by Jane Billinghurst, WSU Skagit County Extension Master Gardener volunteer

Posted April 21, 2020
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Now is a great time to embark on new projects or brush off old skills. Vegetable gardening might be on your mind. There’s lots of info in books and on the internet, but how do you know what really works and whether the advice is appropriate for where you live?

The researchers at WSU Extension have put together a series of free downloadable bulletins to guide you through what works best in western Washington.

Here is the link to one way of accessing them: http://gardening.wsu.edu/home/. There’s a handy menu on the left-hand side of the page where the bulletins are sorted by subject, including Garden Construction, Organic Gardening, Pest Management, and—of course—Vegetable Gardening.

Alternatively, you can go directly to the WSU publications site at https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/general-gardening and browse through the offerings or type in key words for the subjects that interest you.

There are a lot of resources, so what’s a good way to sort through them?

An excellent place to start is “Home Vegetable Gardening in Washington,” which includes information on preparing your site, planning what to grow, when to plant, and ongoing maintenance.

Maybe you have a specific crop in mind? In that case you can look for bulletins on carrots , peas, or many other vegetables and small fruits.

Perhaps you are interested in attracting beneficial insects to your vegetable garden? Or using organic products?

If you don’t have a vegetable garden, you might have a strip along the roadway or space for a straw bale or two in your driveway. There are bulletins to help you grow vegetables here, too.

There are also publications on general topics such as soils and fertilizers and composting.

All the advice is free, science based, and specifically tailored for our area, so dive in and happy gardening!