Harvesting Spinach

I saved some pathetic looking spinach seedlings from the greenhouse on Merritt College campus in January this year. There were 18 seedlings packed into a 6-cell pack. They were going to the compost pile, but I decided to take the time to separate them into 3 6-cell packs. They sat on my outdoor propagation table for about 3 months before I transplanted them in one of my vegetable beds at the end of March. They would have grown faster if I kept them inside but then I might forget to water them. I left them on the propagation table so they could get misted everyday.

For a while I thought I was losing all of them to the pill bugs. I asked Master Ken what I could do to get rid of the pill bugs safely. I don't ever want to use pesticide on anything I grow. He told me to spray my soil where the bugs are with diluted soapy water. We are talking about 2 drops of dish detergent in 1 quart of water. This is similar to another friend's recipe on getting rid of aphids.

I sprayed the spinach bed with the solution, and within days I saw a significant improvement. In one particular corner, the spinach started to flourish. Every year I try to grow spinach because it is my favorite green leafy vegetable. They aren't as big as super market bunches, but I get to pick them right in my own yard, and I know they can never be contaminated with e-coli. I am going to sauté this whole basket of spinach with a little olive oil and garlic and grill a piece of hamachi fillet for dinner .

Planting Red White Daikon

When my parents visited Tokyo last autumn, they came upon Tokyo University of Agriculture students handing out vegetable seeds to promote "grow it yourself" and their university. One of the packs they brought back is "Red White Daikon." I don't know whether there's an American name for this variety. The closest photos I can find on the web are the ones called "Long Red Radish" or "Long Red Scarlet." These are summer radishes.

I planted the seeds about a month ago, and they germinated nicely. I can see the little red roots. I cleared out a spot in one of the vegetable beds, turned the soil, and mixed in some compost during the weekend for transplanting the red white daikon seedlings.

To avoid pill bugs from devouring the seedlings, I sprayed the soil with some very diluted soapy water. It's a couple drops of dish detergent mixed into a quart of water. It's similar to the recipe I got from my friend for getting rid of aphids. I think adding cooking oil is optional. This is a safe way to get rid of garden bugs without using harmful chemicals.

I planted 12 of them, and I still have 6 more. I am keeping a few for now as backups in case some of them don't survive in the vegetable bed. 

Japanese Cucumbers

Growing Japanese cucumbers has been a challenge this year. I have started planting them as 4-inch seedlings since March. Each time they were devoured by pill bugs. In late June, I bought another Japanese cucumber seedling with a couple melon seedlings, and they were attacked by a bird that was trapped in the garage overnight. I had to spend weeks to nurse them in the green house before planting them outside. This time, it has been able to flourish despite of limited sunlight and heat. Miraculously the wine barrel with the cucumber and melons is pill bug free.

I grow Japanese cucumbers for pickling. The pickles are great for hot summer days although we are not having too many hot days this summer.

Hanging Strawberry Pots

I couldn’t resist getting a few strawberry plants at the Solstice Convergence after seeing all the beautiful bug-free strawberries growing on the campus farm. How did they manage to keep the bugs away???!!!

I ended up taking 4 pots home plus three different varieties of chilies from the free table. I knew that I couldn’t just put these strawberries in the ground. All of my vegetable beds have pill bugs. I figured the safest way to grow the strawberries would be to hang them up off the ground.


Where could I hang them? They also needed full sun. I had 4 pots of cacti hanging under the patio. I decided it was time to let them go so I could use those pots and hanging wires for the strawberries. Of course, I needed to move them to a sunny spot. Under the trellis seemed like the most logical place to hang the strawberries.

The pots are probably a bit small for the strawberries, but these are all I have right now. I’ll try them out and see how they turn out.