Veteran Master Gardener Muriel Nesbitt will help home gardeners increase their success growing cucurbits on Thursday, July 14, at noon in the county commissioners meeting room at the Clallam 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.

Nesbitt will provide a description of the Cucurbitaceae family, which includes cucumbers, melons, luffa, pumpkin, gourds, zucchini and squashes. She will focus on the growing and pollination requirements for squashes, common pests to growing squash and how to harvest and cure winter varieties. She also will address seed saving.

Nesbitt, who earned a PhD in genetics from the University of Washington, retired from teaching biology at the University of California–San Diego. She directed the Clallam County Master Gardener program from 2009-2012. She is a frequent speaker on sustainable growing and an instructor for the Master Gardener intern training in Clallam and Jefferson counties.

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.