(paghat) wrote:

The "public service" volunteer aspect of the system requires each little
old lady or gent who has achieved Master Gardener status to sit at a card
table at Saturday markets or in nurseries to answer questions. If the
question is "How do I join the Master Gardener program" they'll know. If
it's anything about gardening anything like that, they won't know.

Each state runs their master gardener programs differently. I am not a
master gardener, but know many and even tutored several who were
studying for the master gardner status. In our area the master
gardeners have a number of gardens they maintain for educational
purposes and for the local Penn State campus. They participate in lots
of actual gardening projects for local parks and provide demonstrations
for school children. They go on interesting field trips and have a lot
of information to share with each other. They tend to be cliquish and
identify with each other. They do not sit at tables and answer
questions. They include a cross section of our community including
teachers, nursery and garden center workers, and other gardeners. In
our area there is no waiting list to take classes and we get a lot of
people taking the classes.
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