Hello! I was hoping you could give me some advice on which soil test would be appropriate for my home garden. I converted my front yard, which was a lawn and bark dust, into a garden at the beginning of 2024. I have mixture of raised beds and also grow things at ground level. We brought in a large load of "garden soil mix" from a local landscape company, as well as additional bags of compost, top soil, and raised bed soil mix. We also mulched everything with straw prior to last year's growing season. 2024 turned out to be a very productive year, with the expected snags a new garden inevitably experiences. Now that it has a year under it's belt, I am curious as to what I am working with this year. There seems to be A LOT of options out there, with a big price range. What would your recommendation be? What is the most cost effective but useful components to test for? Thank you so much for your time, and happy growing!

In the mobile home park where I live, a new landlord bought the place a few years ago and chopped down over half of our mature trees reducing the amount of shade in the park and causing some homes to become much hotter inside than they were before. Since then there has been a statute passed by the state of Colorado saying that mobile home park owners shall not cut down healthy trees. Our landlord just sent a letter saying he intends to cut down the rest of the trees claiming they are old and dangerous. The previous owners maintained the trees by hiring a tree service to come every year to trim trees and inspect them. When the tree service felt a tree was dangerous due to age/health, they would cut down that one tree. The current owner just plain doesn't want to spend money maintaining the trees so he wants to get rid of them instead. Is there a way to have our trees inspected and declared healthy (or not whatever the case may be) so that we can prevent the loss of the little bit of shade we have in the summer?

A few years ago I had a clothing moth infestation. I thought I'd solved my problem, but found a few moths (they don't all look the same) in traps. I'd like someone to take a quick look at the moths and identify them for me, please. Is a short in-person visit possible, please? If not, please advise who may be able to help me. If they are clothing moths, now is the perfect time for me to put all I own in my porch to kill them this winter. Thanks much.

Hello! I am a graduate student at Iowa State University. I am required to take a seminar/workshop on Grant Proposal Writing as a requirement for my degree completion. I wanted to reach out to inquire whether the Extension Program offers any workshops on Grant Proposal writing to students of Iowa State. If so, can you please share more details on this. Thank you, Diya

How do camellias grow in Oregon? History of when they were brought here? How many species total in oregon? Needed growing conditions? Anything else?

I live in Erie Colorado. I had a landscaper draw a xeriscape design and before we started work they were unable to do the work. I am having trouble finding someone to continue the work. I would like to work with a small company or individual. Recommendations about searching for the right match for my small job would be most helpful

I put out two suet feeders in December the they were not getting used. I read that if they’re free swinging the birds won’t use them. I then nailed one to my garage and zip tied one to a bird feeding pole. After two weeks they are still not getting used. Any thoughts about why or how to increase bird traffic?

I’m interested in the Master Gardener volunteer opportunity. How do I sign up?