Missouri Master Gardener program offers community members a green education

Gardening conjures up peaceful images of green stretching into late-summer sunshine, laden with flowers or vegetables -- or visions of row after row of dead or dying plants, tangled with weeds in cracked, dusty soil.

One program aims to teach people to tackle their own gardening projects, no matter how small or ambitious.

That program is the Missouri Master Gardener program.

It's part of the University of Missouri, and has a strong focus on education. Its mission, helping others learn to grow, requires education of the gardener and reaching out to the community to share that knowledge.

Before becoming certified, the 30-hour Master Gardener training must be completed in the classroom Core Course. The trainee then has one year to give 30 hours of volunteer service back to their community in approved University of Missouri Extension activities, which, says coordinator Donna Aufdenberg, can be anything garden-related, whether weeding a flower bed at church, leading Boy Scouts in a seed-starting workshop, working in a community garden or tilling a neighbor's garden soil.

Cutline-Body Copy:Jamie Koehler rips out weeds at the Shawnee Park Community Garden Thursday, July 27, in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

"It's all kinds of different things," Aufdenberg says. "Just as long as you don't get paid to do it."

Aufdenberg is the Master Gardener coordinator for Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Madison and Perry counties, and this year's training is scheduled for Cape Girardeau and Perry counties.

The Master Gardeners promote unbiased, research-based gardening, Aufdenberg says, and the education is a big part of that.

The 30 hours of classroom training are carried out over 10 to 12 sessions, typically, and the classes use the national Master Gardener curriculum, Aufdenberg says. The sessions cover plant growth and anatomy, soils and pH requirements, fertility, flowers, vegetables and fruits, grass and turf management, pests and disease resistance, landscaping and other topics as appropriate -- whether or not several people express interest in a topic, or if they can find a qualified instructor, for instance.

The training also includes a binder with the core manual and handouts, Aufdenberg says.

Cutline-Body Copy:Jamie Koehler rips out weeds at the Shawnee Park Community Garden Thursday, July 27, in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

Aufdenberg says typically after a Master Gardener completes the training, they'll find a project to really dig into. Projects from Eating from the Garden at South Elementary in Jackson to the community garden at Shawnee Park Center demonstrate the emphasis on education as well as creating a relationship between gardeners and the garden's products.

The program is going strong, Aufdenberg says, with active members in 65 to 70 communities.

"More people are interested in vegetable and fruit production versus home landscaping," Aufdenberg says, which is a shift from previous years, when the Master Gardener classes focused more on landscape design and best practices.

The classes are a big piece of what the Master Gardener program is about, she says.

"Networking with other gardeners is another piece, and giving back to the community a third one," Aufdenberg says. "... People develop good gardening relationships in the classes, too, share their experiences."

Cutline-Body Copy:Master gardeners, Jamie Koehler, left, and her mother, Carol Koehler, survey plant beds at the Shawnee Park Community Garden Thursday, July 27, in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

She says all types of gardeners at all different experience levels take the classes, from the nontraditional gardener looking for experimental techniques to those nostalgic about the garden their parents or grandparents had, years ago.

"We see a lot of ancestral knowledge, handed down from generation to generation," Aufdenberg says.

Some people are interested in the economy aspect, too, she says, wanting to save some money or simply not wanting to buy from the grocery store.

Classes are scheduled in Perryville and Jackson this fall on Thursdays beginning Aug. 24 and ending Nov. 9.

"This gives people flexibility -- hopefully they can take a class close to them, but this also means if they miss one class, they're within driving distance of another make-up session," Aufdenberg says.

Registration is $165 and includes the core manual. Partial scholarships may be available.

To register or for more information, call (573) 238-2420 or email Aufdenberg at aufdenbergd@missouri.edu.