PORT ANGELES — Want to learn how to grow vegetables in your own backyard?
Need help with pests that are getting the better part of your harvest?
Interested in planting time-tested vegetables that grow well in the regional climate or vegetables and varieties that are new to the scene?
From 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, home gardeners can get timely advice from local experts about vegetable gardening at the Fifth Street Community Garden, 328 E. Fifth St., Port Angeles. Admission is free.
The event is part of the Second Saturday Garden Walks, an educational series sponsored by WSU Clallam County Master Gardeners on the second Saturday of each month through September.
The April walk will focus on overwintered crops, turning under cover crops, starting seeds indoors and getting a jump on the short gardening season.
The format includes a one-hour walk through the Community Garden to show gardeners what needs to be done in vegetable gardens at that time and what problems are likely to appear.
After the walk, Betsy Wharton, WSU Clallam Extension Food Preservation adviser and contributor to the Peninsula Daily News in her “Peninsula Kitchen” column, will share ideas on how to use and preserve seasonal produce. She will be assisted by Master Gardener Laura Orton.
The garden walks are in their fifth season. To allow working families and students to participate, the walks have been moved to Saturday mornings.
Lois Bellamy, Bob Cain, Laurel Moulton, Audreen Williams and Jeanette Stehr-Green will lead the walks. Together these veteran Master Gardeners have more than 100 years of fruit and vegetable gardening experience.
The Fifth Street Community Garden, located across from City Hall, includes more than 50 individual plots that are each 9 feet by 12 feet. The garden was developed on city property in 2011 with a vision to connect people to the earth and their community through growing food.
For more information, call 360-565-2679.
