JoAnne Skelly: More Grown Your Own, Nevada!

Each year in spring and fall, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension offers a series of classes called “Grow Your Own, Nevada.” Different topics are offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. through Sept. 24.

While you could drive to the Reno Cooperative Extension office to attend the class live with prior registration, you can save yourself a trip and gas and attend by interactive video at the Carson City Cooperative Extension office. Although dropping in is welcome at the Carson site, you only get the class handouts if you pre-register. The fee is $5 per class. For an additional $5, you can buy the flash drive that contains the complete materials for all the classes, including the ones that already occurred, “Growing Fruit Trees and Edible Landscapes,” “Lawn Alternatives to Protect Your Trees,” “Save Water and Your Landscape” and “Pest Management Techniques for New Beekeepers.”

Today’s class is “Aquaponics” with Dr. Heidi Kratsch. Aquaponics combines fish and plant production using fish farming techniques with hydroponics.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, “Improving Your Soil” with instructor Melody Hefner will be presented. Our Nevada soils are young soils and need lots of improvements for plants to thrive. In this class, you will learn how to build a dynamic healthy soil.

The presentation on Sept. 22 will be “Garden Clean-up for Pest Prevention” with entomologist Joy Patterson. Pests, such as squash bugs, aphids, mites, thrips and white flies were prolific this year. Did you know that actions you take this fall can greatly reduce your pest populations next spring and summer? The final class on Sept. 24 will be “Composting Kitchen and Garden Waste” with instructor Wendy Hanson Mazet. Why throw away precious materials that can help build your soil and prevent pests? Learn how to make the black gold soil every gardener craves.

If you are a beginning Nevada gardener, you may be discovering you need some special skills and knowledge to grow successfully here. Or, if you are an experienced gardener, you may want to explore growing methods you haven’t tried yet, such as aquaponics. “Grow Your Own, Nevada” classes are informative for all types of gardeners.

Please register for the Carson City site today by calling Teri Spraggins, 775-887-2252, or emailing her at spragginst@unce.unr.edu. The Carson City University of Nevada Cooperative Extension classroom is located at 2621 Northgate, Suite 12.

JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator, Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at skellyj@unce.unr.edu.