In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, several people turned to gardening as an outlet for their mental health. In response to this situation, both horticulture and agriculture extension agents across the state banded together to offer the Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program virtually for the first time. Agents utilized the Zoom and Microsoft Teams platforms to plan out the virtual Extension Master Gardener program. Individual committees were formed to look at promotion, program schedule, evaluation, homework, and the final exam.    

The state-wide Extension Master Gardener program was launched in September 2020 via Zoom and attracted 54 participants from 16 Kentucky counties. During the weekly educational classes, participants were educated on numerous home horticulture topics covering botany, entomology, annual and perennial flowers, soils, home composting, integrated pest management (IPM), pesticide safety, organic gardening, woody ornamentals, plant propagation, turf care, home fruit production, indoor plants, water quality, and stream buffers.

Participants took a pre-survey conducted through Qualtrics to measure how confident they felt in fielding questions BEFORE taking the EMG program. From the pre-evaluation survey, several participants indicated not too confident/somewhat confident in the following areas: 77.36% in Botany, Entomology- 85.46%, Plant Pathology- 87.27%, Soils/Composting- 74.54%, Pesticide Safety/IPM- 85.45%, Vegetable Gardening- 83.64%, Woody Plants- 72.72%, Flowers- 81.82%, Turf Care- 85.45%, Fruits- 70.91%, Indoor Plants/Propagation- 80%, and Water Quality/Stream Buffers- 90.74%. 

41 participants completed the entire EMG program from start to finish which includes attending all educational sessions, completing homework assignments from each chapter, and passing the final exam in February 2021. Participants completed a post-evaluation survey to measure knowledge gain and their confidence in fielding questions AFTER completing the EMG program. From the post-evaluation survey, participants indicated and gained this amount of knowledge in the following areas: 

• Master Gardener Volunteerism- 97.43% gained some, a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 85.37% noted being confident, very confident, to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Botany- 75% gained some, a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 70.73% being confident, very confident, to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Entomology- 85% gained some, a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 60.98% being confident, very confident, to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Plant Pathology- 90% gained some, a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 63.42% noted being confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Soils/Composting- 85% gained some, a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 90.25% noted being confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Pesticide Safety/IPM- 80% gained some, a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 78.05% noted being confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions 
• Vegetable Gardening- 97.5% gained some to a lot to a great deal of knowledge, 90.24% noted being confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Woody Ornamentals- 100% gained some, to a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 82.93% being confident, very confident to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Annual & Perennial Flowers- 100% gained some, to a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 92.69% being confident, very confident to extremely confident in fielding questions 
• Turf Care- 100% gained some, to a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 97.57% noted being somewhat confident, confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Fruits- 97.5% gained some, to a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 98% being somewhat confident, confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Indoor Plants/Propagation- 97.5% gaining some, to a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 92.68% being somewhat confident, confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions
• Water Quality/Stream Buffers- 100% gaining some, to a lot, to a great deal of knowledge with 97.29% being somewhat confident, confident, very to extremely confident in fielding questions  

When asked some of the greatest attributes gained as a result of attending the EMG program, some of the responses included: 

“Greater appreciation of the wealth of knowledge available at the Extension Service for the local resident in a wide range of topics (information that can be used for various areas).”

“I gained an amazing amount of resources and information on all topics. Came to this with no formal training and my brain has been inspired to action, both thinking and doing.”

“While I have gardened for years, I was doing much wrong or at least was not using best practices. I also am not tech savvy and this class has stretched me in my tech knowledge. Actually being in a class setting via Zoom with study materials has been so wonderful for my mind and mental health this year. I have enjoyed all presenter so much!”

One participant said it best when they said “I think that everyone involved in making the virtual training should be commended. It was an amazing experience! The speakers were knowledgeable, entertaining, and down to earth. All were able to convey the information in a way that could be understood by novices like myself. I am very excited to get outside and get going with my new found knowledge and self-confidence. Thank you for all your efforts and congratulations on a successful virtual training launch!”