Southern New Englanders are welcome to send an email and photos to the University\u2019s Master Gardener<\/a> volunteer educators or call for science based-answers to their gardening and environmental questions. In-person visits are also available by appointment at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Mallon Outreach Center on the Kingston Campus. Just call 401-874-4836 or email gardener@uri.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n Sponsored by the University\u2019s Cooperative Extension<\/a>, 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s free help desk is available year-round but runs part-time hours during the winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From March through Oct. 31, the hotline operates from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. The free service provides high-quality, science-based solutions to problems encountered by residential gardeners and is staffed by trained 溏心vlog免费B站 Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners who connect callers with answers they are looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n Last year, the 18-member Gardening Hotline team fielded 1,020 emails, 641 phone calls, and 135 in-person customers \u2014 nearly 1,800 total community gardening inquiries. Queries typically begin in late winter and peak in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Callers dialed in with questions about composting, flowers and vegetables, wildlife, lawn care, invasives, and weeds. Hotline staffers field virtually any gardening topic under the sun: Can you add orange peels to your compost pile? What do you do with bulbs that aren\u2019t flowering? How do you keep a groundhog at bay? What\u2019s a good choice for a memorial tree? Does power washing impact plants? What kind of plants are good for a privacy fence or butterflies? A few calls last year inquired about \u201cchill hours\u201d \u2014 not a new mindfulness technique, but temperature impact on plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some queries are small, focused on ants and other insects, others large, such as what to do about knotweed covering three acres of property (answer: invite goats).<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re all welcome, says Matt Durham<\/a>, who oversees the service, which is a cornerstone of the Master Gardener Program and offered as part of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s land-grant mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Master Gardener volunteers log the queries and advice given and, if needed, refer callers to the University\u2019s Plant Diagnostic Laboratory<\/a> or groups such as the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society. Master Gardeners also field questions about indoor plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If emailing, send multiple photos of your plant problem, including an item for scale and any identifying characteristics; take photos of the entire plant to view it in context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardeners<\/a> also offer a free soil testing service for residents of Rhode Island and surrounding areas from March through October, as well as online gardening resources and free gardening-related workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more, visit <\/em>uri.edu\/mastergardener<\/em><\/a> or contact the Gardening Hotline: 401-874-4836 \/ <\/em>gardener@uri.edu<\/em><\/a>. To get on the Cooperative Extension email list for additional programs, email c<\/em>oopext@uri.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 8, 2026 \u2013 Have a garden quandary or need some advice before you start planting your 2026 garden? Ready to celebrate spring but don\u2019t know where to start? The 溏心vlog免费B站 Gardening & Environmental Hotline is now open and in full operation through Nov. 1. Southern New Englanders are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":108126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,1913],"class_list":["post-108125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences","tag-public-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108130,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108125\/revisions\/108130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/garden-graphic.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/volunteers.jpg\")