Hello, I am Keitaro Nakamura, who is in charge of vegetables at the Agriculture and Livestock Department. This time, I will be talking about summer vegetables.

The summer vegetables we are preparing this year are eight types: tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, bell peppers, okra, water spinach, and molokheiya.

Seeds are sown from February to May, and planting is completed by April at the earliest, or June at the latest. The harvest season is from June to September, peaking in July, and the yield generally declines after the Obon festival.

The first challenge in growing summer vegetables is managing them after planting. There is a huge difference in temperature during the peak planting season from April to May, and in some years frost can occur. The parts that will become the fruit are more delicate than the leaves and stems, and if they are stressed by temperature differences or frost after planting, they may die. It is rare for the main plant to die, but if the first fruit parts die, harvesting will be delayed for two weeks to January, so it is very important to minimize stress during the planting period.

The summer vegetables have now overcome the obstacles and are growing, but there is still one step left until harvest, so we will continue to manage them vigilantly.

Agricultural club Keitaro Nakamura