Master Gardeners accepting fall applicants
Courtesy of Master Gardener Jerry Tom
Master Gardeners Sandra Marling and Bridget Vilenica demonstrate how to plant bean seeds to the children attending the Summer Reading Kickoff at Bowlby Library.
Courtesy of Cheryl Brendel
Local Master Gardeners created these two gardens at the Greene County Fairgrounds. One was developed to participate in the Pennsylvania Pollinator Study. The other is a perennial garden.
Cheryl Brendel said she’s always loved growing food and canning. That love is one of the reasons she became a master gardener after retiring.
Now she’s been the master gardener coordinator for Greene County for six years, and she’s looking for others who want to learn more about horticulture and share their knowledge with the community.
The County Extension Office in Waynesburg is now accepting applicants for the new series of Master Gardener classes that run from October to March, with time off during the holidays. The classes meet from 6 to 8:45 p.m. Thursday evenings at the extension office and will be taught by professionals associated with Penn State University. The application deadline is September 15.
Master Gardeners will interview each applicant, explain what is involved and answer any questions they may have. This gives applicants the chance to decide whether they want to make a commitment to the program. Applicants will also be given a pretest to determine a baseline of what they already know to see how their knowledge improves as the classes progress into the term.
Brendel said some people are frightened by the pretest, but she wants to assure them that no one fails the initial exam.
All participants are charged a $200 fee for supplies, which includes a master gardeners manual, which the applicants keep.
“The manual is valued at $75 and includes chapters devoted to subjects like propagation, pruning, trees, plants, grass, vegetable growing and more,” Brendel said.
In early March, applicants must take a test and pass with a score of 80% or higher. Those that successfully pass must then complete 50 hours of volunteer work before they are certified as master gardeners.
After an applicant is certified as a master gardener, they must complete ten hours of training each year.
“The first year of the program is the hardest,” Brendel said. “After that it’s easy to get your ten hours of additional annual training.”
Applicants can get two hours of credit for attending the monthly meetings at the extension office, on the second Monday of each month. If they attend every meeting, that alone accounts as 24 hours of volunteer time, nearly half the requirement.
“At the meetings we plan our annual events,” Brendel said. “In March, for instance, we participate in Poison Prevention Month by going to every first grade classroom in the county except for West Greene, which has its own program, educating the students about the danger of poisons.”
One Saturday each March, the program organizes a spring garden seminar at the Greene County Fairgrounds and features three different speakers. At the seminar, organizers canvas attendees to see what subjects they’d like to have featured in the following year’s seminar and try to find speakers to address those topics.
Master gardeners can earn three hours of credit by attending the seminars which are offered by neighboring county programs as well on different days.
In May and June, the master gardeners work with Flenniken and Bowlby libraries, showing youngsters how to grow and care for a tomato plant, often planted in a paper pot they make themselves.
“One of our members grows Tiny Tim tomatoes, and takes them to the library to show the kids where tomatoes come from,” Brendel said. “Often, when you ask them that question, (the kids) say the Giant Eagle.”
Master gardeners also work with Bowiby Library’s Summer Ready Kick-Off, helping youngsters plant a bean seed, then explaining how to care for it at home.
“The first year, we could find only yellow wax bean seeds, and the kids were amazed to see them grow yellow instead of green beans,” Brendel said. “Later, when we tried purple seeds, they were even more amazed, so we’ve decided to use only purple bean seeds in the program.”
Master gardeners can also gain volunteer hours tending the demonstration gardens at the county fairgrounds. Currently, there are three gardens, two pollinator gardens and a perennial garden near the goat building.
Each year the program plans an educational display at the county fair based on the fair’s theme. It also provides speakers for local groups. Recently, one of the master gardeners gave a talk on succulents for a local church group. The master gardeners also write articles on horticulture for local publications.
Each weekday, the program has someone based in the extension office who’s able to take questions over the phone from county residents on all sorts of gardening issues. The person in the office then emails the questions to a specialist in the area of question. If the master gardeners aren’t able to help or find the correct answer, they refer the question to someone at Penn State University.
Master gardeners can also earn their volunteer hours by watching gardening webinars at home. Webinars are also sometimes shown during the monthly meetings at the extension office.
At the moment there are 14 certified master gardeners in Greene County.
“If we had more, we’d be able to offer even more programs to the community,” Brendel said.
For more information or to apply for the Fall Program, phone the Penn State Extension office at 724-627-3745.