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 growing interest in starting a Master Gardener program to help educate local residents on proper horticulture techniques. In January 2023, the Spencer County Master Gardener program officially launched.

               The Master Gardener program is a volunteer-driven educational outreach of the Cooperative Extension Service. Participants complete approximately 40 hours of classroom and hands-on instruction, and then volunteer those hours back to the community through various projects.

               In 2025, a new class of Master Gardeners completed their training, with all participants successfully passing their final exams. They join the class of 2023, bringing the total number of Master Gardener volunteers to 21.

               Since the conclusion of the initial program, our volunteers have served the community in a variety of ways, including maintaining planters in downtown Taylorsville, hosting project days at the library, volunteering at the Farmers Market to distribute materials and answer questions, speaking at local meetings, working with students in our elementary and middle schools, cleaning up local cemeteries, volunteering at field days, and helping maintain garden areas around the Extension Office.

               For the period from July 2024 to June 2025, they have volunteered over 690 hours—an increase of 180 hours from the previous year. This translates into a total community value of $24,005.00.  The group is actively discussing plans for projects this fall and into next year. The agriculture agent is planning to start a new program in January 2027.