State Master Gardener Coordinators

This is probably mostly for the new gardeners (like me). I found this link with all pertinent state info(?). Thought I'd pass it on:

http://www.themastergardenershow.com/State_coordinator/

Funny you should post this, sourdoughpete. I'm supposed to start the Master Gardener class this coming Monday (1/29). In my neck of the woods, classes start the end of January and are over the latter part of May. The class times vary from state to state as does the length. I've heard it's an excellent, thorough class and really quite tough. Although I've been gardening for a good while now, I have MUCH to learn. I'm really looking forward to it and being around other folks that love gardening as much as I do. Are you planning to take the course?

Pete2

I'm on the list for the Master Gardener's class, but unfortunately, not until next January. Class sizes here are seriously inadequate to accomodate all the local gardeners, and this session was full.
I included this link because coordinators would be the best ones to point you in the right direction for specific local information.
Also, our local extension office is mostly administrational, and comprised of mostly very tight-lipped people very impressed with their own knowledge, but with seemingly very little hands on experience. The coordinator for our state is from a small farming community some distance from Boise (the state capitol, where I live). I will definitely be routing my questions to him as opposed to the educated idiots we have here.

Hey! So glad to see some other Master Gardeners here! I graduated in October from my classes. We had the best of the best from the LSU ag. dept.come to speak to us. Our county agent, Bobby Fletcher was the neatest guy. He has been farming for his whole life. He walks the talk. We were our area's charter class, so it is really exciting. I hope ya'll get as much out of ya'll class as I did! The book we got from the class was worth every penny...Bye, Lisa

I'll let you know what I think of the class,sourdoughpete. BTW, I found a Master Gardener's Handbook online the other day. I'll see if I can find it again and post the link for you.

Hi Lisa! What did you think of the class? Was it really hard? I'll never live it down if I fail the test!!!

Pete2

Pete, I thought the classes were very good. Lots of info. Our exams were open book. Sounds easy right?? Nope. We had to be very clear in our answers and he made us look REAL hard for the answers. No one ever made a 100. But the classes were so much fun, there were about 18 of us and we all got along great. Our instructor, Bobby, really made the classes good. His heart was into it and he got the best speakers for us. On that other garden web site there were a lot of folks saying some pretty bad things about Master Gardeners(on the Master Gardener forum) and the classes, but my expirence was very good. I really think it depends on the instructor. If I can help you, let me know, I'll be happy to! Bye, Lisa

Thanks Lisa! Class was a lot of fun today. We spent the day just getting to know one another and looking over our textbooks. We're using 4 different books for the course. Two of them are quite thick. Boy, I've got a lot to study before Wednesday's class. There are about 50 people in my class from all walks of life but we all have one thing in common...we LOVE gardening!

sourdoughpete, I found the link to the Master Gardener's stuff I was telling you about. I think it's more reference material than anything but I thought it looked pretty good. Just scroll down to where it says Master Gardener's Topics. Here's the link:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sitemap.html

Pete2

Pete, wow! what a large group ya'll have. It is funny, you will find out how much you don't know!!! At least I did! It was really fun for me, I am glad you had a good day. Keep me posted! Bye, Lisa

Hi Pete,
Thanks for posting this! I've had it on the back burner of things to do for awhile and your post was the incentive to make the call...so glad I did today! There is a waiting list for the Master Gardener program and I made the list for the next class! The course starts in Aug/September at Penn State University and lasts 3 months. Since I live one block from the county division line, I wanted to take the course at another campus which is closer to me but in the next county. I was told that one has to take the course in the county in which they reside. Sooooooo I'll be a traveling through Philadlephia about 15+ miles to get there through city traffic-ugh, but it's the destination stop that counts! Since there are so many community garden projects here and the city has a Greene program, getting the volunteer hours in would be most rewarding :)
Trish

Lisa, glad to hear that your Master Gardener class was fun. I am taking a class at the LSU Extension Office in Lake Charles, Louisiana, under Robert Turley. Mr. Turley is lots of fun and makes our classes interesting. I am glad that I am not taking a class with 18 or 50 people and tons of textbooks. We are the charter class here in Lake Charles also. Why don't you join the LouGarden group? The group is now under Yahoo egroups. Let me know if you want to join. I think you would enjoy discussing gardening with others from Louisiana. We don't have many members yet, but the group is growing all the time. We have have a Master Gardener egroup which Mr. Turley uses to notify the Master Gardener Volunteers of workdays, activities, etc. Mr. Turley started the egroup. He posts the planting guides and any monthly newsreleases sent out by LSU. I will finish my course in early March. Our first big volunteer experience will be tending the LSU Extension Service booth at the second annual Garden Show at the Burton Coliseum. By the way, I live about 35 miles north of Lake Charles in DeQuincy, Louisiana. Redbug

Hey Redbug! This is great. I know we will bump into each other...They are having a convention in Lafayette in March, I believe it is..I'll more than likely be there. I went to an egroup forum already, the Farm Life one. The format is so confusing for me!!Duhhh! I would like to try to join ya'lls, if I can navagate the dog-gone thing! Bye, Lisa

That's great Dicentra! Good thing you went ahead and made that call. Class was yesterday and all I can say is "WOW". Lots and lots of information is given in class. Each class lasts for 2 hours so you can imagine how much information I'm talking about. I was familiar with only some of it and I've been gardening for a long time. I sure hope all those chemical equations aren't on the final test!!! The class reminded me of college chemistry and biology. Yup, I'm sure that I'm going to learn a lot from this course.

Pete2

Lisa, to check out the LouGarden egroup, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouGarden

Redbug in DeQuincy, Louisiana