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MASTER GARDENERS NOW ACTIVE IN ALL 87 MINNESOTA COUNTIES
Would you like to become a Master Gardener? The Carver/Scott Master Gardener chapter is now accepting applications for trainees for the year 2000.
The Master Gardener title doesn't mean that you know more about gardening than your neighbor, or that you somehow have mastered the art of growing prize-winning tomatoes or dahlias.
Master Gardener is a title conferred by the University of Minnesota Extension Service to men and women who have fulfilled two requirements:
1) They have successfully completed 50 hours of Master Gardener classroom instruction in horticulture;
2) They have contributed a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer time at the county or state level the first year, and a minimum of 25 hours annually thereafter.
The Master Gardener Program in Minnesota utilizes volunteers to assist people and their communities through gardening information and activities.
The Master Gardener program began in Minnesota in 1977. Today, there are approximately 2,000 active Master Gardeners working in all of Minnesota's 87 counties. It is estimated that more than a 250,000 Minnesotans receive information each year through direct contact with a Minnesota Master Gardener. The program is active in most parts of the U.S.
Master Gardener activities in Carver and Scott County are combined. Presently, our two counties have 67 active volunteers
Typical volunteer activities include answering phone inquiries on home horticulture, teaching classes and workshops, guiding and supervising community plantings and school gardens, teaching and judging horticultural projects and exhibits, writing newsletters and newspaper columns (like this one), holding plant clinics at garden centers, and staffing answer booths at fairs and public gardens.
Some Master Gardeners are involved with horticulture therapy and teaching horticulture in hospitals, nursing homes and retirement centers.
Most phone inquiries result when a homeowner calls the Carver or Scott County extension office with a gardening question or problem. The extension office staff person asks the caller questions to understand the nature of the query and then gives the caller the name of a Master Gardener who specializes in that area. My specialty is trees and shrubs and I answer approximately 150 phone inquiries a year on related topics.
Several of our members spend part of their weekends at answer booths at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the University Horticultural Research Center, and the Excelsior Apple House, fielding whatever questions visitors choose to ask that day. We also have an exhibit at the Scott and Carver County Fairs.
Each year, we sponsor a Carver/Scott Big Pumpkin/Big Sunflower Growing Contest. Entries are grown and delivered to weigh-in sites in the fall and prizes are awarded for the largest pumpkins and sunflower heads.
Our Carver/Scott group meets once a month and typically hears a presentation by an outside expert on some aspect of horticulture. During the growing season, we go on tours to arboretums, prairies, retail garden centers or other horticultural points of interest.
I have been an active Master Gardener since 1993 and have found the program to be an excellent way to learn more about gardening and to give back to the community information and knowledge I've accumulated along the way. My two main activities are writing this biweekly newspaper column, and answering phone questions about horticultural problems and ideas. I've also developed a number of great friendships with other Master Gardeners who always seem to be able to teach me some new trick or technique.
Core course training is offered each February at the University's St. Paul Campus, as well as at three out-state locations and on the Internet. An $85 tuition fee covers costs for all class reference materials and handouts. Classes are taught by University Extension staff.
If you'd like to learn more about the Master Gardener program - either to have a question answered or to explore training to become a Master Gardener - call your county extension office (442-4496 in Carver, 445-5070 in Scott). They can send you the two-page application form. You can also visit the Master Gardener website at http://www.hort.agri.umn.edu/MG/mastgard.htm
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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