April 19, 2013

My Rented Field, Spring 2013/借りている畑、2013年春

Yesterday, I spent the whole morning tilling the soil and adding bark compost, organic lime, and chemical fertilizer all at once. 
昨日は、畑を耕し、バーク堆肥、有機石灰、化学肥料をすべて一度に混ぜました。
 
The river bank still looked barren.
川岸はまだ殺風景でした。  

My field is at the center of the photo, measuring about 6 x 5 m = 30 m2.
私の畑は写真の中央、約6 x 5 m = 30 m2です。
3 bags (3 x 40 = 120 L) bark compost, 1/2 bag (20/2 = 10 kg) organic lime, and 1/2 bag (20/2 = 10 kg) chemical fertilizer.
バーク堆肥を3袋(3 x 40 = 120 L)、有機石灰を1/2袋(20/2 = 10 kg)、化学肥料を1/2袋(20/2 = 10 kg)。
Some people say that adding compost and lime at once should be avoided because they cause a chemical reaction, while others say otherwise. I chose organic lime in an attempt to avoid this possible problem rather than magnesium or slaked lime. (I'm no expert on this matter.)
堆肥と石灰を一度に加えると、化学反応を起こすので、よくないと言う人もいますし、問題ないと言う人もいます。私は、苦土石灰や消石灰ではなく、有機石灰を選んでこの問題を避けようとしました(この件に関しては専門家ではないので、よく分かりません)。
For this work, I used this three-pronged hoe only.
この作業には、この三つ又の鍬だけを使いました。
I have another regular one, but I found the one above easier to use.
通常の鍬も持っていますが、このほうが使いやすいです。

You may think that a field of this size is nothing as compared with much larger fields. You may be right, but for a larger field, you will definitely need a cultivator.
こんな大きさの畑は、もっと大きな畑と比べたら、何でもないと思うかもしれません。それはそうですが、これより広い畑なら、耕運機が絶対必要です。
I was really glad that it was cloudy in the morning. I don't want to work outside for hours when it's sunny and hot.
午前中は曇りで本当に良かったです。晴れで暖かい時は何時間も外で仕事したくないです。

5 comments:

  1. It's so exciting to follow your gardening adventures! We also have a similar system of rented small fields in Switzerland? They are a bit bigger though and every divided field has a small "cottage" to store tools etc. The queue of people waiting to rent is huge and I was told some wait for five years (at least if it's very close to bigger cities; by "bigger" I mean for Switzerland which has less citizens than Tokyo alone!).
    I have just seen your mushroom post and thought about something that has happened to me in recent days: I bought new soil for my balcony boxes and, as an experiment, one bag of organic soil. Now I have lots of small mushrooms growing in it! They don't seem edible, so I will pick them, throw them away and wash my hands. I hope they will not spread toxicity to plants.. Mitsuba has just started to sprout, but everything takes longer because of a particularly long winter.

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  2. Kiki: Thanks! The great thing for me is that I don't have any muscle pain today. Probably due to my daily exercise and 20 to 40-minute walk, now I feel so healthy!

    Sissi: Inedible = Toxic? Even if they seem inedible, that doesn't mean that they are really inedible or that they are poisonous. And, even if they are really poisonous, I don't think the toxicity will spread to other plants.

    I'm glad to hear about your mitsuba. It's been very cold for days here in Japan, so I think it will take some more time for my mitsuba seeds to germinate.

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  3. No muscle pain at all? Usually I am getting muscle pain as result of the first ploughing session or trimming the hedges because I make movements I did't use to make to this extent the year round before. Lucky you are. I do 45 min to 1 h walking and 20-30 min Taichi or Qigong everyday and some very strict and harsh 1.5 h Taichi and Qigong lessons once a week (with a master).

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  4. Thank you, Hiroyuki, I am less scared now. Some more mushrooms grew last night (it was raining).

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