View Full Version : Got accepted into Master Gardener's program!
catherine
7-20-17, 10:30am
We have a great Master Gardner's program that's part of Rutgers. It's a steal of a program: For $475 books/materials fee you get a year's training in gardening: one 3-hour class every week. Then you are expected to perform 60 hours of volunteer work in various places like Rutgers Gardens, as well as answer questions from the public.
I'm so excited because I have been bumbling along in the garden for years. I'm not a scientist or biologist and I don't have the breadth and depth of experience of many of you, so I'm anxious to actually add to my shot-in-the-dark experiences with some real good knowledge. We also do hands-on learning in the summer in the vegetable and herb gardens.
Totally psyched to get started!!
iris lilies
7-20-17, 10:58am
That is great news. The Master Gardener programs are a good addition to the American gardening culture.
You will really enjoy it and that is a really modest cost.
I discovered how little I knew so found it quite humbling but very satisfying to complete the MG program course and then to volunteer. It helped define parameters for learning about gardening that I needed to know. I focused on heritage plants especially the Carolinian varieties as well as pollinator plants. Each member of our MG seemed to choose a preferred focus which worked well as it was too challenging to be able to cover everything. I still focus on them but did step out of the MG program as my life got too busy and it seemed that the public was more interested in the newest plant in the horticultural world rather than native varieties. I wonder what you will discover.
Once I get more settled in here, I intend to take the local Master Gardener course. I did something similar back in TX called Habitat Stewards which was more about native plants in public areas. Got a lot of enjoyment and knowledge from it.
That is wonderful! My sister-in-law did this in Texas, and boy it was extensive--there was interning involved, too, but she learned so much.
Wow, that's wonderful and one of my life goals.
We have a great Master Gardner's program that's part of Rutgers. It's a steal of a program: For $475 books/materials fee you get a year's training in gardening: one 3-hour class every week. Then you are expected to perform 60 hours of volunteer work in various places like Rutgers Gardens, as well as answer questions from the public.
I'm so excited because I have been bumbling along in the garden for years. I'm not a scientist or biologist and I don't have the breadth and depth of experience of many of you, so I'm anxious to actually add to my shot-in-the-dark experiences with some real good knowledge. We also do hands-on learning in the summer in the vegetable and herb gardens.
Totally psyched to get started!!
I did this several years ago through State of TN classes at the local library.
It was so much fun.
Have a great time.
Congratulations, catherine! Sounds like it will be a wonderful experience!
Congrats Catherine! My DH did a volunteer stint with Our City Forest and he learned all about trees and then did plantings in the community for a few years after that and he loved it. Would the year-long weekly classes be doable on your traveling schedule? And it seems that this is the perfect thing to use your newfound pension money on! :)
gimmethesimplelife
7-23-17, 11:16pm
This sounds so cool! I learned a lot about gardening in this funky climate of the lower Sonoran Desert in a different way - I was dating a guy years ago who worked for the Desert Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix and because of this I had the chance to sit in on a lot of classes about gardening in the lower desert. I learned a lot about organic fertilzers such as fish fertilizer being preferable in the lower deserts due to how alkaline (salty) the soil is here as this whole area was once under sea water, as hard as that is to believe. I learned a lot about growing roses, which kinds grow best and can handle the intense heat best, and which vegetables are worth a go here and which need to be coddled and babysat and are very high maintenance. It sounds like this program will teach you these basics for where you are and that's great! Gardening is so peaceful, too - it's very calming to me and a healthy way to take a breather from how fast life and society moves these days, and a way, in the middle of the sixth most populous city in the US (Phoenix really is that big now) to reconnect with nature. Have fun and learn all you can is what I say, congrats! Rob
Nice. We have people from our local MG program offering advice and answering questions at the weekly farmer's market.
Locally we also have a Master Birder program with similar requirements. I have been tempted to sign up for one or the other. Both are a pretty major time commitment.
Rob, I was at the Desert Botanical Garden probably 15 years ago when I took advantage of a layover to see my golf pro son, who was teaching in Scottsdale. (See pic below.) It's amazing!! I loved it. I was in my mid-40s before I even saw a cactus IRL.
1820
Rogar, it is a big time commitment. I'm a little nervous about that because of my travel schedule, but I'll take it a week at a time and do my best to schedule travel around it.
Catherine, I hope it works out for you.My friend did Master Gardener in Maryland and she loves it. It is a big time commitment, but she loves to be busy.
Gimme- I loved that Botanical Garden- saw it in 03 and that trip was the first time I'd seen a real cactus, too. I never thought about roses in the desert climate.
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