"Becoming a Master Gardener Is One of the Best Decisions I Ever Made" – Here's Why & How You Can Do It, Too

Taking classes to certify as an Extension Master Gardener is one of the best decisions I ever made. Besides learning more about horticulture, I gained lifelong friendships, and helped educate the community in research-based gardening methods.

With this certification, it increased my confidence in gardening and teaching others. I recommend the experience to anyone who wants a condensed course in all aspects of gardening and is willing to share his or her newfound knowledge as a Master Gardener.

The Master Gardener certification program is offered through many University Cooperative Extension services in the U.S. Anyone interested in learning more about horticulture is eligible to apply. I’ll share why becoming a Master Gardener was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life – and why you should do it, too.

How to Become a Master Gardener

To become a Master Gardener, you must first complete an education program and then commit to volunteering in the community for 40 hours the first year and 20 to 30 hours each year thereafter.

There are many ways to complete the volunteer hours such as answering horticulture questions in the Extension office in person and on the phone, participating in educational opportunities at local fairs, farmers markets, a speaker’s bureau, or donating time toward beautification projects around town.

Many Extension offices maintain a teaching garden around their building that is maintained by volunteers. Where I served, we planted and maintained the Extension office gardens, certain beds at the local library, and a school garden.

Continuing education is required and opportunities are fulfilled by attending gardening conferences, workshops, and Extension programs, among other events.

What I Do as a Master Gardener

To raise money, we offered a plant sale each spring, much like some local garden clubs. In fact, we held ours in the same parking lot with the garden club so we could have a “super sale.”

We potted up perennial plants from our yard to sell and also grew starts from seeds, as well as purchased plants from local nurseries to sell. I always enjoyed talking about the plants with the people buying them and answering their questions about caring for the plants.

Every year we manned a booth at the local farmers market and answered gardening questions. We took our popular Extension publications to hand out on topics like weed control, butterfly gardening, vegetable gardening, growing tomatoes, easy-to-grow perennials, and other popular gardening questions.

People would stop by and pick up handouts and visit with us about gardening, especially the trials and tribulations of growing tomatoes. We also kept track of the number of visitors for Extension records as well as our volunteer hours.

Our Master Gardener group manned a booth at the local fair each year, too. The fair committee put together several displays, plus held a plant giveaway. All the Master Gardeners signed up to man the booth during the run of the fair.

One year the committee erected a mini butterfly house complete with chrysalises and live butterflies. Of course, printed materials and how-tos were available. It proved to be a good way to mingle with the public and share useful gardening information.

I enjoyed selecting new shrubs, perennials, and annuals for the garden beds at the Extension office while I volunteered on that committee. I also helped with the speakers bureau and spoke to civic clubs and schools or for public presentations at the library.

My specialties were butterfly and hummingbird gardening, native plants for the area, perennials, and water-wise plants. Today, many speaking requests are shared virtually through video conferencing platforms such as Zoom.

Why You Should Become a Master Gardener

The main thrust of volunteering as a Master Gardener is sharing scientific, research-based information about gardening. On the internet, especially in the age of AI, so many gardening myths and misinformation is generated that it is refreshing to learn from a respected source.

The classes we take to become Master Gardeners are taught by university personnel and Extension agents. All the horticultural information is backed by university research, so it is reputable and reliable. Our job as Master Gardeners is then to help spread that information to other gardeners.

The classes cover soil health, plant science, vegetables, annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals, diagnosing common plant diseases, integrated pest management, indoor plants, pesticides, fertilizer, and much more.

It’s a comprehensive course that is usually taught over a period of weeks, meeting one day a week. But that can vary with the location. The topics covered are region-specific so you can provide the best advice to your local gardening community.

I encourage anyone with a passion for gardening who is eager to learn more to consider becoming a certified Master Gardener. The first year is a little hectic, but after that, a minimum of volunteering and continuing education is required to maintain the certification.

To learn more, contact your closest University Extension office to see if they offer the program. Then let the fun begin!

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