Beginning Aug. 14 the Purdue Master Gardener Program intern training will be offered for residents of Hamilton County and surrounding areas. “The purpose of the Master Gardener Program is to help others grow. The members of the Hamilton County program are a vibrant and active group that annually donate over 10,000 volunteer hours on approved projects throughout the county,” said Diane Turner, Master Gardener Coordinator with Purdue Extension.
Training will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday evenings (one Saturday workshop is included) at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville. Participants will be exposed to a wide range of subjects including understanding soil and basics of plant science, diagnosis of plant problems, using pesticides safely and growing healthy vegetable, flower, landscape and/or fruit plants.
The Purdue Master Gardener Program is a volunteer training program that provides a learning framework for participants to increase their knowledge on a wide variety of horticultural subjects. In turn, participants represent Purdue University as volunteers, sharing knowledge while providing leadership and service in educational gardening activities within their communities.
Materials and expenses for the series of classes cost $150 per participant. This expense fee covers such items as reference notebooks, mailings and name badges. These materials all become part of the participants personal collection.
While the class will be encouraged to create new educational outreach programs, there are already plenty of opportunities for which volunteers are needed. Some of these projects include helping with the annual plant sale, staffing information booths at gardening events, teaching public education classes, speaking to local clubs and organizations and hands-on demonstration gardens.
The Purdue Master Gardener Program is an educational outreach of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service. To obtain an application about the Purdue Master Gardener Program, please contact Purdue Extension Hamilton County at (317) 776-0854. For more information about Purdue Extension in Hamilton County, visit www.extension.purdue.edu/hamilton.