Working life Garden on my balcony By by Masako Yamada	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
自宅で植物を育てる 雅子さんの多趣味ぶりについてご存じの読者は多いと思いますが、どうやらまた新しい趣味を見つけたようです。今度は植物の栽培。料理本を読んでいるうちに、バルコニーを利用したプランター栽培のことを知り、アパートでかんきつ系の果物やトマト、ナスなどを育て始めました。中にはもう実をつけているものもあります。

筆者の自宅バルコニーにずらりと並んだ植木鉢の数々。小型の果物や野菜が育っている。

She'd never called me at the office before. I knew what had arrived the moment I took the call. I rushed home, and sure enough, a box labeled "Live Trees" was sitting in her office. These were the citrus trees that I had mail-ordered from California.

It's a bit of an exaggeration to say they were "trees" since they were little more than sticks with some leaves and roots attached. Nevertheless, I was excited. The nursery selling the trees suggests that customers have large pots ready before the trees arrive, so the trees can be transplanted as quickly as possible after their journey inside the box. I had already bought some pots, put holes in the bottom, covered the bottom with gravel, and filled the pots with soil. They were sitting on my balcony, ready to accept the trees.

I was inspired to purchase the trees while reading a cookbook. The authors of the cookbook live in a high-rise apartment building in Chicago, but they claimed that they were able to grow fruits and vegetables in pots on their balcony. I figured that if two guys living in the middle of an asphalt jungle could grow apples, peaches, figs, strawberries and lemons on their balcony, I could as well. The key is to choose dwarf citrus trees that are happy growing in pots. And of course, one must move the pots indoors during the winter.

I don't usually eat fruit too often, but I thought it would be fun to shock my friends by creating a lush citrus grove in upstate New York. I planted orange, lemon, grapefruit and lime trees on my balcony. Prior to their arriving through the mail, I had actually visited a few local nurseries to see whether they had dwarf fruit trees. Given that most people in this area have large yards that can accommodate full-size trees, it wasn't too surprising that none of the nurseries had trees that can be grown in containers. I did not see any citrus trees - of any size - period. That is why I decided to have the trees shipped across the country.

I also planted some vegetable seedlings in smaller pots and lined them up on my balcony: tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. This Italian vegetable combination is relatively easy to grow and is popular among home gardeners. Some of my colleagues have told me that they'ｖe grown more unusual crops in their gardens such as corn, rhubarb and loofah, but I decided to take things easy.

すでに実がなり始めたトマト。今から収穫が楽しみだ。

The citrus trees had to endure a thunderstorm soon after they arrived and one of them took an especially hard beating. It lost over half of its leaves and I had to trim back a large number of branches that were damaged. Surprisingly, this tree is the only one that shows signs of forming fruit. I see dozens of hard buds on this tree with barely any leaves. My other trees have shiny green leaves, but do not show any signs of blooming.

I won't be able to make fresh, cold lemonade on my balcony this summer - even after the flowers bloom and shrivel, it still takes almost a year for the fruit to ripen - but I am hoping to be able to gather some fruit in the dead of winter. Perhaps even more surprising than having a lush citrus grove on my balcony will be having a lush citrus grove in my apartment living room.

Shukan ST: Aug. 6, 2004

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