WSU Master Gardener Cindy Ericksen is the featured speaker to kick off the 2020 Green Thumb Garden Tips education series, offering tips for starting seeds — both indoors and outdoors — at noon on Thursday, Jan. 23, in the county commissioners’ meeting room of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.

Ericksen will discuss selecting seeds that will fit a gardener’s taste preferences, micro-climate and growing conditions. She will also explain timing, watering, temperature and nutrition needs for optimal germination and how to care for, transplant and tend new seedlings.

A nurse by profession, Ericksen has years of gardening experience. She has contributed thousands of plants — in particular, healthy vegetable starts — for the annual Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County’s plant sale since becoming a Master Gardener in 2006.

The “Green Thumb Garden Tips” education series is sponsored by the WSU Clallam County Master Gardeners on the second and fourth Thursday of every month in Port Angeles. It consists of educational programs designed to help home gardeners establish or improve their gardening practices. Speakers are local and regional individuals with expertise and experience in sustainable horticultural practices.

Attendees may bring a lunch. The presentations are free and open to the public.

Coming up

Other presentations offered this year include:

• Feb. 13, “Pruning Blueberry Bushes for Productivity”

• Feb. 27, “Pruning Ornamentals”

• March 12, “Greenhouse Growing”

• March 26, “Mycorrhiza: Symbiotic Relation Between Fungi and Plant Roots”

• April 9, “Chemical Communication Between Plants”

• April 23, “Worm Composting”

• May 14, “Growing Legumes for Fresh Eating and Storage”

• May 28, “Growing Tomatoes Successfully in the Pacific Northwest”

• June 11, “Native Pollinators: Making Your Garden Your Home”

• June 25, “Simple Drip Irrigation”

• July 9, “Phosphorus”

• July 23, “Attracting Bees, Birds and Butterflies”

• Aug. 13, “To Till or Not to Till”

• Aug. 27, “Honey Bee Keeping”

• Sept. 10, “Propagating Rhododendrons from Cutting”

• Sept. 24, “Spiders”

• Oct. 8, “Growing Figs”

• Oct. 22, “Pumpkins and Squash”

• Nov. 2, “Landscaping with Native Plants”

• Dec. 10, “Putting the Garden to Bed”

For more information, call 360-565-2679.