According to Karen Balog, gardening is evolving into a growing trend in Portage County. The excitement surrounding gardening is so great that the Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers have operated a gardening help line for several years through the sponsorship of The Ohio State University’s Portage County Extension Agency.
“We have been answering questions since our organization existed and for a long time, people would go into the office or get their questions answered or call in to get their questions answered,” Balog told The Weekly Villager on May 28. “Because of technology, we wanted to have this online so people can more easily connect with us and get their questions answered.”
The Ohio State University offers education and intensive training to Ohio residents interested in horticulture. Once an individual completes the mandatory hours, they become Master Gardener certified.
Balog said The Ohio State University has been a great sponsor for the Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers. She said that each state has one university that is designated as an agricultural college and The Ohio State University, which is the third largest college in the United States, has received that designation.
People who become Master Gardener certified volunteers use what they have learned by assisting with educational programs and activities for Ohio residents through their local OSU Extension County office. Questions can be submitted online through go.osu.edu/pchotline.
“We have a lot of different ways for outreach and we can give people our own experience,” Balog said. “We want to make sure we are a learning organization. It is very interesting to see the problems that come in and we are able to research those questions and it is always a learning experience for us as well as the people we are helping.”
The Master Gardener Volunteers Organization consists of a diverse group of people, having members who are not just local but also ones who own farms and grow their own vegetables and fruits.
“You would not be a master gardener if you did not have a passion for gardening,” Balog noted. “We actually had to have educational hours every year and we have to do volunteer hours every year to be certified as Master Gardener volunteers.”
The Portage County Extension Agency is open on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Balog said that once the Extension Agency stopped having office hours five days of the week, the help line went virtual to make it more practical for the volunteers to answer questions.
“It is not something your neighbor says, oh you should do this or that with your plants, it is based on real research on how to grow plants and care for plants and treat plant diseases and prevent insect damage and we want to do things that are environmentally responsible gardening,” Balog said.
Balog said that a lot of questions that are submitted have had volunteers do their own research through university or government sites.
Although the volunteers who work the help line are certified Master Gardeners, Balog acknowledged that there have been plenty of questions that have made not just her but the other volunteers really think about.
“They make you think and there are always some unique questions that come up and spark interests,” she added.
For Balog, who has been gardening since she was a child, she has learned a lot about species that are very aggressive and types of plants that can be very invasive. Learning about these types has allowed her to give advice to gardeners on how to improve the whole ecosystem.
Balog said that there is a real need for a gardening help line because it is not just a growing trend in Portage County but across the country.
“People are becoming more concerned about the environment and the environmental changes,” she added. “More people are interested in organic gardening that are not using all of the chemicals that are not good for the environment and are not good for human consumption.”
