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Garden Column for the Salisbury Post Carole Massey-Master Gardener Coordinator December 5, 2005
Students willing to work in the dirt wanted. No pay, just hours served rewarded by beautiful blooms, children’s smiles and a great group of like minded individuals with straw hats and garden gloves. Why would you want to do that? Wouldn’t you rather just sit around, pondering the state of the world, watching the grass grow-or not-as the case might be. There is a new Rowan County Master Gardener class forming right now. Applications are being accepted at the Agriculture Center until January10, 2006. In the past ten years, Horticultural Agent, Darrell Blackwelder has taught over 150 Master Gardener Volunteers consumer horticulture as it applies to educational assistance concerning soils, lawns, small fruits and vegetables, trees and ornamentals, landscaping, insects, pesticides and plant propagation. The fourteen week course meets once a week, with in-class lectures and occasional field trips. All of this knowledge prepares the new volunteers for an active role in one of Rowan County’s most visual organizations, the Master Gardener Volunteer Association. You have seen the on-going project at the Rowan Public Library’s Xeriscape Project –a drought tolerant landscape. Ever driven by the West End Community Park on Brenner Avenue? That wonderful oasis next to the railroad tracks is an educational and test and trial garden for Cooperative Extension and the Master Gardeners. Lectures are given by Darrell Blackwelder, with specialists called in for certain topics. The fee for the class is $75.00 which includes the manual and all other necessary materials and handouts. A typical college course for fourteen hours would be in the $300.00-$500.00 range-so, this is a bargain! And yes, there is a catch. In return for the hours of class instruction, those who complete the course and pass the final exam have earned the right to be called a Master Gardener Volunteer. They are then required to give back 45 hours of volunteer service to Extension. Those hours are “paid back” in a number of ways. All project work at the Brenner Garden is included. There are many areas including the bog garden, the shade garden, the butterfly and insect habitat, the small fruits and asparagus beds, the specimen trees, Enabled Garden, raised beds, compost trial and perennial borders; enough to entice any gardener worth their green thumb. There is also community service. The Volunteers have presented Arbor Day programs to each third grade in the Rowan County school system for the past several years. There is a Speaker’s Forum and a Writers Forum as well as specialty projects: the Tomato Trial, the greenhouse and lathe house, Plant Propagation, Plant Sale and Swap. Preparing various displays for local garden shows and festivals, as well as the Rowan County Fair, are popular with the members. There are also the fun days. Recent activities included a Hypertufa workshop and sand casting birdbaths from leaves. Continuing education takes the form of Master Gardener conferences and Plant and Disease Clinics. The Master Gardener Association also knows how to have a good time. There are Ice Cream Socials, Herbal Tea parties and the ever popular day trips to visit local nurseries and greenhouses. Members just completed decorations for the “Homes for the Holiday” entry in the ARC of Rowan’s Festival of Trees. Floral displays will be the centerpiece of the decorations for the Music Parlor at the Historic Salisbury Foundations’ Hall House Christmas Open House. Plans are also being made for a spring tour of the Triad Area, an area known for its Botanical Garden, Sarah Duke Rose Garden, and numerous garden centers and plant nurseries. For further information, call the Extension office at 704-633-0571 or e-mail darrell_blackwelder@ncsu.edu If you know a Master Gardener volunteer, ask their opinion. We’d love to have you join us. Bring your gloves and pruners, please.
Carole Massey is the Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Rowan County. For archived garden columns or other information, visit the Rowan County Master Gardener web site at www.rowanmastergardener.com , e-mail Darrell_Blackwelder@ncsu.edu
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