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Meet the gardeners: Joanna Itoh

Getting to know JOANNA ITOH

Joanna calls herself a global nomad, having lived in several countries before moving to California in 1994. Before that, she lived in Texas, Japan, Australia, France and India. She has worked on the UCI campus since 2003; first as an International Student Advisor and now as the Graduate Admissions Manager. Joanna is married and has two married adult sons and one granddaughter, who loves to garden.

What is your background?

My older sister is an avid gardener, but I didn’t actually start to garden until I heard from a friend who worked at UCI that she had a plot at the UCI Arroyo Vista Community Garden (AVCG’s previous name at a different location). My husband comes from a farming family in Japan, so I thought that with his help, I could manage to grow something. So we got started. That was the beginning, about 10 years ago.

What prompted your interest in gardening?

Not long after starting to garden, I became aware of wonderful opportunities through the UC Master Gardener program to learn more about gardening. So I attended the annual gardening seminar at the Huntington Beach Public Library and talks at the Great Park. (Note that this workshop no longer takes place, but that Master Gardener talks take place at the Great Park and many other locations throughout the year.) I realized that I still wanted to learn more, so decided to apply to the Master Gardener program. The MG training was an intense course in gardening that trained me and my classmates to be prepared to provide research based information to the public about gardening

Do you have favorite plants?

I like to grow vegetables primarily, and I like especially to grow my husband and my favorite Japanese vegetables like cucumbers, eggplants and spinach. I started asparagus bed a couple of years ago and have enjoyed munching on tasty shoots this spring. Currently, I’m growing tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and just pulled out my onions recently.

In your opinion, what would you say is the biggest problem faced by most gardeners? What advice can you offer to solve that problem?

I think the biggest problem faced by gardeners is a lack of time and knowledge about gardening. I wish that we could offer Basic Gardening Boot Camp for our beginning gardeners. I’m happy that our Master Gardener in the Garden program which began last month will allow gardeners to ask questions and get advice from the Master Gardeners who garden at the AVCG.

My advice is commit 3-4 hours to spend in the garden every week and make a point to learn as much as you can about gardening using the internet, books from the library, and fellow gardeners. Also, consider forming a gardening partnership at the garden to co-garden with other gardeners. You can help each other out when you’re out of town and need some help watering, you can share your harvests and plan what you’re going to plant cooperatively. I do this with a couple of friends and enjoy it a lot.

What gardening resources would you recommend to our members?

My favorite resources are classes put on by the UC Master Gardener program. I also belong to the OC Organic Gardening Club which is a great place to learn from speakers. They have twice a year Seed Starting “Bonanzas” which we have done at the AVCG as well. I also like seed company websites and listserves that provide useful information.

Thanks for letting me share my gardening experiences with you.

And thank you Joanna for all the hours you put into keeping AVCG running and for being a valuable resource to your fellow gardeners. For information on the UC Master Gardeners in Orange County, please go to: http://uccemg.com/

Mary Bailey

July 2, 2015

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