What’s chewing up the foliage on my prize rose? The power went out during a thunderstorm and was off for 12 hours - is it safe to eat the food stored in the refrigerator? How do I know if my child’s car safety seat is installed correctly? Can I enroll my child in 4-H? These are the kinds of questions the New Castle County Cooperative Extension office staff answer every day.
Home gardeners tending to backyard vegetable plots and flower beds need advice on how and where to plant, how to identify insect pests, or where to get soil tested. The busy season on The Garden Line phone and email answer service is just getting started. This keeps volunteer Master Gardeners on their toes, fielding questions that range from diagnosing plant diseases to controlling lawn weeds and harvesting herbs. Questions about food safety and nutrition come in for the family and consumer sciences educator, who has fact sheets about how to freeze and preserve summer’s bounty, ways to stretch the family budget, and save for retirement, as well as ways to keep picnic or barbecue foods safe in summer’s heat.
People often drop by to pick up soil test kits or to peruse the printed literature in the lobby. For example, there are more some 100 fact sheets on a wide range of home lawn, garden and pest topics to help you recognize and control problems early. Tips on growing fruit and vegetables at home are a short drive, phone call, or Web visit away.
People who know about the Extension office and its programs are already reaping the benefits of what we have to offer. If you haven’t discovered Cooperative Extension yet, then you are in for a great experience. Not only do you have a wonderful resource in Newark, you have three ways to access it - visit the office for fact sheets or details on 4-H programs, call the office at 831-COOP (The Garden Line is 831-8862) or search out information through our Web site at http://ag.udel.edu/extension/ncc/
If you have the time, we have the information. The Extension office is at 910 South Chapel Street in Newark (across from the old Caldor store on Route 72.
—Carl Davis, Extension Agent, Agriculture.
Originally published in “Newark Outlook,” The Newark Post
Copyright © 2004 NCC Cooperative Extension. Last revised March 18, 2004.
It is the policy of the Delaware Cooperative Extension System that no person shall be subjected to discrimination on the grounds of race, color, sex, disability, age, or national origin.