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.

               Master Gardener is a volunteer driven educational outreach of the Cooperative Extension Service.  Participants complete approximately 40 hours of class/hands on instruction and then they volunteer those hours back to the community through various projects.  

               Since the conclusion of the program, our current volunteers have helped around our community in a variety of ways, such as maintaining planters in downtown Taylorsville, project days at the library, volunteering at the Farmers Market to hand out materials and answer questions, speaking at different meetings, working with students in our elementary and middle schools, volunteering at field days, and helping to maintain garden areas around the Extension Office.  For the period from July 2023-June 2024, they have volunteered over 511 hours, which translates into a total of $17,113 savings for our community.  They are discussing activities for this fall and next year.  The agriculture agent is planning to start a new program in January 2025.