Although the north Olympic Peninsula enjoys relatively mild winters, our long cool springs, moderate summer temperatures, and early arrival of fall can be challenging for some vegetable gardeners. Crops planted too early can languish, freeze, or even rot in the ground, crops planted too late might not reach maturity before the growing season wanes. Veteran Master Gardeners Jeanette Stehr-Green and Audreen Williams will instruct local gardeners how to grow vegetables success-fully during their Zoom presentation, Thursday March 25th from noon to 1:00 p.m. They will offer advice on crop and variety selection, when and how to plant vegetable seeds and starts for a more abundant harvest, and they will identify locally developed resources that will help gardeners save time and money by avoiding crop loss due to unsuitable growing conditions.

Find a direct Zoom link to the presentation here.

Stehr-Green and Williams have many years of personal experience growing vegetables locally. Williams is the lead for the Master Gardener vegetable plots at the 5th Street Community Garden in Port Angeles. From 2013-2019, both Stehr-Green and Williams helped guide monthly walks through the 5th Street Garden, showing local gardeners what needs to be done and the problems that are likely to appear each month in vegetable gardens. In 2014-2015, Stehr-Green and Williams also participated in “Growing Healthy,” a project devoted to teaching vegetable gardening skills to low-income families in Clallam County.

Stehr-Green has been a Master Gardener since 2003 and is a popular gardening speaker. She writes articles on a variety of gardening topics for both the Peninsula Daily News and the Sequim Gazette and participates in a monthly gardening call-in program on KONP. Stehr-Green was the 2012 Clallam County Veteran Master Gardener of the Year and has attained Lifetime Achievement status with Clallam County Master Gardeners.

Williams joined Master Gardeners in 2012 and is involved in a wide variety of Master Gardener activities. She is the lead for the Master Gardener plots and 4-H activities at the 5th Street Community Garden in Port Angeles. She supports the Woodcock Demonstration Garden, Green Thumb Educational Series, and the Master Gardener column in the Sequim Gazette. She is currently an integral member of the Master Gardener intern training program. Williams was the 2014 and 2019 Clallam County Veteran Master Gardener of the Year.

Green Thumb Education Series Presentations are held from 12 to 1 pm on the second and fourth Thursdays of most months. Talks are currently only being offered by online streaming, due to current social distancing concerns with COVID-19. Please see instructions for accessing the live stream. Presentations and associated printed materials will be archived on the local articles and archived presentations portion of our website. These events are free, but donations to help support the WSU Clallam County Extension Master Gardener program are appreciated.