April 2005
The History of the Master Gardeners
Upcoming Program Information
Would you like to become a Master Gardener?
Master Gardener ApplicationCounty
Home Page
 to the Portage County
2006 Fall Gardening Forum Registration The History of the Master Gardener
Program
The first
group of Master Gardeners
to be trained by Extension specialists was in King and Pierce Counties
in the state of Washington in 1972. The Extension Agent for
horticulture
in those counties, Dr. David Gibby, was inundated by the number of
requests
that came into his office. He tried to answer questions more
efficiently
by using the media, but this only served to increase the volume of
calls
from people wanting individual attention.
 Dr. Gibby thought about the idea of using specially trained volunteers to do outreach work in the area of home gardening. These first 120 Master Gardener volunteers served more than 7,000 clients at plant clinics during their first year. It was a
concept that has
now spread to more than 40 U.S. states, the District of Columbia,
Puerto
Rico, Guam and Canada. Today, more than 80,000 volunteers have
received
Master Gardener training and contributed hundreds of thousands of
volunteer
hours to their communities. In addition to plant clinics and
telephone
hotlines, still a basic activity of most Master Gardener programs,
these
volunteers conduct research; maintain demonstration plots and carry out
gardening projects with school groups, 4-H clubs, youth at risk, senior
citizens and other special groups. Master Gardeners are involved
with community beautification, composting and recycling and similar
planting
and environmental projects. This list of activities is
practically
endless.
In Ohio, Franklin and Cuyahoga Counties piloted training and working with Master Gardener volunteers beginning in the late 1970's. These first endeavors were short lived. In 1986, however, Cuyahoga County once again initiated the program and now has the longest continuously running Master Gardener program in Ohio. The program slowly began to build in northeastern and northwestern Ohio with about 10 counties involved in 1990. Since 1991, the presence of a State Coordinator for the OSU Extension Master Gardener Program, with guidance from an Advisory Committee consisting of Extension professionals and Master Gardener volunteers from throughout the state, has added impetus to the program. Today, 50 counties, rural as well as urban, are served by nearly 1,800 Master Gardener volunteers, and the number of participating counties and Master Gardeners is expected to continue to grow. Much of the work accomplished to date by the State Master Gardener Advisory Committee has concentrated on ensuring consistency among counties regarding how training is provided, as well as establishing general guidelines for managing the program. The types of activities with which the Master Gardeners are involved are still left to the discretion of the county coordinator and are based on local needs. The Advisory Committee has developed State Master Gardener Policy Guidelines, Master Gardener Standards of Behavior and the Master Gardener Volunteer Agreement that indicated how and when the title Master Gardener should be used, and that only OSU Extension - approved pesticide recommendations may be provided to clientele. In addition to the work carried out by the Advisory Committee, the writing of the Master Gardener Training Manual has provided a big boost for the Master Gardener Program. The Ohio Master Gardener Manual was developed by Jack Kerrigan with considerable input by Master Gardeners, as well as State Extension Specialists and other Extension Agents. It is precisely suited for Ohio conditions and to our needs within the OSU Master Gardener Program. To help
support the program
in the counties, a quarterly newsletter, the Ohio Master Gardener, is
sent
to all active Master Gardeners on the state level. Each county
program
is distinctive and Portage County Offers you unique opportunities for
you
to use your gardening knowledge and skills to help others.
The
Portage County Master Currently, there are over 100 certified Master Gardeners in the program and the new 2005 class will train an additional 20 volunteers. Our Master Gardeners are involved in numerous community service and outreach projects as well as providing answers to horticultural questions from county residents. In 2005, the Master Gardeners answered more than 2500 "hort" questions via the "hotline", a free service provided to Portage County by the Master Gardeners. The Master Gardener office is staffed from April through October on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Each August, the Master Gardeners create a display booth at the Portage County Randolph Fair. Would you like to become a Master Gardener? Do you.... Enjoy
grading? What you will receive....
Availability on Wednesdays February through Mid May for training classes Course registration fee of $185.00 to cover the cost of the materials
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All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam era veteran status.
Issued in
furtherance of
Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in
cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Keith L. Smith, Director, Ohio
State University Extension.
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589-8292 (Ohio
only) or (614) 292-1868