Dee wrote in
om:

Gemstone Rivers wrote in
:

I'm not sure if this is nationwide or just in the Indiana area
(sponsored by Perdue University) but has anyone ever taken the Master
Gardener course? What was it like? Was it worth it? Opinions
welcome.

Twelve years ago I bought my first house, which came with perennial
beds and a vegetable garden. Being that I didn't know the first thing
about gardening, I subscribed to Organic Gardening magazine and took
the Master Gardeners course given locally. The MG course cost $75 and
was given at the Extension office in my county once a week for four
months or so. For that time and money, I received a basic grounding
(no pun intended) in several subjects, including plant structure,
identification, growing techniques, propagation, etc, etc. Upon
graduation I was required to complete 40 hours of volunteer work to
"give back" to the Extension.

I think the MG program is somewhat misnamed, as the title of Master
leads one to expect some depth of knowledge and training. But what I
got out of the course was not so much the actual knowledge that was
imparted to me as it was the opportunity to explore a new subject
without enrolling in college again. As it turned out, the experience
piqued my interest enough to inspire me to take a few horticulture
classes at a local community college. Of course the college courses
were much more in-depth, but they were also more expensive and
time-consuming. I would never have enrolled in those college courses
if I did not have the MG training first as my background. Another
aspect of the MG course was that I got to meet and network with a
number of other similarly interested gardeners as well as experts
local to my area.

To continue being a MG I believe you must keep up with yearly
requirements for volunteer hours and continuing education, which I
have not done. I'm sure there are many other ways of obtaining the
same knowledge and experience. For me it was an inexpensive way to
discover an interest in gardening that I will keep the rest of my life
:-)

Dee


Thanks for your experience with it, Dee. It so happens that my county
extension office and all the lessons will be about 15 minutes away and
Purdue (did I spell it right this time?) is about two and a half hours
away so the MG program sounded pretty good at the cost/travel time. I
don't mind the volunteer hours. In fact, there is a local all organic,
herb garden within 10 minutes of here that I was also going to volunteer
at this next year so maybe I can kill two birds with one stone.