GARDENING GROWS ON JANE KNIESTEDT

Kniestedt dries herbs from her garden in her basement.

Kniestedt became a certified master gardner after years of doing it just for the "calm and therapy" of it.

A door mat like this welcomes visitors to Kniestedt's front and back doors.

Kniestedt works in this herb garden and her vegetable garden "from morning until dark. (Submitted photo)

Kniestedt caresses her freshly-grown herbs at the Saxon Memorial in Frohna. (Submitted photo)

As her community service project to become a certified master gardner, Kniestedt put together this garden of "heirloom herbs" at the Saxon Memorial in Frohna. (Submitted photo)

In front of Jane Kniestedt's front door in Frohna is a welcome mat that reads: "If no one answers, check in the garden." The mat is a fairly accurate portrayal of Kniestedt's way of life.

Kniestedt is a professional gardener who is involved with her garden throughout the year and has recently earned the title of certified master gardener.

Kneistedt's "green thumb" developed early in her life. "I grew up with it," she said. "I was raised on a farm in Ste. Genevieve. Throughout my life, I've always had a small garden. Some years ago, I finally got out into the country where I could expand and do what I had always wanted to do."

Kniestedt began gardening full force. Using the knowledge she had grown up with, she turned the land around her rural home into four large gardens.

In the summer, she is outside from morning until dark. And, though her home is immaculate, she hates house work.

"I would much rather be outside working in my gardens."

But Kniestedt does not have to be outside to be working with her gardens.

She freezes and cans the fruit from her gardens, dries the herbs and then uses them in the winter to make all kinds of things. She makes salsa, vinegars and various other sauces.

"Right now, I'm making vinegar, " she said, directing her attention to the kitchen where she displays three large bottles of brightly-colored homemade vinegars.

Gardening, for her, is not just a pastime, as it is for most amateur gardeners.

"There's a sort of peace that I feel when I'm out working in my garden. All my problems seem very insignificant. It's the best therapy in the whole world as far as I'm concerned.

"There's a sense of calm that you get when you plant a seed and watch it grow. It's really satisfying when you pick it and then bring it in and can it and go through the whole process."

Her summer efforts are apparent when you peek into the cabinets in Kniestedt's basement. Shelf after shelf is brimming with jars of canned fruits and vegetables.

One day last summer, Kniestedt read an article in the paper announcing Master Gardening classes to be given in Jackson at the Missouri Extension Office.

"This really interested me because I knew that there had to be a lot more I could learn about gardening," she said. "I signed up for it and hoped that I would do well at it, which I did.

"It was the greatest learning experience I've ever had."

Her three-hour-long horticulture classes, sponsored by and given at the Missouri Extension Office in Jackson, began in September and lasted for three months.

She and her group of about 11 other amateur gardeners were required to work on community projects as part of their certification.

"One of our first projects was the garden in front of the veteran's home. We pulled up all the old plants and replanted them," she said. "Then, on my own, I decided to volunteer to plant an herb garden at the Saxon Memorial here in Frohna. It turned out to be a wonderful garden, made completely with heirloom herbs."

But what impressed Kniestedt the most was not the herbs in the garden, but the time that the members of her community volunteered to help her with the garden.

Kniestedt needed volunteers to water the garden for her once a week and she was surprised to have more than enough volunteers for every week.

"I was just ecstatic," she said. "Altogether, I would say that the training was probably the shortest three months of my life."

But being a certified master gardener encompasses much more than just three months of training and a certificate. "It's a lot like a club now," she said.

The local master gardeners meet once a month and work on all kinds of projects. There is also a state-wide Master Gardeners group, of which Kniestedt is on the board of directors. In September, they'll have a seminar in St. Louis at Missouri Botanical Gardens.

"Our goal, as master gardeners, is to educate people, answer questions, and have workshops like the one we had at the Home and Garden Center."

There are groups of master gardeners in each state, making Kniestedt part of a national club of gardeners.

Her group has become not only a group of people who enjoy gardening as much as she does, but one that she can refer to for answers to her gardening questions.

"All of us have an area of expertise. Amongst the whole group of us, you can always find somebody who can answer your question," she said.

Often, when groups share common interest in a hobby, they compete with each other within the group. But not the master gardeners.

"We're not a very competitive bunch -- not yet anyway. But I do enter some of my own canned goods in fairs around the area, and I've won several awards for those."

Ask any amateur gardener what their favorite fruit or vegetable is and they'll probably be able to single one out. Though she tried to pick just one, Kniestedt couldn't do it.

"Really, I love them all. My favorite vegetables, though, have to be eggplant, corn, and string beans. My favorite flowers have to be irises, which I surround my house with.

"I love to sit on my back porch in the afternoons and watch the hummingbirds drink from them."

If you're probing for secret gardening tips from a master gardener, you won't get any out of Jane Kniestedt.

"The only thing I'll tell you," she said, grinning, "is that you should put down paper sacks, mulch, and compost in your garden to avoid weeds and insects."

She also sprinkles a special fertilizer called 12-12-12 on her garden and sprays her peppers and string beans with a solution of Epsom salts before they develop.

Kniestedt believes that she will always enjoy gardening the way she always has and isn't looking to change. "If I tried to make my gardens any larger it would take away from the fun of it and the pleasure.

"It would cease to be as much fun as it is now."