A soil pH test is a great first step to successful gardening.
Find recommended varieties of vegetables that grow well in our area!
What's eating your plants? We can help you find out, and suggest ways to control it!
Gardening
The Master Gardeners are not manning the phones for the foreseeable future but don't worry, we can still answer your gardening questions. Please email your questions to Donna Peterson, Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator, at dmp234@cornell.edu or leave a message at 518-828-3346 ext.106 and she'll connect you to one of our Master Gardeners. Stay well!
![Black-tailed deer grazing by the roadside in Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington [public domain].](https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.cce.cornell.edu/pages/10800/spotlight_image/sized/deer.jpg?1464459358)
Contact
Donna Peterson
Program Coordinator, Community Horticulture
dmp234@cornell.edu
518-828-3346 ext.106
Last updated October 5, 2020
Capital Area Agricultural and Horticultural Program (CAAHP)
The CAAHP program is a regional program supported by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations of Albany, Columbia, Greene, Schenectady and Washington Counties as well as Cornell University. This regional agricultural team provides agricultural producers, processors, and the industry with high quality educational programs and cutting edge research-based information. You can find more information on our website as well as the CAAHP website for additional details on their programs and services.
Find Your Zone!
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map helps gardeners and growers determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. For the first time, the map is available as an interactive GIS-based map, for which a broadband Internet connection is recommended. Users may also simply type in a ZIP Code and find the hardiness zone for that area.
The USDA Web Soil Survey (WSS) provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. Use their online tool to see soil type data over an aerial map of Columbia or Greene Counties.
An update on Soil Samples and Ticks submitted to CCE.
While we are closed to the public, we're still testing soil samples and identifying ticks. We have drop boxes outside both Hudson and Acra offices. Please use the updated instructions on these pages to help maintain safe social distancing practices.
Blueberry Diagnostic Tool
Here is information on blueberries if you have a problem with leaves that are unusually colored, spotted or necrotic (browning). From Cornell's College of Ag and Life Sciences (CALS).
Insect Diagnostic Lab
For more information about an insect, or how to deal with an insect problem in or around your home or garden, contact the Insect Diagnostic Lab, a program of Cornell Cooperative Extension in the Department of Entomology. For a $25 fee, an insect or related arthropod can be shipped to the lab, or a detailed photo can be emailed, for expert identification. Diagnostician Jason Dombroskie, Ph.D. has many years o fexperience identifying insects and other arthropods. More information about this service, including fact sheets on common outdoor and indoor insects, can be found at http://idl.entomology.cornell.edu/