the compost heap. Some people generously see the value in everything, every broken down crummy object. I love these people, but don't want to spend time in their gardens.

Every plant and object got scruinized and we got the owners to get into a conversation, somthing like this:

Do we still love each other, take care of each other?
Are you being your most useful self like this, or better off composted?
How about a nice, peaceful holiday in storage, till you are wanted?

The presentation workshop was 'Breathing life into interiors: Permaculture for a Clear, Motivating Home'. We looked at all the clever passive gadgets and customs in David Holmgren's Ingenious home. We Looked at my Beautiful home in Canning St, and the Permaculture design tricks that made it work so well, that attracted the very people who made it beautiful.
Then we looked at how we can use Zoneing and other Permaculture tricks to get us to succeed in three things:

One lovely, challenging thing to achieve in the next 2 months
One lovely, challenging thing to create in the next two years
One stubborn problem we will finally dissolve

Sofuku got me into her 'hug the earth' project.
She photographed me hugging her beachball of Mother Earth, and then gave me the chance to write Her a letter. All these years I've been standing on her, made up of nothing but her, and I've never yet had a chat with her like this. Thank-you Sofuku, for giving me a chance to talk to my Mum.


Mui and RuuRuu at afternoon tea, pondering what nook of their palatial home to Permaculturalize next. With her Parisian Hat Parade coming up in the Autum, she is going to need all the support her ordely, richly creative house can give her.