Cooperative Extension Office Locator

Go straight to the Cooperative Extension Locator

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Most people aren’t aware that there are trained faculty and staff that offer problem-solving horticultural assistance, free of charge, in or near most of the nation’s approximately 3,000 counties. When I first became interested in sustainable gardening, I took to the internet and dived into as many gardening how-to videos and articles as I could find. Eager and excited to try out the techniques I learned, I cleared an area of my back yard and set out to start growing. After a few failed attempts, I soon realized that this gardening thing was going to take a lot more understanding than I currently had and if I actually wanted to have the lavish garden of my dreams and produce plants that yielded fruit, I was going to have to get better at my planning and execution. All of this was going to take a lot more dedication before I could even see any results, but I really wants to become a better gardener so I was willing to do whatever it took to achieve that.

I was willing to put in the time that it would take to learn more about gardening, but in addition to feeling lost in a huge ocean of information, I also felt stranded out there with no one to to turn to for specific advice. Luckily, one evening as I was navigating through the countless gardening websites that are available on the internet, I came across the web page for my local Extension. It was at that moment when my gardening life was forever changed. There is so much useful on that site and I book marked it so that I could keep coming back.

Little by little I started ingesting small portions of gardening topics. I also started volunteering at local gardens and nurseries. Next thing you know, most of the mysteries of gardening soon became very clear to me. I actually started seeing my plants thrive throughout the season and sure enough, my vegetable plants started to yield. My perennial friends came back to visit me the next year and I started to have some confidence in my green thumb. I was making progress experimenting on my own, but it was the practical advice and training that I received from the University of MD Extension that truly helped to get me the advanced gardening knowledge I was looking for.

People ask me all the time how I became so good at gardening, well my local Extension played a great part in that. I thought it would be helpful to share this information, letting folks know how amazing the US Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension System is and where they can find their local office as well.

Cooperative Extension System by State

Browse the list below to contact the Cooperative Extension System and find the local office for support in your state. Please note: The following links to Extension websites may change from time to time. I will do my best to keep them updated, however, if you find a link that is no longer working, simply search using the term: Extension office for (your state). Thank you.