Growing a grape in a pot

A couple weeks ago I went to a small trip and I was very happy to see they had a couple grapes fruiting in small pots. It vas fun to see them in real life because so far I had only seen them like that in photos. It gives me even more hope for mine.

My goal, fruiting a grape in a container

Hopefully next year mine will be big enough to fruit like this, I will keep posted on how it does.

If you want to know more about growing a grapevine in a container, check my guide here

Summer crops

This summer was an amazing season for the edibles in my garden. All of the crops grew like crazy and even thought I got a couple setbacks there were still a lot of vegetables and fruits with every harvest. Not bad at all for a small balcony garden.

Every harvest gave me a full platter of food

I had four big harvest out the plants, and every time I got to fill a big plate with all the produce. I also got a lot of minor harvests because every time I needed herbs or more fruits all I needed to do is pick them from the balcony.

I got many fresh beans from the garden

This year there were many plants in the garden. The tomato plants were definitely my main crop, I had tree big plants, they grew a lot and gave a many fruits. I also have basil and some more herbs that took very well the summer and grew many new leaves.

The strawberries were few but good

Pumpkin flowers taste great with cheese

The chilies also gave a big crop although a bit skinny. I had my first batch of blueberries ever and a bit of strawberries. And the pumpkin, even thought it didn't fruit I got many flowers to eat.

Not bad for a very small balcony garden

It was amazing having so much fruits and vegetables, I had never grown so much food. I deeply recommend to anybody with a garden to grow at least a little corner of edibles. It is very rewarding, it saves a bit of money and it gives you very tasty fresh food to eat.

So, what happened to the butterflies?

Some of the messages I got after my hiatus have been about the butterflies. I got a lot of questions about how to raise them and also some of you were concerned if they made it. So ,here is the rest of their story.

Butterflies on my little garden in japan

After making a reinforcement for the butterflies house they had more support and a better space to keep turning into chrysalis. Then, after a couple of weeks finally the first ones started to hatch. They were beautiful Indian Fritillary (Argynnis hyperbius) butterflies.

They hatched one by one

On that initial batch the first one was a male, the next two were females and then a male again. I feed them some old watermelon and orange slices and they seem to enjoy them a lot. They were happy flying around the room and resting on the window enjoying the sun.

It is important to let them stretch out and harden their wings

Over the next two weeks the rest of the chrysalis continue to open and the butterflies came out. I let each one go after their wings had harden enough. In the end, all but two of the rest of the butterflies came out. I wish all would have survived, but It was still a good success rate. I think the two missing were hurt that time the wind knock the cage over.

They like eating fruit

It was really cool to see them grow like that and pop out from their cocoon. I hope I have another chance of raising more butterflies next spring.

One year of my little garden in Japan

Lately there is a lot of things going on, and because of that I have been neglecting the blog a lot. It is almost the end of the month and I only have done one post. Also, and I have to apologize for this, I haven't been replying the comments that you leave. And, even thought many things are happening in the garden, I have lost the motivation to write about it a bit. So, when I got the notice for the renewal of the blog domain, I was starting to think if it was best to stop.

But then, just when I was about to decide on stopping, something really cool happened; I started to get a lot of emails, tweets and messages about the blog from people wondering how come I have not written in so long and asking for more advice on gardening. Then, without me noticing, the blog turned one year old and I got even more emails and messages with congratulations and nice comments. I was so amazed, I had no idea my little garden in japan had such an impact.

I have always thought of the blog as a little personal journal that I write just to keep as a reminder of how my balcony garden did through the seasons, a small keepsake to learn from experience. I never thought people rely on it for advice, look forward to seeing the posts to find something new to try on their own garden or that it would really be missed if I stopped.

But, I was not right. I didn't noticed but the blog grew and become about much more than just my little balcony. Many people come looking for the stories searching for some advice or trying to get some inspiration. All this time I thought it was maybe only an amusing story to read, it never occurred to me that I was a main source of information. It is amazing to me, I had no idea.

Now I really understand, it is definitely how they say: A blog is also built by the readers. It is fantastic knowing that there is such a great audience and that my advice is being useful. Now I feel very motivated to continue and I will keep going with the blog, hopefully for a long time.

In the end there is just one simple thing I can say to all of you who read my little garden in japan

Thank you very much! You are great.