Cain talks vegetable crop rotation strategies at Master Gardeners’ Brown Bag series

Published 1:31 am Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Veteran Master Gardener Bob Cain provides information about what a cover crop, or green manure, is and how it fits into vegetable crop rotation at noon Thursday, Sept. 22, in the Clallam County commissioners meeting room at the county courthouse in Port Angeles.

This presentation is part of the Green Thumb Garden Tips brown bag series sponsored by the WSU Clallam County Master Gardeners.

Cain will discuss the uses of cover crops for soil conditioning, controlling erosion, alleviating soil compaction, attracting beneficial insects, enhancing pollination and suppressing diseases and weeds. He will cover planting strategies for three types of cover crops, discuss mixed seed mixtures to deliver soil nitrogen and organic matter and provide an analysis of legume nitrogen delivery and a comparison with conventional fertilizers.

A Master Gardener since 2009, Cain has a lifetime of gardening experience, including cover crop demonstrations at the Master Gardener Woodcock Demonstration Garden.

Cain also writes a monthly article on plant disease for the Clallam County Master Gardener newsletter and is a frequent contributor to local newspaper gardening columns. He is the 2009 Master Gardener Intern of the Year and 2011 Master Gardener of the Year.

Cain served as the garden manager of the Woodcock Demonstration Garden for five years and is a past president of the Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County.

The Master Gardener Brown Bag series continues on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Presentations are from noon-1 p.m.

For more information, call 417-2279.