My first 3 months growing on an allotment in Japan

My first 3 months growing on an allotment in Japan

I took some video when I first started my allotment, and some more on the solstice. It's so cool to see the contrast between the bare earth and my crops! Two days after June filming, I dug up my potatoes and did a big weeding session. My biggest mistake was transplanting sweetcorn instead of direct sowing and thinning smaller plants.

Not sure how much I'm going to be able to achieve through the summer as I'm in my second trimester of pregnancy so will struggle with the heat, but at the end of summer I'll plant some daikon and other winter crops.

youtu.be
u/rumade — 4 days ago

I JUST took you and you didn't go!

I need some advice because this situation is winding me up. Son is 20 months. I have been putting him on the potty for poos since about a year old, and about 90% of poos end up fully or mostly there.

We started doing pee training about a month ago, and also got steps with seat for the toilet. At first, it was going well. I would put him on either a few times a day, and praise him if he peed. Then last week, he started doing this annoying thing where he was asking to go super frequently. He would pee, and then 10 minutes later ask to go again, and force out a small amount of pee again.

He indicates he needs to go by making a noise and patting the front of his nappy.

Since yesterday, he has been driving me crazy. He keeps saying he needs to go, I take him to the toilet, pull down his trousers and nappy, help him onto the seat... and then he doesn't go. He almost immediately asks for help to get down, and then runs giggling to his bedroom. He has been doing this in clusters all through today where literally every 5 minutes he will ask to go, and then not go.

I think he is just doing it for attention. "Wow! I can make mummy stop reading or doing whatever task she's doing and pay attention to me!" He acts really insistent and desperate in tone when he asks to go.

I tried leaving him nappy free so he could sit on the potty independently, and he pissed on the sofa.

It is possible that he's constipated as he's started this fun new phase called "all I want to eat is white rice".

How do I make this stop?

reddit.com
u/rumade — 4 days ago
▲ 10 r/Tokyo

Rice noodles (especially other than pho)

As someone who doesn't react well to wheat, I loooove rice noodles. Other than pho, which I've had from a few decent places in Kichijoji, I haven't had any rice noodles since moving here last year.

​

Does anyone have any recommendations? I especially love the chewy Guilin noodles- Guilin mifen; or the flat pan fried type- chow ho fun.

reddit.com
u/rumade — 18 days ago

The courgette bounty has begun!

3 green, 1 yellow on the allotment. 2 green in pots on the balcony.

There's still loads waiting on the plants. Good thing I've got my friend's front door key so I can sneak some into her genkan if I have to!

Also pictured: first aubergine and tomatoes of the year :)

u/rumade — 28 days ago

My balcony was doing great... until it wasn't

Until a couple of weeks ago, my balcony was lush with flowers and greenery from calendula and nasturtiums. I had peas taking off, and was getting a steady stream of strawberries every couple of days.

Now everything's gone to shit. It's especially jarring because I went away for a long weekend so looking at it today, it looks way worse than I expected.

  1. Strawberries. One plant is doing good in size, but no more flowers, so no more fruit. Two seem completely dead (one was pulled up by the toddler but I replanted it), and the third is really struggling.

  2. Calendula. Had loads of calendula, most grown from seed, some over wintered from an autumn sowing, some from a spring sowing. One bought from garden centre. Two weeks ago, they were all lush and green with loads of flowers. I was picking flowers daily to deadhead or take inside or even use as garnish. Now the leaves are brown. The leaves that aren't brown seem to have powdery mildew.

  3. Same for my nasturtiums and peas. Powdery mildew, wrinkled, dead leaves. Turned to brown in a manner of days. I have harvested about 7 pea pods. Expected my peas to climb up and dominate netting i put there for it, and expected a sprawl pf nasturtiums everywhere.

  4. Mini banana. Bought from Costco last year. Put in my flat over winter, probably didn't get much light, but had a coiled up green leaf ready to spring into action. It's now all brown and dead. I wonder if I over watered it but that seems DUMB given how much it rains where bananas live.

Stuff like lettuce has gone to seed, but that's expected

I feel so demoralised. Last year I didn't water enough and some stuff died. This year, I've been much more frequent with watering, about every 3 days depending on conditions. I laid off the strawberries for a bit cos I thought I was overwatering.

I have also applied a liquid feed a couple of times.

Any advice? Where am I going wrong? Some of these pots are from last year, topped up with new compost and fertiliser (chicken shit). Some are new this year with fresh compost or soil mix.

u/rumade — 1 month ago

I got pregnant the weekend I ran a half marathon in March, and other than walking/short bike rides, I've barely moved since. I have this problem that when I achieve something, I go "and that's that conquered!" instead of building on my efforts.

Last pregnancy, I lived in an apartment block with a fitness space and was able to work out pretty frequently. Obviously before my half marathon I was training, and in the last year I've worked out for 30+ minutes 3 times a week while my son eats breakfast, but this technique doesn't work anymore as he's much faster at eating these days and will just scream at me from his high chair. If he's unrestrained during a workout he will come and get in the way. I tried working out at the weekend once and my husband did such a crap job of keeping track of him that he got whacked in the face with a dumbell :(

Is it worth just doing 10 minutes here and there when I can? For example if it gets to 21:30, son is asleep, chores are done, and I get down on the mat for some core work or dumbells. Will that help me stay strong, or am I delusional?

reddit.com
u/rumade — 2 months ago