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"OSU Master Gardener, May I help you?"

So begins the conversation between the volunteer answering the phone on any workday, 9 am til 4 pm. Some 50,000 calls are answered each year. A bank of over 130 MG volunteers stand ready for the phone to ring. During the busy season (May through September) three MGs are in the office in the morning and another three in the afternoon.

In addition, some 1,500 people drop into the MG office to discuss gardening. It is much more accurate when a trained MG has a chance to see the leaf or insect problem.

Master Gardeners receive intensive training to answer any gardening question. If the MG is not able to quickly answer the question, the caller's name and phone number is taken and research is conducted to determine the correct answer.

Most often the questions are from gardeners who have a problem with a plant that is not growing, has an insect problem, or their plant is not producing blooms or fruit. Sometimes the question concerns a tree that seems to be dying. Why? What to do? Too often diseased or infested trees must be removed.

Sometimes the caller has moved here from another part of the country, and has no idea how to handle Green Country's clay based soil, hot and dry weather, or late summer's hot, dry wind. What plant can handle these factors? Frequent questions concern how to plant a new tree or shrub or how to build the soil so it will be productive. Much of the time the questions are timely, such as when an invasion of sod web worms or fall web worms hits our area.

Master Gardeners are available to answer these and any other questions from the home gardener. Give us a call at 746-3701. We know what to do.