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It is not my intent to republish the work, but rather to highlight Table 4, which indicates what Master Gardeners are up to as a collective national whole, and to highlight Table 5, which indicates what sort of projects the Master Gardener Coodinator desired the Master Gardeners to be involved with. A link to the Survey in its entirety can found at the bottom of the page.

Begin Here:

If you've never heard of a "Master Gardener" you might find yourself very surprised at all the varied and diverse garden project collaborations they are involved in.

A Little Background:

Master Gardeners first appeared in 1972 when David Gibby, a County Agent in Washington state, trained a group of volunteers to help local Extension staff swamped by the demand for horticultural information from increasing numbers of suburban residents. His idea spread rapidly. Facing similar problems, many county extension offices developed their own Master Gardener programs and today the movement is a major national volunteer effort, particularly in high density areas.

Three main reasons led to the exceptional growth and popularity of Master Gardener programs:

Meeting a need : With the demographic shift to the suburbs after WW II, gardening and related activities became increasingly popular, and the demand for advice on plant husbandry grew dramatically.

Local focus: Most volunteers were recruited from and served in their local communities.

Quality of information: From the outset, Master Gardener programs maintained close ties to the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) which for years had been providing agricultural producers with objective, relevant, science-based advice based largely on research undertaken at state land-grant institutions.

How Many Master Gardeners are there?

Enrollment: Basic enrollment data on the 1998/99 intake of volunteers showed an estimated 17,269 volunteers joining Master Gardener programs in 39 states, with state enrollment ranging from 50 to 2,000. In nearly half the programs, volunteers had been on a waiting list before being accepted into a program and were screened before acceptance in nearly three quarters of the programs.

Outreach Projects (Garden Project Collaborations)

Current Projects Table four summarizes the range of outreach projects staffed by Master Gardeners. It is very unlikely that the list includes all types of outreach projects across the country since respondents were asked to report only on the three projects with greatest volunteer participation in their state.

Projects were ranked by the number of volunteers participating, giving an indication of the importance of various outreach projects in terms of the level of effort. Projects could also be ranked by the number of clients reached.

The structure of this survey question was necessarily open-ended.  While respondents did not always distinguish between the outreach approach used and the topic area covered, it is fair to note that 'gardening' based programs were dominant.

Table 4: Volunteer Participation and Clients Reached

Project Description # volunteers % total # Clients Staffing booths, displays at community gatherings 3,777 30% 1,228,600 Horticultural advice by phones mostly county, one regional 3,383 27% 202,303 Food security projects Plant-a-Row, Harvest for the Hungry.. 1,525 12% n/a Staffing Diagnostic Clinics in libraries, garden centers.... 979 8% 23,720 Maintenance of community gardens 894 7% 14,725 Presentations to garden clubs, civic groups... 861 7% 18,000 Teaching Gardening Skills in schools, local communities... 523 4% 14,735 Developing, maintaining demonstration gardens 150 1% 10,000 Horticultural therapy projects 128 1% 3,460 Media-based projects, e.g. articles in newspapers, magazines.. 125 <1% 303,000 Working with inmates 76 <1% 1,000 Youth focused projects 66 <1% 2,000 Research / Field trials 52 <1% n/a Water Quality projects riparian buffers.... 35 <1% 260 Assisting at annual symposia 30 <1% 120 Teaching short courses 30 <1% 250 Developing or maintaining a website 1 <1% 1,000 Administration of the local Master Gardener program 2 states n/a

(Responses analyzed: n = 37)

Coordinator Preference Table five summarizes the type of service projects that State Coordinators wanted Master Gardeners to work on, i.e. an indication of state priorities.  Projects reported were grouped into10 types (column one) with examples of each type (column two) and the number of times each type was selected by Coordinators (column three).

Again, this survey question was necessarily open-ended and a wide range of projects were reported, some focusing on topics and others on outreach approach. Categorization was inevitably somewhat arbitrary and readers may wish to re-order the list.  Nevertheless, from a comparison of tables four and five it is clear that current outreach projects did not always match State Coordinator priorities.

Table 5: Service Projects Preferred by State Coordinators

Project Type Specific Examples Times Selected Focus on Youth teaching gardening to young people, with classroom and hands-on activities; Junior Master Gardener programs; Youth Diversion Programs... 19 Gardening with an educational focus demonstration gardens; outdoor learning centers... 4 One-on-one advice to general public hotlines; clinics; walk-ins to county extension offices ... 13 Environmental Education sustainable landscaping; selecting native species; integrated pest management; nutrient management... 9 Non-educational projects state plant collections; identification of local plants; neighborhood beautification; gardening conferences and tours... 8 Low-income projects food production; Plant-a-Row; Habitat for Humanity... 6 Master Gardener program support administration; training and mentoring new volunteers; fund-raising... 6 Community education classes, workshops, speaking engagements... 6 Horticultural therapy horticultural therapy... 5 Information Technology website development... 1

( Responses analyzed: n = 32)

my byline: I was a Master Gardener in Grand Junction, Colorado. I completed my training, and I completed my required volunteer 50 hours. I also returned in following years, to volunteer. Top of my volunteer hours list was number 2, in Table 4 - Horticultural advice by phones. We also helped a lot of walkin's with salinty tests. I did help staff a booth at the local Home and Garden show (number 1, in Table 4). As I was an avid gardener with 2.5 acres of land, I grew way more vegetables, then I could possibly consume. As an individual, I gave my excess produce to my local food bank. I gave a pitch to the next years training Master Gardeners on the Plant-a-Row for the Hungry program (number 3, in Table 4), but I wasn't really capable of launching that entire program, all on my own. I remained, giving my excess fruits and vegetables to the local food bank. One activity we, as Master Gardeners, supported, but is not in these tables was the State Forestry Seedling program. I don't know wide how spread this program is. It certainly is in many states. In my state, of Colorado, if you had 2 acres or more, you could purchase tree seedlings at a deeply discounted rate. The idea was to plant fence rows, and even wind breaks. As a Master Gardener, I helped break the shipment into orders, and assist customers in getting their trees. I enjoyed this activity.

The source for the above commentary is http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/mg/resources/A%20National%20Survey%20of%20Master%20Gardener%20Volunteer%20Programs.rtf