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YMCA Pandemic Food Assistance

Master Gardeners Help Desk

June 3, 2020

By William H. McCaleb

Master Gardener Coordinator & Program Assistant, ANR

P.O Box 757 Halifax, VA 24558

THE MASTER GARDENER HELP DESK IS ALWAYS OPEN!

While the coronavirus and social distancing keep us apart and the Halifax Virginia Cooperative Extension Office is still closed to the public, as are all county owned buildings, the Southside Master Gardeners are always ready to help you with gardening and landscape questions. Stymied gardeners can email their gardening question to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., along with their name, address, phone number, an explanation and any pictures of their problem. If you are on the internet, you can also access a Southside Master Gardener by going to the website for the Southside Master Gardener Association (SSMGA.org) and then click on ‘Ask a Master Gardener’. Either route you choose, a Master Gardeners will respond (probably from a different email address) but they will respond and recommend a solution.

Of course, with the office being closed to the public at this time, puzzled gardeners aren’t able to drop off their diseased specimens or get soil sample kits. For now, we are accepting high resolution pictures of plants which we will analyze or send to our specialist at Virginia Tech laboratory. We have to complete some important paperwork, so please make sure you include your name, address, phone number, email address, full description of the problem so our specialist can quickly understand the issues at hand.

Also, not everyone has email access, and if email is not available, there is a help desk phone (434) 830-3383, here at the Extension Office, where anyone can leave a message and a member of the office staff will retrieve it and dispatch the information to one of our problem-solving Master Gardeners.

For now, email is the best method to reach a Master Gardener or the Coordinator. We are still here, we are still waiting to resume our educational programs if the COVID-19 virus abates and we can get back to serving the public directly. I hope you are having a great growing season so far and it won’t be long before you slice up that first home grown tomato. I know some of us are already eating fresh greens, onions, and lots of radishes.

May your garden grow and may you enjoy the wonder of nature and the outdoors and remember, you could be in the state of Maine where they just had another killing frost three days ago. Kind of makes you appreciate our more temperate climate here in Southside Virginia. Be safe and stay healthy by keeping your distance when folks come around and wear your face cover, but if no one is around…your plants don’t care if you are wearing one or not. They probably would like to see your smiling face!

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