Working life

Garden on my balcony

By by Masako Yamada

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。

The woman who is in charge of the front desk of my apartment complex called me at work several weeks ago, telling me that a package had been delivered for me and that I should pick it up right away. I live by myself, so nobody is home during the day to receive packages that are delivered to my home. This woman usually signs the slip for me and keeps the package in her office. I pick the package up when it's convenient for me. Usually, several days pass before I make it to the office.

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 tomato plants have already started to produce dozens of fruit. I'ｖe noticed tiny eggplants starting to form as well. Peppers take a bit longer to mature, but I definitely see plenty of tiny buds forming, and some of the buds have even bloomed. I'ｖe had to purchase long supporting sticks because the plants have become so tall. I'm confident that the crops will ripen over the next month and there will be plenty to eat and share while I wait for the citrus trees to mature and produce fruit.

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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