Author: Kristin Hildabrand
Major Program: Master Gardener
Extension Master Gardeners are a valued volunteer group to the Warren County Extension Service and the community. Currently, 15 Extension Master Gardener volunteers in Warren County have kept their Master Gardener certifications up-to-date by maintaining 20 hours of volunteer service and 10 hours of continuing education credits on an annual basis. Volunteer service hours include providing home horticulture education and answering questions through garden related events, serving on leadership cou
Author: Annette Heisdorffer
An Extension Agent is only one person. To reach more citizens of Daviess County with science-based horticulture information, the Agent for Horticulture Education has taught the Extension Master Gardener Program with a goal of training volunteers to reach out into the community with research-based horticultural information. In turn, these individuals seek opportunities to fulfill their personal goals of helping others by sharing the knowledge gained through this program.A total of 46
Author: Robert Smith
The Kentucky Master Gardener Program is a leadership-rearing organization designed to foster a spirit of community involvement through horticulture projects and endeavors. The program consists of 14 classes of intense training in various areas of interest to a horticulture enthusiast. After the classroom training is complete a minimum of 30 hours of volunteerism is required to be given back to the community through extension-related programming. Completion of both legs of the program is required
Author: Amy Aldenderfer
In September 2022, the Lincoln Trail Area Master Gardener Association hosted the state-wide Master Gardener Conference. There were over 150 Master Gardeners in attendance for this two-day conference. The theme of “Sustainability is in Our Hands” wove through the topics of the 10 speakers: conifers, organic vegetables, cut flower gardening, invasives of the forest, critters in the garden, succulents, greenhouses, gourds, and insect identification. Tours of three loca
Hardin County has over 42, 000 households with over 110,000 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 15 classes of intense training in various areas of interest to horticulture enthusiasts. After the classroom training is complete a minimum of 40 hours of volunteerism is required to be given back to the community through extension
In response to clientele requests, the Allen, Simpson and Warren County Extension Agents for Agriculture and Horticulture collaborated together to offer the Extension Master Gardener Volunteer program in the Winter/Spring of 2023. Educational classes were offered for a total of 12 weeks with 14 home consumer horticulture topics being covered. Consumer horticulture topics covered in the program were home vegetable gardening, small and tree fruit production, home lawn care practices, woody tree an
Author: Jason Phillips
Author: Bethany Wilson
Extension Master Gardeners (EMG) are volunteer educators serving across the country in local communities. Backed by the University of Kentucky, Kentucky EMGs are dedicated to outreach and on a mission to support successful gardening through science-based horticulture information. Extension Master Gardeners are required to volunteer hours of service back to the community or in efforts that help Cooperative Extension. During 2022-23, 21 Lake Cumberland Master Gardeners reported just und
Author: Nick Roy
In Adair County, the Extension Master Gardeners are working diligently to improve the quality and quantity of life via education in the area of horticulture. In the spring of 2023, the Adair County Cooperative Extension Service with volunteers of the Extension Master Gardener program constructed and installed raised beds at a local elder care facility. Extension Master Gardener assisted patients with seeds and transplants and provided education on how to care for the plants thr
Author: Kara Back-Campbell
The 2023 Master Gardener Educational Program started on January 12th and concluded on May 4th. This program year the Horticulture Agent took the constructive criticism received from last year’s program to make improvements. The main concern was not enough hands-on activities. Within each class during the 2023 program, the Horticulture Agent focused more on activities than lectures. Lectures did occur, but it was drastically reduced in length from last year. The hands-on activities were pra
Author: Lori Bowling
Extension Master Gardener volunteers are a vital part of the Boyd County Extension Horticulture program. There are many requests for horticulture and gardening programs throughout the county and the horticulture agent is not able to respond to all the requests for activities and events that come into the office. The Master Gardeners are trained with scientifically proven information and are willing to help the agent meet the needs for all these requests. When they join the Mas
Since 2001 the Boyd County Extension Horticulture program has offered the Certified Kentucky Master Gardener program at the Federal Correctional Institution Camp in Ashland, Ky. There have been over 450 inmates that have gone through this program with an average of 80% of those becoming Certified Kentucky Master Gardeners. The inmates learn in both a classroom setting and through hands on learning activities to be sure they understand the course content. They perform their vol
Author: Adam Huber
Author: Erika Wood
In January of 2023, a new master gardener class was conducted at the Hopkins County Extension Office. In order to become a certified master gardener volunteer, gardeners must undergo a minimum 12 week training, which consists of 24 hours of core subject courses including: Cooperative Extension/Volunteerism, Botany, Soils, Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Pesticides/Pesticides Safety/Environmental Issues. Optional classes such as Annuals and Perennials, Home Vegetable Gardening, Compo
The Spring Lawn and Garden Fair is a program run by the Pennyroyal Master Gardener Association. The fair takes place at the Danny Peyton Outdoor Education Pavilion 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 Ga
Author: Deborah Stumbo
The problem-- Lack of diversity in flowers and vegetables being grown in the home garden and lawn.The educational program response-- Give local home gardeners a chance to to add variety to their plant species and locally grown vegetables and perennials. Each participant brought fruit, vegetables, and flowers from their garden and exchanged to new/different varieties.The participants/target audience-- anyone interested in improving their home lawn or garden. Whether container, r
Author: Jamie Dockery
As a grassroots organization, Cooperative Extension relies heavily on community members to help with our education mission. Extension users often express interest in becoming more involved. The Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program is one means of doing so. The Master Gardener Program is part of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and is designed to expand horticultural knowledge among the community through the use of trained volunteers. Master Gardeners are required to
Author: Bryce Roberts
With the continued growth in population in Spencer County, the number of horticulture questions continues to increase. Over the past few years, there has been some interest in starting a Master Gardener program to help educate our local residents in proper horticulture techniques. In January 2023, the Spencer County Master Gardener program started. M
