2004 Garden Pack

DATE:           3/10/04     
WRITER/CONTACT: Horticulture Information Specialist, Clemson Extension
                Home & Garden Information Center, 1-888-656-9988
EDITOR:         Susan Bedingfield, 864-656-3876; sbeding@clemson.edu

Got gardening questions?  
HGIC has got answers

     CLEMSON -- Got gardening questions? The Clemson Extension Home and
Garden Information Center (HGIC) has the answers.
     "Whether you have a problem with tomato leaf spots, pests in the
pantry or want advice on the best plants for your yard, help is as
close as your telephone, said Karen Russ, horticulture information
specialist, Clemson Extension Home & Garden Information Center. "The
service is free, and the recordings are available 24 hours a day, seven
days a week."
     Available since 1999, HGIC delivers information to South Carolina
gardeners through a toll-free phone system and an extensive website.
By calling 1-888-656-9988 and using the interactive phone system,
callers have access to more than 600 recorded messages on home, yard
and gardening issues.
     To make navigating the voice mail system easier, the "Home &
Garden Information Center User's Guide" (EC 700) provides the codes
used to retrieve the messages. The User's Guide can be requested by
calling the center's toll free number, or it can be printed from the
HGIC web site. The guide is also available from county Extension
offices.
     Internet users can use the HGIC website at http://hgic.clemson.edu
to access more than 400 fact sheets on gardening and pest problem
topics. Fact sheets from the website cover topics in more detail than
is possible in a short telephone message recording.
     Do you have an unusual question not covered in the taped messages?
By using the same toll-free telephone number, experienced, degreed
horticulturists are available to help Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.
to 1 p.m.
     Free fact sheets can also be requested by calling the toll-free
number Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Up to five fact
sheets can be requested with each call.
     To ask a question, listen to a recorded message or get a user's
guide, call toll-free 1-888-656-9988 or visit the HGIC web site at
http://hgic.clemson.edu.

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