By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The Cottonwood Extension District is looking for new master gardeners to fill the ranks of it’s community-based program.
“[Master gardener] is an educational, volunteer community program sponsored by K-State Research and Extension,” said Margie Hammerschmidt, master gardener. “Through this program volunteers are trained and certified in horticulture and related areas.”
Those individuals will then use their knowledge in the community through volunteer work.
“You get the benefit of learning about gardening and horticulture, but then [you] also get to have fun and help your community,” said Lauren Fick, horticulture extension agent.
The programs will include 40 hours of classroom training from K-State professors that travel to Hays to teach the courses.
The program runs eight weeks with a full day of training every Wednesday, starting Jan. 29.
“We open the program up to anyone that wants to be a master gardener,” Fick said. “That’s the beauty of this training, you get all of the knowledge to be a master gardener.”
The program draws interest from a diverse group in the community.
“We have a wide range of folks that are in the program,” Fick said and she encouraged anyone with an interest in gardening to check out the program.
After the volunteers complete their training, they apply those skills in community service projects, with another 40 hours of volunteer work required to become certified.
“There’s plenty in place. It’s not a problem finding projects to do,” Fick said.
After the person completes the first year and becomes a certified master gardener, they then must complete eight hours of horticulture-related training per year and volunteer 20 hours to remain certified.
Those projects are chosen and completed by the gardener.
“It really is their own group,” Fick said.
“There is so much to learn, and giving back to the community doesn’t have to feel like a chore,” Fick said. “Gardening is truly fun and therapeutic.”
One project is the demonstration gardens at the Ag Research Center. While the program helps the community, it also helps the center to complete research into a variety of areas related to horticulture.
“A part of the master gardener, being a partner with K-State, is that you do get access to do the research, or you get to help them with it," Fick said, "which might seem daunting to some people, but honestly doing the research is fun, because it's created just for your community.
“You get to test things out. You get to say, ‘We like this,’ or ‘We don’t like this.’ You get to do the research and then you get to start promoting that stuff to the community, telling them all about it.
That research keeps master gardeners at the leading edge of the field.
“You are the one that did the research, so, in my opinion, that’s super amazing. You are the expert.”
K-State gives the gardener a lot of flexibility in picking a research area, and then they assist the master gardener with the project.
Hammerschmidt pointed to a recent example of researching mulch use to help conserve water in Hays.
“We learn during the process, then we go out and share that information with the community,” Hammerschmidt said.
The master gardeners work out of the extension office, 601 Main St.
The application deadline for the program is Jan. 13.
The program cost is $110, including course materials and can be broken into three payments.
For more information about the program, or to sign up visit https://cottonwood.k-state.edu/lawn-garden/MasterGardeners.html.
Applications can also be filled out at the extension office.