Do you want to know about planning and planting a cool season vegetable garden? Are you interested in learning how to be successful with houseplants? A University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener can help you with that.
Maybe you have a plant that has a problem you cannot diagnose. How should you properly prune a tree, learn about vermicomposting, or have questions answered about poisonous plants? The Master Gardeners are available to help answer those questions. The “Ask a Master Gardener” help desk, free recorded classes, and various resources providing researched and scientific based information can be found on our website.
Perhaps, you would like to arrange for a Master Gardener to give a presentation for your group. Our Master Gardeners can coordinate a virtual class during the current restrictions on in-person gatherings. The dedicated team of volunteers are passionate about gardening and sharing their knowledge.
With the interest of planting edible gardens and creating an oasis in backyards, there has been an increasing desire to learn about gardening. The UCCE Humboldt/Del Norte Master Garden Program recognized the opportunity to identify ways to offer virtual horticultural presentations, gardening support and help. Partnering with Humboldt State University's L4HSU online summer sessions we launched virtual garden related classes. These free presentations were recorded and are now available on our website allowing you to view on your own schedule and in the convenience of your home.
This year Zoom meetings and webinars have become the norm for business meetings as well as forums for educational purposes. For the UC Master Gardeners, it has provided a greater outreach to our communities allowing us to deliver information to a wider group of gardeners. Our current online library of presentations consists of Vegetable Gardening Basics, Heather Growing and Landscape Designing, Integrative Pest Management, Success with Houseplants and Reducing the Vulnerability of Buildings to Wildfires. Additional recorded classes will be added frequently as well as offering live webinars.
About Master Gardeners
There are various reasons why people want to be a Master Gardener. For many it is to learn and to be a better gardener. Some like community and to be with like-minded people who enjoy digging in the soil. The garden is their playground. There are Master Gardeners who enjoy helping and teaching others to be better gardeners. While providing an important public service, these volunteers value sharing sustainable gardening information.
UCCE Master Gardeners go through extensive training in a diverse range of horticultural subjects consisting of plant pathology, soils, sustainable gardening, integrative pest management, edible gardening, composting, vermiculture, etc. After the initial certification training, Master Gardeners commit to 50 hours of volunteer time their first year and 25 hours annually thereafter. Their learning does not stop there as continued education is required annually.
I have been the Humboldt/Del Norte Counties coordinator since March 2020. However, the program in Humboldt and Del Norte precedes me by over 30 years. Since 1988 well over 1,000 have participated in the program's certification training. Currently there are 24 active Humboldt and Del Norte Master Gardeners. Certification classes have not been offered since 2017, however, we anticipate offering the Master Gardener Certification classes in the near future.
For questions about the Humboldt/Del Norte Counties Master Gardener program, to access classes and science-based resources, to request a virtual class for your group, or to learn about becoming a Master Gardener, please visit our website at ucanr.edu/sites/hdnmastergardeners.