Master Gardener

[Reactionary]

Karla - "the different counties do the program" - my group accepts a wide range of activity for MG volunteer hours:

Some of my MG volunteer hours were spent parking cars at the botanical garden concerts. I got some hours in this weekend by picking up trash out of a small river in a nature preserve. Call me if you ever need someone to show a carload to their parking place or picking up trash, but pruning, maybe that's not my strong suit

[FLPL75]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Karla - "the different counties do the program" - my group accepts a wide range of activity for MG volunteer hours:

Some of my MG volunteer hours were spent parking cars at the botanical garden concerts. I got some hours in this weekend by picking up trash out of a small river in a nature preserve. Call me if you ever need someone to show a carload to their parking place or picking up trash, but pruning, maybe that's not my strong suit

wow you really do have a wide range of options

I am ok with the pruning but lol don't ask me to guide any tour groups through gardens
The plant ID part of the training was not my strong point it amazed me how they could hold up 1 leaf and folks would be calling out the names lol I was the "ooo pretty plant"
the nice part is they have this phrase they teach you
"I am not sure,but I will find out"
Yup I have used it a lot

I am also pretty good at the weeding

[Reactionary]

I also volunteer doing 'chainsaw gardening' (removing invasive chinese privet from parks).

However, most of the time the tasks are what you'd expect: planting flower beds (me and ten MGs planted 5000 pansies one morning), deadheading, weeding, working in the greenhouses. My Garden has a Demonstration Vegetable Garden - maintained by MGs - and MGs are available on weekends to answer questions. MGs also maintain a small City Park. Plus, work the telephones at the Extension Office, or lead tours through the Garden, or babysit children (not really babysitting, but speaking to kid tours and guiding them through Garden - I avoid that at all costs).

We are fortunate to have a Land Grant University (Alabama A&M U) in town, so there are plenty of research areas (greenhouse, orchards, etc) and projects available with the school.

We are very fortunate to have an energetic Extension Agent running our MG program.

"I don't know, but I know who does". That's my line.

[FLPL75]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

I also volunteer doing 'chainsaw gardening' (removing invasive chinese privet from parks).

ok now that would be fun
varoom varoom !!!!!

I maintain the school where I teach the JR MG program's butterfly garden during the summer those hours count toward my total

lol anyone else's office call the phone lines the "confused homeowners hot line "

[Camden Northsider]

Sorry in advance if this has already been covered in this post/ forum, but what are the typical requirements of a master gardener's program - can it be done on a part time basis on evenings/ weekends or is it generally a full time courseload? - also, how long does the classroom training and/or certification take to complete? And just as a curiosity, who is the typical master gardener student?

[mamh]

Hi
Ours here in Marion county oregon was 11 mondays 6 hours a day of lectures,for 11 weeks, then they ask you give back 66 hours of volunteer time that they tell what to do...Ours has to been done by november...i'm struggleing to finish the volunteer time because I'm an active volunteer gardener at a public garden in the area and none of what i do is recongnized by the MG program..
Call and find out what the requirements are for your area and besure you have the time to do it...
good luck

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by mamh

Hi
Ours here in Marion county oregon was 11 mondays 6 hours a day of lectures,for 11 weeks, then they ask you give back 66 hours of volunteer time that they tell what to do...Ours has to been done by november...i'm struggleing to finish the volunteer time because I'm an active volunteer gardener at a public garden in the area and none of what i do is recongnized by the MG program..
Call and find out what the requirements are for your area and besure you have the time to do it...
good luck

Thanks for the reply, and the having enough time element is what I'm worried about. But, even if I were to have to wait a few years to do it, that probably wouldn't be the worst thing as I still consider myself a novice in the area. And the class time commitment isn't too bad so it's definitely worth giving some thought to. Thanks again-

[FLPL75]

from what I have read here different counties have different requirements
we had the 11 or 12 weeks training and the new folks are required to volunteer 75 hours their first year.
Other than the 35 hours required on the phones they can chose from many different projects to finish their hours

The typical Master Gardener student is a great question !!!!
I noticed in our class most of the folks were 50+ and most were retired
Though the last 2 years I have noticed more younger folks going through the classes
I also noticed the wide range of garden expertise from the folks that could ID a plant from just 1 leaf to those (like me) that loved gardening and wanted to learn more

I have always been big into volunteering and with my love of gardening it just seemed like a natural fit

[JnR]

Hi everyone! We finished up our master gardener training classes yesterday with our group presentations and info regarding the helpline and farmers markets. Next Thursday is our graduation party and then we are off to the races! I signed up for the helpline as it seems interesting as well as the 8 hours of training counts as continuing education credits. Not sure where else I will put my volunteer hours but there is lots of choices.

Camden - I would recommend this program to anyone who has a love of gardening and meeting new people and volunteering. Even tho I just finished the classes and haven't started the 'program' yet, I have met so many fun and interesting people and learned a lot. If you type in master gardener program in Google I am sure you will find the link to your mg program in your area. And yes, it seems that all the programs are a little different in their requirements.

Happy gardening everyone!

[FLPL75]

Congratulations JnR !!!!

You will learn so much from the "help line"

The sign up for our program starts next month, it will interesting to see how many apply
Last year we had 80 people apply for 25 spots

I am running short on my continuing training hours so I will probably pop into a few of the classes once they start