Master Gardener volunteers are individuals with an interest in both gardening and volunteer service. If you want to learn more about growing plants in the foothills, are willing to attend training one day a week for 12 weeks, and have the desire and time to commit 40 hours of volunteer service, this program may be for you.

This spring the Polk County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service will be offering its 15th Master Gardener class. Master Gardeners will get a variety of trainings from topics such as lawn care, to tree and shrub identification and care, to learning how to produce quality fruits and vegetables. Individuals involved must also possess an interest in sharing their gardening knowledge with others.

You do not have to be an experienced gardener to participate. An application process will be used to help choose the Master Gardener students. If selected, you will attend special Master Gardener classes taught and coordinated by John Vining of the Polk County Extension Center. This year’s class will have room for 12 participants and will meet on Thursdays.

A fee is charged for the program to offset the cost of a large Master Gardener manual. This manual is packed full of horticultural information and becomes the personal property of each Master Gardener at the end of the course work. Program participants will receive a minimum of 40 hours of instruction on all aspects of gardening. In addition, a few special field trips will be planned to better inform the future extension volunteers.

After the training is finished, graduates of the program are expected to volunteer at least 40 hours of work back to the local extension horticulture programs. This can be done in a variety of ways primarily from answering garden questions by phone, and occasionally working on community garden projects.

Classes will be scheduled for each Thursday and is expected to begin in mid-March. The deadline date for applications is Thursday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. To receive an application or to learn more about the classes, come by or call the Polk County Extension Center at 894-8218.

– article submitted