Otto's blog

Succulent Flower

Apr

29

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My succulent (多肉植物) plant is flowering now. The flowers are small, but pretty. I read online that if you cut the flower stem (茎, くき) and plant it, it will grow into a new succulent plant. Sounds easy - I might try it.

Vocabulary
- flower (名詞) = 花 flower (動詞) = 咲く
- plant (名詞) = 植物 plant (動詞) = 植える

バナナの穴は...?

Aug

17

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After 4 months, my banana plant is too big for my biggest pot, so I chose a well-drained place in my garden, dug a hole, & transferred it. Phew - it was draining work on a hot, humid day.

I hope it grows well.

Vocabulary:
drain = 流す, 干す, 抜く
draining = しんどい
brain drain = 頭脳流出

Ripe`n`Ready

Jul

8

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I started picking* ripe black raspberries from my bush. Some had already fallen to the ground, but I didn`t pick up** those ones. I let the chicken eat them. It seems to like them.

While I was doing that, I saw a Mycalesis madjicosa butterfly (ヒメジャノメ in Japanese, I don`t know in English).

Later, I made jam. I will make more when the other berries have ripened.

Vocabulary:
* pick = 植物から取る
** pick up = 地表面/床面から取る
Ripe`n`Ready = Ripe and Ready

You`re Growing Up!

Jun

21

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I posted about this banana plant before:
https://en.bloguru.com/otto/402309/plant-plan

It`s* now been 2 months since I potted it, & it`s* doubled in size, so now it`s** time to repot it. I hope it likes its*** new home.

Vocabulary:
* it`s = it has
** it`s = it is
*** its = これの, それの, あれの

Potatoes for Sale

Jun

10

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My father-in-law recently harvested a lot of potatoes, so I`m selling some for 200 yen a bag. At the moment, I`m selling about a bag a day, so please hurry or you`ll miss out!

Grammar:
- 'per' is often replaced with 'a/an' in spoken English e.g. "60 kilometres per hour / an hour" or "rental is $400 per week / a week"

Plant Plan

Apr

21

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I ordered this plant* from Okinawa. It came in a special tall box, which was interesting. For now (とりあえず), I`ve put it in a pot, and then when it grows bigger, I`ll plant** it in the garden somewhere.

Do you know what kind of plant it is...? The answer is in comments.

Vocabulary
*plant (名詞)= 植物 **plant (動詞)= 植える

Hobbies Podcast #3

Nov

24

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In this podcast, I talk about my hobby of gardening:

https://bohmeenglish.podbean.com/e/the-bohme-english-podcast-24-ottos-gardening-listening%e7%b7%b4%e7%bf%92%ef%bc%89/

This is a transcript:

Hello, everyone. In this podcast I`m going to tell you about another one of my hobbies – gardening. But not vegetables or flowers – a different kind of gardening. But before I tell you what it is, let me explain how it began.

So when I was growing up in Australia as a kid, I loved playing sports – tennis, swimming, cricket, and so on. Then when I was a teenager, I really got into football – or 'soccer' as it`s called in Australia, Japan & the US. I especially loved watching English Premier League football on TV – the teams` uniforms looked so colorful & cool, and the atmosphere in the stadiums, with all the chanting & singing, really impressed me. Another thing that caught my eye when I watched those games was the beautiful condition of the pitches – the grass was amazing. The pitches looked like big green carpets; completely different from the sort of football fields I was used to playing on in Australia, which were usually dry, hard & dusty - really terrible, not to mention painful if you enjoyed slide-tackles, which I did.

So anyway, inspired by that, I decided to try turning my house`s front yard into an English-style football pitch. It was in pretty poor condition when I started, but I watered it every day, pulled out weeds, and cut it whenever the grass grew an inch or so. And little by little it started to turn from brown to green, and the naked dirt patches became covered in nice, healthy grass. Finally, after a couple of years, it ended up looking pretty good.

So there you are – I like grass gardening! And in fact, even though I now live in Japan, I still do this hobby, but not in my house`s yard, which is pretty small. Instead, a few years ago, I decided to become a volunteer groundskeeper for a small park near my house. I go there about once a week to cut the grass, pull weeds & pick up trash. I`m sure some of the neighbors think it`s strange, but I don`t care – I enjoy it, and my kids play there, so it benefits them too. Also, little by little, I`m getting closer to achieving my ultimate goal & dream – to create a beautiful, grassy, English Premier League-style football field in my own neighborhood!

Trayful of Limes

Nov

17

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The limes on my lime tree were turning yellow, so before I left* for work today, I harvested them. As you can see in the photo on the left**, I got a trayful. I didn`t pick all of them, though. I left*** a few small ones on the tree - maybe they will grow a little more. I took the photo on the right a few weeks ago - fortunately this guy wasn`t in the tree today.

Vocabulary:
- * leave (= 出る) --> left [過去形]
- **left = 左
- *** leave (残す) --> left [過去形]

Loaded Lime Tree

Oct

10

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This year my lime tree is loaded (満載) with fruit. I think I will use them to make lemon delicious pudding: https://en.bloguru.com/otto/98690/recipe-lemon-delicious-pudding

I wish I was loaded (= rich)...

PET Bottle Basil

Jul

26

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PET Bottle Basil - A Poem

Now I`m growing basil.
You can see that I have lots.
Some are in PET bottles
Coz I`m too cheap to buy real pots.

Vocabulary
* Coz / cos / `cause = because
** 'cheap' usually means 安い, but here it means ケチ