Author: Annette Heisdorffer
Major Program: Master Gardener
Extension Master Gardener volunteers deliver science-based horticultural information to help clientele grow and maintain vegetable gardens and landscape plants. They are a vital part of the outreach of the Cooperative Extension Service into the community. In addition, the Extension Master Gardeners seek this opportunity to fulfill their goal of helping others in the community through sharing gardening knowledge gained through the program. A total of 51 active Extension Master Garden
Author: Kara Back-Campbell
Taylor County had its first Master Gardeners' class on the 6th of September. The Master Gardeners' Program was one of the reasons a horticulture agent was hired for Taylor County. Upon arrival, the agent was asked numerous times when the program would be held. During the month before the agent's second year, the first two classes of the program were held. The importance of the program is the heart of extension's mission; teaching individuals to be teachers / leaders within t
Author: Richard Durham
The Extension Master Gardener training program generally involves approximately 14 weekly 2.5 hour sessions coordinated by county staff and delivered by county agents, state specialist, or local professionals. The coordinator must also develop and grade homework and/or quizzes and administer a final exam. As state coordinator I maintain, with the help of a few specialists, a training manual that is uniformly used for Master Gardener education throughout the state. However, we have ne
Author: Kristin Hildabrand
Extension Master Gardeners are an asset to their communities. They are eager to learn new gardening trends and practices, exchange ideas with other gardeners, and possess a desire and passion for volunteering in their community on a number of service projects through educational programs. At the end of 2018, the Warren County Cooperative Extension Service gained 10 new Extension Master Gardener volunteers to the program after earning 40 hours of volunteer service. Warren County Extension Ma
Author: Kelly Jackson
Master Gardeners is a program run by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service to train citizens in many areas of horticulture. Upon completion of the Master Gardener education program, participants are expected to return 30 hours of community volunteer service through organized projects within one year to earn the title Master Gardener and 15 hours annually to maintain their volunteer status. During the 2018 program year Master Gardeners volunteered:731 hours of service in planti
Author: Lindie Huffman
The Pendleton County Extension Office was selected as a pilot program for the state to administer the Junior Master Gardener Curriculum from Texas A&M University. Agents Lindie Huffman, ANR; Kenna Knight, FCS; and Shelley Meyer, 4-H; received training from the specialist of Texas A&M and began work to partner with Southern Elementary School, Pendleton County Public Library, and Transitions Drug Rehabilitation Center to offer gardening education and skills building workshops around the co
Author: Traci Johnson
Oldham County's population is just over 66,000. Residential areas make up about one-half of the county, and information about food and landscape production is in high demand. Extension Master Gardener volunteers help address this need through a variety of service work in Oldham County. Their work helps foster self-reliance skills, a goal identified by Oldham County Extension Council for the county plan of work.Master Gardeners complete the Extension Master Gardener program in ord
Author: Erika Wood
The Master Gardener program is a volunteer organization dedicated to teaching and training people about horticulture related topics. This program is a part of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and assists county extension agents in providing education and outreach in the community. Master Gardeners are required to undergo training and complete 40 hours of volunteer service in their first year before becoming certified. After the first year, Master Gardeners are requi
In the past three years, the Pennyroyal Master Gardener Association has held a spring and fall plant swap at the Hopkins County Farmers Market. The purpose of the plant swap was to give the community an opportunity to come swap plants with one another. Participants brought plants they were willing to give away and then could pick from plants donated by other participants to take home. A wide range of plants were brought to the swap and included the following: herbaceous perenni
The Spring Lawn and Garden Fair is a program run by the Pennyroyal Master Gardener Association.The fair takes place at the Hopkins County Extension Service and offers a variety of activities including educational talks and demonstrations relating to horticulture, lawn and garden vendors, plant sales, and activities for children. The purpose of the fair is to educate local residents about different topics relating to horticulture, as well as raising awareness of the Master Gardener program
Author: Chelsey Anderson
The Cumberland County Master Gardeners have completed a lot of interesting projects this year. They have a total of 449 volunteer hours spread across 13 individuals. This is equivalent to $11,418.07 in savings to the Extension Service (independentsector.org). They have assisted with a homeschool JR Master Gardener group, volunteered at the Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, worked on landscaping at Dale Hollow State Park, gave out a local scholarship, volunteered for PRIDE Clean-up, etc.
Author: Amy Aldenderfer
Hardin County has almost 40,000 households with over 105,000 residents. Extension Master Gardeners enable residents to access research based information as an extension to the county Horticulture Agent. The Extension Master Gardener Program consists of 12 classes of intense training in various areas of interest to a horticulture enthusiast. Each member was required to prepare a 10 minute presentation on a horticulture or Extension topic of personal interest. After the classroom traini
Author: Kimberly Leonberger
The Master Gardener program is a CAFE featured program and a major initiative for participating counties. The plant disease chapter of this program can be difficult for many agents to present due to the complex nature of the topic. In addition, many participants find the subject overwhelming, complex, and discouraging. Thus, a program was developed to increase understanding through hands-on experiences with plant disease samples and equipment which introduce participants to the microscopic organ
The Master Gardener program is a CAFE featured program and a major initiative for participating counties. Many Master Gardener volunteers assist county agents by accepting samples, completing homeowner site visits, fielding phone calls from homeowners, and/or providing general diagnostic assistance. As diagnosis of plant problems is a challenging and often intimidating process, many volunteers are timid to participate in these programs. In order to provide Master Gardeners with additional educat
Author: Samantha Anderson
The Laurel Oaks Garden Club based in Mayfield has a documented history of services to the horticultural needs of Graves County. Through discussions with multiple leaders of the Laurel Oaks Garden Club, Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Samantha Anderson, identified the need for the restoration of the Extension Master Gardener Program in Graves County.During the course of the program, participants completed a minimum of 24 hours of classroom instruction. At the conclusion of
Author: Paul Andrew Rideout
The Master Gardener Program is alive and growing with over 80,000 volunteers nationwide donating over 5 million volunteer hours with over 1 million direct contacts. In Kentucky, there are 1445 active volunteers donating over 43,000 hours with 83,000 direct contacts. Henderson County Master Gardeners have 53 active members donating 1390 hours of service the community. Education is their mission and Henderson MG's do it well with programming in the elementary schools teaching yo
Author: Sharon Flynt
GO NATIVE: Scott County Master Gardeners Garden EXPOIn March, 2019, the Scott Co. Master Gardeners’ annual GARDEN EXPO returned with the theme of GO NATIVE. The Expo had 151 attendees who all took part in the demonstrations, classes and vendors such as: raised bed gardening, the history of PAWPAWS, and how to grow them, Good For You Dessert food Demonstration, Salad Dressing recipe SNAP healthy foods, composting, soils, seed swap and sale; how to construct a garden wreath
