Volunteers to provide gardening help

SIDNEY — Shelby County Master Gardeners will be staffing a horticultural “helpline” at the Shelby County Extension Office throughout the growing season for gardening questions and help identifying plants and insects.

Volunteers will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Monday and Thursday from May 4 to Sept. 28, according to a news release. Call 937-498-7239, email [email protected] or stop by the office at 810 Fair Road, Sidney.

Specimens may be dropped off any time during regular office hours. On occasion, especially with questions regarding trees, a volunteer may make a site visit to a home. In some cases, samples may need to be sent to the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic in Wooster, and the volunteers can help collect and prepare those specimens for submission. The extension office does not do soil testing; however, the office does sell testing kits from Penn State University and can help interpret their test reports as well as those from other testing services.

Shelby County Master Gardeners is a volunteer group of area residents trained and supervised by The Ohio State University Extension. The group’s goal is to assist local residents in obtaining timely, research-based horticultural information. While some extension publications are for sale, most information and services are provided free of charge. They also have a memorial garden located at the Agriculture Service Center on Fair Road.