Describe the Issue or Situation.

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. 

Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable).

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 related programming. Completion of both legs of the program is required to become a Master Gardener. To continue as an active Master Gardener, the volunteer must complete 20 hours of volunteer service and attend 10 hours of Continuing Education annually.

Provide the Number and Description(s) of Participants/Target Audience.

For the reporting year 2025, 39 volunteers have logged 1413 hours of volunteer service in the community. They have reached almost 12,000 individuals in Hardin County. They have consulted with Habitat for Humanity recipients on gardening and lawn care; started and  maintained a community garden in conjunction with United Way; taught people how to cook and add fresh vegetables to their meals; help teach the new Master Gardener Interns; answered hundreds of horticulture questions through the Hort-line; planted a pollinator garden, started a 4-H garden club and a 4-H bee club, and maintained the Hardin County Office Display gardens.

Provide a Statement of Outcomes or Program Impact. Please note that the outcomes statement must use evaluation data to describe the change(s) that occurred in individuals, groups, families, businesses, or in the community because of the program/outreach. 

With the hours that the Master Gardeners volunteer to the Hardin County Extension Service, and all the work that they do, the Hardin County Extension Service saves more than $35,084 (About the salary and benefits for one horticulture technician. (According to IndependentSector.org, the cost per hour of volunteer time is $24.83) Through their fundraising efforts of the Plant Fair, they have also given three (3) $1000 scholarships to high school seniors going to college.

 Long Term:
 The Hardin County Master Gardener program started in 1993 with five (5) Master Gardeners completing the volunteer requirements. Today, the program has 29 active members and over 44,000 cumulative hours reported. The contributions to the Hardin County Horticulture program have changed dramatically in the intervening years. The volunteers started working on projects, mostly on community beautification, starting and maintaining gardens and representing Cooperative Extension at county events.

 Today, the program is more dynamic, emphasizing education in any of the group's activities. The Master Gardeners teach classes in the Gardeners Tool Box Series, plan and execute an annual one-day Plant Fair that attracts thousands (3600 in 2024) of gardening enthusiasts from the region, answer gardening related questions from the public and serve in county and regional leadership positions. They also contributed to the training and education of the current intern Master Gardeners.

 Although, the total impact of this volunteer training program is hard to measure, the daily one-to-one communication about a passionate subject is truly respected by those that seek the information. The appreciation of the outcome is immense.