"dstvns" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I've been interested in joining a local master gardener program. The
only really bad side are the class hours....classes are on wednesdays
for 6 months in the winter from 10-noon. The only bad thing about
these hours are the location in the week...I would gladly take a 2 or
even 3 hour class after work hours for 6 months.

I was wondering if anyone has found being a master gardener to be a
boost in finding jobs in horticulture, or at least some sort of
respect in the agricultural fields (excuse the pun). Is there any
value to these positions, or are you simply 100 free hours of hired
help the first year, then 25 hours every year thereafter? I don't
mind the volunteer work either, but these classes seem to focus the
vast amount of time on flower gardens, not the herb, fruit and
vegetables which I enjoy so much in gardening. When I asked more
about utilitarian gardening (ie food), the trainer gave a blank stare,
as if noone had ever thought of focusing on these topics.

Thanks for any insight,
Dan

This question about becoming a Master Gardener has been asked before and as
usual is being stomped on by this group. First, the name Master Gardener is
a misnomer. There isn't enough training involved to learn much about
anything. Hobby Gardeners or Friends of Gardening would be far more accurate
titles.

Second, it will not prepare you for a job in horticulture although you would
be a better candidate for a job in a horticulture center than a body hired
off the street by management. At least you showed enough interest in plants
to get some training, minimal as it is.

Third, your question about vegetable gardening to a trainer raises another
interesting question. How many people do you know who actually have a
vegetable garden beyond a couple of tomatoes and a pepper plant or two? I
regularly complain whenever I watch "Victory Garden" on PBS about the
totally impractical/cutesy stuff they air. Most people now think of
gardening as raising flowers, shrubs, grasses, and ornamental trees. (Heaven
help this country if people ever had to return to a society where they had
to raise their own food.)

Fourth, contributing to your area through volunteer work is a plus or minus,
depending upon your viewpoint. If you have the time and inclination to work
in your local park or other public areas and enjoy getting dirty and sweaty
occasionally, it can be a relaxing and rewarding experience. If you think
you are taking away jobs from Joe Public, don't. Our local park has a native
wildflower area, a 19th century herb/vegetable garden, and a beautiful
planting of native, flowering shrubs done by local Master Gardeners. (Most
of these are projects that would never have been completed or maintained
without free labor.)

Finally, becoming a Master Gardener does have a lot of personal pluses. It
puts you in contact with people with a similar hobby/interest and that
includes vegetable gardening. Many Master Gardener groups have enough people
with diverse gardening interests that there is something for everyone. As
much as there are sneers about common items that spread rapidly being
swapped or given away by Master Gardeners, such items as winter jasmine,
salvia leucantha, salvia guaranitica (blue and purple), several viburnum
varieties, little leafed lilacs, double altheas, hydrangeas, thornless
blackberries, etc. now are part of my yard because of these swaps. In turn I
share tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, okra, and beans as well as started
cuttings from a snowball bushes, pussy willow, kerria, honeycomb buddleia,
crape myrtlettes, and beauty berry bush, and small redbuds that appear in my
flower beds. If anything invasive arrives for swap, the swap table "police
person" gives a warning to everyone. As an added bonus, we regularly pay
guest speaker experts to give presentations at regular or special interest
meetings.

I find that the Master Gardener group is a plus for me. Most but not all
Master Gardeners are great people, but there are some one avoids because
they're obnoxious. The same can be said for this ng!

I'm sure I'll get sneering, stomping remarks make about my analysis from
certain individuals, but I enjoy the contacts in the MG group.

John