Growing Vegetables In Japan: Planting Calendar

Hello gardeners, we are back with a new topic today, and the topic is all about growing vegetables in Japan and the vegetable planting calendar of Japan. Do you will in Japan, and do you want to grow your own veggies? Well, and then, you will need to follow this complete article to grow vegetables in Japan. This article will also cover all the requirements for growing vegetables in Japan.

Do you enjoy actual Japanese sustenance but have difficulty observing fresh ingredients to make your favorite dishes at home? Japanese vegetable gardening seems to be the solution. After all, many vegetable plants from Japan are very similar to different types of varieties grown here and in other parts of the world. Likewise, most Japanese vegetable plants are very easy to grow and do well in a different variety of climates.

The similarity in climate conditions is the main reason growing Japanese vegetables in the United States is very easy. This island nation has four well-defined seasons with a majority of Japan experiencing a humid subtropical climate condition similar to the southeastern and south-central states of the U.S.

Many vegetables from Japan blooms in our climate conditions and those that don’t can frequently be grown as container vegetable plants. Green salads vegetables and root vegetables are the most popular elements in Japanese cooking. These vegetable plants are normally very easy to grow, and they are a very good place to begin when growing Japanese vegetables. Adding Japanese varieties of commonly grown veggies is another method for adding these vegetable plants into the garden.

Growing Vegetables in Japan: A Step-by-Step Planting Guide

While most vegetable gardens are insufficient to supply all the supplies a person requires, with some attention and a bit of planning, it’s surprising how much fresh supply even beginners can get out of a few containers. To avoid getting overcome or discouraged, begin with the basics:

1. Look at your available growing space, and figure out if it gets lots of suns and partial shade, as this will act on what you can grow. A fast internet search will show what types of conditions the vegetable plants you want to grow to prefer.

2. Selecting a deeper container saves effort and money in the long run since it holds more moisture, reduces the water requirement, and gives deep-rooted plants such as carrots and potatoes room to enlarge. Release some fallen vegetable branches and dry leaves from a suitable place and put them in the bottom to improve drainage and to fill up the container so you don’t use as much well-drained soil.

3. Get a bag of well-drained soil, preferably organic matter, suitable for growing vegetables and plants to keep your choices open, and a smaller bag of organic compost or aburakasu oil cake fertilizer. Mix a few handfuls of organic compost and fertilizer of soil as you fill the containers for a slow release of nutrients. Or, put a layer of vegetable and herbs scraps toward the bottom of the container, which will slowly be disposed of over time.

4. Start with only three or four vegetable plants, including at least one flower, to promote visits from pollinators if your vegetable plants are outdoors. Selecting perennials instead of annuals will cut down on costs and time spent on low maintenance. If possible, get organic begins seedlings, as in my experience organically grown vegetable plants are sturdier and, of course, improve for the consumer.

5. Once you have selected your vegetable plants, observe how deep to plant them, as well as how to cut and water them as they grow. A fast check of an area-specific planting calendar will give an approximate guide for when vegetable plant seeds or transplant starts, although well-sheltered containers give you extra leeway to vegetable plant either a bit earlier or later.

6. Resist overwatering your vegetable plants. For most summer vegetables, wait to water until the first couple centimeters of well-drained soil is dry or the leaves curl. A bit of dryness will keep many common pests and diseases at bay, and suggest your veggies to set vegetables. During the rainy season, make a little preventive roof over your vegetable. Even a battered umbrella or a couple of clear garbage bags can make an enormous difference.

5 Tips to Start Growing Vegetables in Japan

Find the Suitable Sunlight to Grow Your Plants

Like all plants, vegetable plants usually require the sun to strength-start photosynthesis. The quick-growing vegetables will need full sun at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily without blockage from trees, shrubs, or fences. That is why you won’t have very much success if you vegetable plant sun-loving vegetables in partial shady spaces. Shade is the main issue when living in the city, as it can be challenging to grow food if they don’t get a decent quantity of sun on your balcony.

So, observe the sunniest suitable spot and put most of your vegetable plants there. Besides, putting your vegetable plants up on top of the air conditioner unit, a table, shelves, etc. helps to maximize their extreme to the sun. If you have very little sunlight, you may not be able to grow much, therefore look for suitable places you could grow your vegetables in. You can also look into renting a community vegetable garden.

Get Some Soil and a Container

Start small with one container or planter box and then enlarge onward and upward from there. Get ready to make mistakes initially; growing vegetables involves a lot of trial and error. You will quickly learn what methods do and do not work, and where the perfect places are to grow vegetable plants.

You can get some well-drained soil from any home store or use some organic compost. The darker the well-drained soil, will improve as it will have more nutrients for the vegetable plants. The best soil mix for your container-grown vegetables is one that is well-drained, well-aerated, and has a pH that is near to neutral. Soil-containing or soilless potting mixes provide all of these suitable features.

Prioritise Organic Heirloom Seeds and Seedlings

It is most important to prioritize heirloom seeds as that means they have not been genetically modified or anything else. You can normally recognize hybrid vegetable seeds as they will have a use-by date. Indeed, their reproductive abilities have been shut off genetically, making second-generation seeds infertile. In the contrary, heirloom seeds do not have a use-by date and you can collect the seeds from the vegetable plants when they fall off, keep them and plant them the next season. Very few suitable places in Japan are selling heirloom seeds.

Do Not Use Fertilizers or Pesticides

Fertilizers and pesticides are the worst for the environment, the well-drained soil health as well as our health. If you want to keep away from insects eating up your vegetables, use an insect net instead. If you give organic compost to your vegetable plants, ensure you use organic compost made from organic food scraps to avoid contaminating your well-drained soil. On a final note, to remove the air pollution from your plants before eating them, you just require to wash them thoroughly with water.

Watering

In general, vegetable plants require about one inch of water per week. One inch should be the total quantity of water the vegetable garden receives both from rain and you. But, as we discussed above, how much water your garden requires is influenced by your well-drained soil type. The vegetable garden is going to require water and lots of it’s especially during the dry months of the summer. You could keep a small vegetable garden watered with just a cup, but that will require numerous trips between your balconies. That will get cumbersome very fastly.

Plant with the Seasons in Japan

For those anxious about a fast result, a few veggie choices bought as 20- to 30-centimeter tall vegetable plants with some flowers for late June in Kanto such as Tomatoes, Okra, Zucchini, and Eggplant, may be planted in the same ground or container with an herb or flower that is helpful to your main plant. Interestingly, companion other vegetable plants frequently taste good together; tomato and basil are the most popular beneficial combo.

Selecting pocket-sized vegetable plants, such as cherry tomatoes or microgreens, tolerate space-poor vegetable gardeners to maximize planting capacity. As the season progress, a little planning ahead will help keep you excited about your vegetable garden project. Once summer vegetables are out, you will have space for something new. Cold weather conditions are suitable for leafy greens such as spinach, Komatsuna, or mustard spinach, and Chingensai bok Choy is very easy and self-regenerating, as long as you choose from the corner and don’t cut off the entire vegetable plant.

Radishes are fast growers and add a colorful touch to autumn and winter dishes. As people seek to unplug and focus on more mindful pursuits, a few minutes a day pottering between the vegetable plants of your little vegetable garden is a soothing and productive way to unwind. Watering grateful greens after a hot day, enjoying the appearance of new blossom, and checking on the progress of ripening supply are all small ways to reconnect and relax.

When To Vegetable Plants In Japan?

Several plants such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be directly seeded into your garden through January 9, suppose the ground can be worked, but it’s improved to start them indoors through December 12 and then transplant them into the garden ground through January 31. Do the same vegetable plants such as lettuce and spinach. Plant onion begins and potatoes through December 22.

Sow the direct seeds of peas at the same time. If the garden ground is still chilled, then vegetable plant these as soon as the garden ground thaws. How to grow tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants? Start these indoors through December 12. Then, throughout February 16 you should begin watching the weather condition forecast and, as soon as no frost is forecast, go ahead and transplant those into the garden ground.

Now, for all the hot weather vegetables includes beans, cowpeas, sweet corn, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, you should plant those seeds directly into the garden ground through February 20, or if your soil is still very cold, once the well-drained soil is near 15℃ in temperature. Most tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, require around 100 days of harvesting, therefore you’d want to transplant those into the vegetable garden ground around September 11.

Anyway, it’s important to remember that the numbers in this fall planting guide are only a starting point for you and very good vegetable gardening to you. Fall is the time to vegetable plant garlic. Through November 5, take your cloves apart and plant the toes about 3 to 4 inches deep. This may not be exact. Garlic dates vary wildly throughout the country. The way to be to make sure is to use a well-drained soil thermometer. When the soil temperature is 14℃ at a depth of 4 inches, then plant your garlic.

Several plants like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be directly seeded into your garden through October 11, but because of the heat during that time of year, it’s improved to start them indoors through August 22 and then transplant them into the garden ground through October 1. Do the same with lettuce and spinach. Sow peas directly through October 6. Now, all the usual hot weather vegetables includes Beans, Cowpeas, Sweet corn, Squashes, Pumpkins, and Cucumbers. You should plant those seeds directly into the ground through September 6.

Special Vegetables That Grow In Japan

Shiso

If you can only grow one Japanese vegetable and herb, it should be shiso and is called perilla. Shiso is used at all stages of growth. The seedlings are fastening and used as Mejiso, as a sweet garnish. The fully grown leaves, called oh-ba are big, are used whole or cup up, as wrappings or garnish, as well as in pickles. If you are very lucky, shiso will direct self-seed itself. You seem to observe this in the ornamental seeds section since the leaves are very graceful.

In terms of growing habits and humid conditions, it’s completely similar to basil, so if you can grow basil you can as likely as not grow shiso successfully. To retain the plants going keep plucking off any new buds until the weather condition turns cool, then let them form buds that you can transplant off and preserve in salt. The only problem with shiso is that the leaves can get munch up or get little holes drilled into them by various insects. Otherwise, they are completely problem-free. They do need lots of sun.

Small Japanese Turnips

Japanese turnips are also called Kabuare snow white and are tiny compared to Western-style turnips. They are very sweet to taste and great in everything from pickles to soup to stews. The green tops can also be cooked. Provided you can prevent the pests from munch the roots, they are very easy to grow, growing up in 30 days or so.

Japanese Eggplants

Japanese eggplants are also known as aubergines are small, black, and slim. You can replace eggplants sold as Chinese, which are very bright purple and very slim, but you can’t substitute very large Western-style eggplants. Growing eggplants are quite advanced gardening, especially in cool climatic conditions.

We have had the best success growing them in a large container in a suitable location. They require a rich growing medium, often fertilizing, and lots and lots of water. If you are up to it though, they will recompense you with tons of delicious little eggplants that keep giving and giving.

Kabocha

You require lots and lots of space to grow summer squash. Japanese squash is also called kabocha, is sweet, dense, and not watery. We have had mixed success with kabocha, but when we have gotten some to ripen successfully we have spent the rest of the year talking about how good they grow and were.

Daikon Radishes

We observe daikon difficult to grow because we have quite stony soil, so the daikon roots frequently end up splitting in odd ways. Also, you can buy Daikon is also called Mouli slightly easily in stores, so it may not be worth the effort. But your own is always improve, of course, essentially since you can also eat the delicious green tops.

Green Onions

Common Vegetables to Grow in Japan

You use such a lot of green onions in Japanese cooking that it can be rather than worthwhile to grow some in the vegetable garden. You require sowing seeds in succession for continuous production. They are completely easy to grow. There are different types of varieties, but we just grow a general evergreen type. You can grow these in the container or growing boxes. You can even try planting up the transplants bottoms of store-bought green onions – they will sprout.

Okra

If you are thinking about planting okra, remember that it’s a warm-season plant. Growing okra needs a lot of sunshine, so observe a place in your garden that doesn’t get much partial shade. Also, when planting okra, be to make sure there is good drainage in your vegetable garden. The first thing is to prepare the soil well-drained. Work the well-drained soil, about 10 to 15 inches deep, so the okra plants can get the most nutrients from the soil throughout their roots.

The best time when planting okra is about 2 to 3weeks after the possibility of white frost has passed. Okra should be planted about 1 to 2 inches apart in a row. When growing okra, shells will be ready for harvest at about 2 to 3 months from okra planting. After harvesting okra, store the shell in the refrigerator for later use, or you can lighten and freeze them for stews and soups.

Spinach

Keep spinach consistently moist, not soggy. Water deeply and regularly especially during dry times. Keep the area throughout the plants weeded. Side-dress the plants at mid-season with organic compost, blood meal, or kelp, which will suggest fastly growing new, tender leaves. Spinach is a heavy feeder so if you do not addition or side-dress with organic compost, incorporate it before planting. Leaf miners are normal pests associated with spinach. Check the undersides of the leaves for eggshells and crush them.

When leaf miner tunnels are evident, damage the leaves. Floating row covers will benefit repel leaf miner pests. It doesn’t take long for spinach to grow, much like lettuce and green salads. Once you see five or six good leaves on a plant, go ahead and start harvesting. Because spinach is a leafy vegetable, you should always rinse the spinach leaves before using it. Fresh spinach is great combined with lettuce in a salad or by itself. You can wait until you have sufficient and cook them down as well.

Potatoes

When growing potato plants is also known as Solanum tuberosum, it is most important to keep in mind that potatoes are cool-weather conditioned vegetables. The best period when to plant potatoes grows is in early the spring season. Planting potatoes two to three weeks before your last frost date will supply the most satisfactory results.

Much like when to plant potatoes, the best period to harvest potatoes is when the weather is in cool climate condition. Wait until the foliage on the plants has died back completely in the fall and the spring season. Once the foliage is dead, shove the roots up. Your growing potatoes should be full-sized and separate through the soil. Once the potatoes have been dug up from the soil, tolerate them to air dry in a cool, dry place before storing them.

Sweet Potato

When growing sweet potatoes, you need to start with slips. These are very small pieces of potato tubers that are used to begin the sweet potato plants. These slides are to be planted into the vegetable garden ground as soon as all chance of frost has ceased and the garden ground has warmed. To grow and harvest sweet potatoes, the soil requires to be kept moist during the season where the plants sprout. Furthermore, growing sweet potatoes needs the soil temperature to be kept at 21 to 26℃.

Because of the warmth needed in the soil, you should begin sweet potatoes about mid-summer. Otherwise, the soil won’t be warming sufficient for these sweet potato plants to grow. From the moment you plant the slips, it takes only six-seven weeks for the sweet potatoes to be ready. Plant the slips 12 to 18 inches apart on a large, raised bed that is about 8 inches tall. You can put 3 to 4 feet between rows so there is sufficient space to work among them when harvesting.

Bell Peppers

Growing bell peppers is very easy, but the temperature is an important component. While they are fairly very easy to grow, pepper plant care in these early stages of growth is critical. Always begin pepper plant seedlings indoors. The seeds require the warmth of your house to germinate. Fill a seed tray or plate with direct seed starting soil or well-draining potting soil, placing one to three seeds in each container.

Suitable place the tray in a warm location or use a warming mat to keep them between. 21 to 32℃ the warmer the improve. If you observe it helpful, you can cover the tray with plastic wrap. Water droplets will form on the underside of the plastic to let you know the baby seeds have sufficient water. If the drops stop perfecting, it’s time to give them a drink. You should begin to see signs of plants popping up within a couple of weeks. When your little plants get to be a few inches tall, gently container them separately in a small container.

As the weather begins to warm, you can get the small plants used to the outdoors by gardening the seedlings off putting them out during the day for a bit. This, along with a little fertilizer now and then, will strengthen them in preparation for the garden ground. When the weather has warmed up and your young peppers’ plants have grown to about 8 inches tall they can be transferred to the garden. They will thrive in well-drained soil with a pH of 6.5 or 7.

Common Vegetable Planting Calendar in Japan

vegetables	Planting	Harvest
Radish	August to Sept	Oct to Nov
Spinach	August to Sept	August to April
Green onions	September	June to July
Eggplants	December	February to March
Bell peppers	December	February to March
Cabbage	July to Sept	Sept to October
Tomatoes	July	August to Sept