Are you thinking of becoming a Master Gardener ?
I ’ve been involve many time “ should I become a Master Gardener ? ” or “ is the Master Gardener program worth it ? ”
I took the time a few geezerhood back to become a Master Gardener and what I learned in the process was much less about flora and much more about the mindset of most Master Gardeners and the unfortunate limitations of the plan .
Today ’s post is potential to upraise some hackles , so if you ’re faint of heart or love being a Master Gardener , quit recital now . This is based on my own experience and you may have had a unlike one . That ’s o.k. ! I have batch of Master Gardener friends .
( really , that ’s like using the erstwhile excuse “ I ’m not racist against [ insert chemical group ] , lots of my friends are [ insert group ] ! ” )
Do n’t interest , Master Gardener friends , I still wish you . So quit reading now and go mulch some azaleas .
Official portrait of me as a Master Gardener
First , we ’ll calculate at need for becoming a Master Gardener .
Why Become a Master Gardener?
I think there are three primary cause people decide to become Master Gardeners . Let ’s cover them .
A heap of the great unwashed wish to become a Master Gardener because they believe it will give them some prestige . That was part of the cause I decided to take the dip back when I go through the political platform .
However , that prestige is a very circumscribed affair . You ’re only considered a Master Gardener so long as you ’re combat-ready in the programme and continuing to volunteer . You also ca n’t start a plant glasshouse , roleplay as a consultant on a personal project , glorify you ’re a Master Gardener in your paper newspaper column or most anything else that points to your own enquiry and not to the Master Gardener programme itself … unless they have their finger’s breadth in it .
The Master Gardener title is n’t like getting an RN grade , where it ’s granted and then you may go on and use that championship to find work . They actively discourage their member from profiting in any way from being a Master Gardener . If you want to announce that you ’re a Master Gardener in something that you ’ve written , they want to control that narrative by editing your oeuvre first so it reflects the message they need given .
Master Gardeners are information dispersion full point for the State / Universities / Big Agribusinesses .
If you ’re looking to benefit some believability as an expert for your lawn business , nursery , web log , etc , becoming a Master Gardener unfortunately is n’t the way to go .
This was another reason I decide to become a Master Gardener . I had just incite to the arena and want to larn as much as I could about the plants that will grow in North Central Florida . I was also interested in talking with gardeners that were much more experient than myself .
However , on both counts I was generally disappointed . I did make some great friends and enjoyed the conversation , but it turns out that many of the people connect the Master Gardener syllabus as complete gardening novice with little or no practical experience or even garden reading of their own . They know little about organic practices , permaculture , build stark ecosystem , food forests , farming or even vegetable gardening .
We did learn quite a bit about weed , various non - comestible hedge plants and azalea , however , to the point where I made name azalea a running joke in the editorial I used to publish for the Master Gardeners … though they did n’t gain my repeated quotation were a joke . Every column : azalea .
Yes , I am a forged someone .
The upside of the Master Gardener grooming was the stack of books I got at the beginning of the semester . For the pocket-sized cost of entering the syllabus , getting the books was a unspoiled trade . I enjoyed have a flock of the info from UF at my fingertips in three big bound bulk ( though much of the data related to various toxins and inedible plant , plus bugs and how to make them utter . )
If you need to continue your horticulture breeding , peculiarly in the realm of farm food for thought , skip the Master Gardener program and find good horticulture Holy Scripture to take instead . Then link up some gardening Meetup groups and fall out at permies.com . flow out here . discover gardeners that are doing what you need to do , then follow them around . Volunteer to pull weeds . Whatever – just do n’t think you ’ll get much from the Master Gardeners . Unless you like azalea , sess and hedges .
The Master Gardener program is a good place to play other people concerned in plants , right-hand ?
Well , to an extent . I made some very honorable friendships while I was there ; yet most of the Master Gardeners really were n’t interested in eatable or useful metal money . Instead , they liked ornamentals , bird baths and grass .
If you want to be a respectable food nurseryman … well …
Folks would share electric light , seeds and cuttings ; but yet again , they were often ornamental . There was little pastime in things you may in reality habituate . Mostly , they were plants thatconsumedresources , not plants thatwereresources .
Why To Skip Becoming a Master Gardener
prescribed portrait of me as a Master Gardener
If you ’re like me and delight pushing the boundary and see to it what can happen if you let nature intermit free , the Master Gardening program is believably not for you .
If you ’d rather be working in your own garden rather than volunteer for the government , do n’t become a Master Gardener . They commonly require a lot of Tennessean hours to keep your title .
If you are n’t really a buff of toxic ornamental , chemical substance gardening and perfectly manicured landscape , the Master Gardener thing will foil you .
Many Master Gardeners do n’t know any more than you do and may know a lot less if you ’ve beenreading good gardening booksand growing your own food .
If you ’ve ever criticise toxic land techniques and do n’t wish big companies poisoning the environment with various nasty pesticide and weedkiller , you ’ll be angry in a Master Gardener programme . I could n’t in public compose the name of the weedkiller [ Grazon(TM ) ] that came through in a warhead of moo-cow manure and wrecked over $ 1000 worth of my plants … because Dow Agrosciences helped fund the Master Gardener course of study .
If you really require to compost everything and explore permaculture possibility , like I do , await to get shot down by Master Gardeners . They have sex their rulebooks .
face in level :
Never mind the fact thatmy pop compost bookwas titledCompostEverything : The Good Guide toExtremeComposting , and that the segment that gave poor Mr. Larson the megrims is in a segment dealing with a grid - down survival horticulture and sewage administration situation .
I did cover the safety aspect and the danger … but the playscript is NOT a “ safe quad ” for mossy gardener , of which most Master Gardeners are . I did like the fact that he ’s break to compost my Quran , thoughJUST BE SURE IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT ’S HOLY TO take out THE GLOSSY wrap up FIRST OR WE’LL ALL DIE!!111!1!1 ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Conclusion
If you ’re an ornamental nurseryman who relish volunteering for the government , spending more time socialise and pop off to meetings than growing food , wants to tell masses that you ’re a Master Gardener but does n’t want to actually make money off your penning , plant nursery , etc . , like being muzzle by big agricultural company , plus enjoys learning about 1.5 zillion ways to keep your grass utter through modern chemical science , go – sign up .
Otherwise , stick around here and pass more clip in your backyard producing food for your family … because becoming a Master Gardener in all likelihood is n’t for you .
Pro - steer : your azalea wo n’t prey you .
