Did you receive a poinsettia as a gift and are wondering how to extend its life through the winter? Is your favorite houseplant dropping its leaves? Or are you already thinking ahead to spring and want to know when to start your seeds indoors?
The UVM Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Helpline can answer all your home horticulture questions. Although the trained volunteers who staff the Helpline wonât be taking phone calls again until April 2025, the online Helpline is open 24/7/365. You can visit go.uvm.edu/gardenquestion to post your question any time.
When you submit your question, please provide as much detail as possible. Photos help, and you will find tips for submitting up to three per question on the website. Volunteers will research your question and provide science-based answers and additional resources via email within three to five business days.
So who are these trained volunteers?
Currently, more than 30 volunteers staff the UVM Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Helpline throughout the year. They are all graduates of the UVM Extension Master Gardener Program. After finishing the 16-week comprehensive gardening course, they completed a 40-hour internship to become certified.
As Helpline volunteers, they respond to a wide range of questions, even in winter, from beginning to experienced gardeners, as well as homeowners who need answers about landscaping, backyard composting and other topics. Although at this time of year the majority of questions pertain to indoor gardening, houseplants and preparing for the upcoming growing season, your questions donât need to be pertinent to the season.
Did you get a soil test done in the fall? Volunteers can interpret the results and provide management recommendations to implement this spring. Curious why your bush beans failed to sprout this past summer? They can help you find answers to that question as well.
Keep in mind the Helpline can only respond to questions from Vermonters, but if you live out-of-state, you can find your UVM Extension Master Gardener Program at go.uvm.edu/mg-find.
UVM Extension Master Gardener volunteers cannot provide personal site visits to home gardens nor can they respond to questions from commercial growers. If you are as commercial grower, you can submit plant samples and pest and disease questions to the UVM Plant Diagnostic Clinic at www.uvm.edu/extension/pdc.
The Helpline is a free service provided by the UVM Extension Community Horticulture Program, which offers training and support to Extension Master Gardener and Vermont Master Composter volunteers. In 2024, Helpline volunteers responded to more than 800 questions from the public.
Debra Heleba is UVM Extension Community Horticulture Program director.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(613x41:615x43)/kardashian-sisters-121622-b6564d0e5c8341acb52483c3d9b47d40.jpg "See All of the Kardashian-Jenner’s Iconic Christmas Decor Over the Years")
