Organic vegetable garden - The plot starts!

 A well grassed site in a Community Garden ready for cultivation. The area was part of a former sheep grazing property established in the 1870's that operated until 1971. You can see the old woolshed in the far background.  It is about 20m above the level of where a small creek once flowed down the Tuggeranong Valley.  (Photo taken on 22 February 2012.)

 'Borrowed landscape' from plantings of Casuarina and, in the background, Mount Taylor.

Digging started on the 24 m2 plot on 22 February and after 7 hours I managed to clear all the weeds - mainly couch grass.  A kookaburra observed my efforts and had a good laugh.  Not being a vegetarian he wouldn't have understood.

The soil is a reasonable quality clay loam with an average depth of 200mm topsoil to firm but crumbly clay.  Average pH was tested at 7 to 7.5 - basically neutral.  A top dressing of 10 kilograms of gypsum was applied to the whole area designed to loosen the sub-soil without digging.

The aim of this project is to grow a range of Japanese vegetables over the winter using organic gardening methods.  Canberra can be quite cold over winter and it is therefore important to establish the plants in Autumn to enable growth before the cold sets in.  The photo shows Daikon  or　 だいこん　( Japanese Radish) at an Osaka market.  In half of the plot I plan to grow Daikon, Mibuna, Mizuna, Mitsuba, Kabu, Shungiku and Japanese Cabbage.  The other half  of the plot will carry a green manure crop of broadbeans, barley and fenugreek.

’わが旅の紅葉いよく濃かりけり’　（Toshio)

My journey's red leaves becoming more and more a deeper red.

This is another beautiful example of the dry landscape or karesansui garden in the Nanzen-ji Temple in Kyoto.  A moving expression of a 'natural' forms and plants with balanced space and symbolism - or yohaku no bi - that provides a perfect setting for Zen contemplation.  The principle of 'enclosure'and 'borrowed landscape' can be appreciated.

Gardening in small spaces is also an established traditional in Japan, where the coutyard garden, or tsubo niwa 坪庭 , represents an important part of a house to be appreciated from inside as well as outside.  This garden in a well-known Kyoto Ryokan shows what beauty and simplicity can be  achieved from well-chosen, scaled down elements that convey a sense of intimacy and connection for those seeking solace and peace.

The stone and raked gravel gardens often connected to Zen Buddhist temples in Japan challenge the perceptions of people from the West as to what a garden should be.  The influences of Zen Buddhism on the guiding principles of such gardens is strong, including symbolic representations of land forms, water and empty space, with refined simplicity of form designed to promote meditative reflection and contemplation.

This tea garden is part of the Gishuntei Teahouse in the Rikugien Gardens.  Like many styles of Japanese gardens they follow very strict design principles, including rustic simplicity and wabi sabi - the idea of solitude or loneliness amongst nature and refined elegance of aged things.

Japanese gardens are a living tradition in Japan.  Their beauty and serenity can be appreciated on many levels.  For me, the stillness, symbolism and connection with nature provide a strong emotional response, encouraging reflection and openness.  This is a view of Rikugien Gardens in Tokyo, established in 1695; an open park type of garden.