Garden Journey: Striving for Japanese Aesthetics and Soil Improvement

A little gardening update because it’s been a while since I last shared about our garden.

I initially planned to do the pruning and trimming after the growth season, but with the rainy season coming to an end, I couldn’t resist checking on the plants and trees in the garden.

While allowing the weeds to grow, I carefully inspected the trees and shrubs. I wasn’t pleased with the development of some trees and shrubs.

Certain trees lacked the aesthetic appeal I was aiming for, and some shrubs seemed to have stopped growing or were affected by fungus. As a result, I pruned many of them and thinned out some canopies to encourage better air circulation and sunlight exposure to the branches.

Although I’m striving to apply permaculture principles and Japanese garden aesthetics simultaneously, I admit that I’m still far from reaching my gardening goals. It’s important to remember that I only started my gardening journey last year without prior knowledge or experience in these areas.

Initially, I began with basic pruning techniques such as trimming and cutting down dead branches. However, over time and through observing the development of various trees and shrubs, I’ve started to develop my own preferences. Allowing sunlight and air to penetrate the canopies has become a priority for me. I also aim to achieve the exposure of tree structures, a key element in Japanese garden aesthetics that I aspire to master, creating balanced and natural-looking trees reminiscent of the beautiful temple gardens we often see. Therefore, I’ve thinned out many canopies and removed thicker, older branches that appeared dead and unsuitable for the desired Japanese garden aesthetics.

I’ve been observing neighboring gardens and the work of niwashi for several months, and it’s clear that emulating their methods is essential for promoting new, healthy growth and achieving similar Japanese garden aesthetics. However, I fully acknowledge that I have a long way to go.

I believe that the soil health is improving. The crimson clovers are decomposing and enriching the soil in the raised beds, as far as I can tell. The composting process seems to be going well too. Chappie always shows great interest in nosing around the compost and seems to enjoy the earthy smell of the soil. He even has the peculiar habit of rolling on dead earthworms.

I hope to see more progress this autumn. As I mentioned last year, my goal is to create a karikomi style garden. If you haven’t read my previous blog post, you can find it here.

#GardeningUpdate #JapaneseGarden #Permaculture #KarikomiStyle #GardeningGoals