Wilson County Master Gardener Association
Intern Training Course Spring 2016 Press Announcement
The Tennessee Master Gardener Program provides volunteer services for University of Tennessee Extension. Certified Extension Master Gardeners are trained by Tennessee Extension professionals to provide sound, practical, research-based information to the public in the area of residential and consumer horticulture.
A Tennessee Extension Master Gardener’s mission is to promote environmental stewardship and to educate the general public about horticulture using research-based information available through UT Extension. Nationally, there are approximately 80,500 active Master Gardener volunteers in US and Canada with an estimated 3,365,870 volunteer hours.
The Wilson County Master Gardener Association has over 100 active volunteer members who annually contribute more than 6,000 volunteer hours throughout the community. Several of the volunteer opportunities include working with school and community gardens, maintaining native plant and pollinator friendly educational gardens, along with assisting the local UT Extension office by helping to answer clientele horticultural questions and phone calls. In addition to volunteering throughout the community, members also meet once per month to conduct an association meeting, which consists of good food, fellowship, and exciting educational speakers.
If becoming a member of the Wilson County Master Gardener Association sounds like something that interests you, now is your opportunity to enroll in the upcoming intern training course. The course will begin in February and will conclude in April of 2016. During this time, educational classes will be delivered on a wide range of horticultural topics, including vegetable gardens, organic practices, landscape and lawn care basics, proper pruning, rain gardens and native plants, and backyard wildlife management. The course will also offer hands-on training in the areas of proper planting of trees and shrubs, along with pruning and grafting of backyard fruit crops such as fruit trees, blueberry bushes, and cane berries.
To enroll in the course, you will need to fill out and return an application and send in the course fee of $150 for individuals or $175 for couples who wish to share course materials. Applications can be found online at http://wilsoncountymg.org/ or you can call the local UT Extension office. The registration deadline is January 15, 2016 and class size is limited so be sure to enroll as soon as possible. For additional questions or for more information about the program, please contact Justin Stefanski, UT/TSU Extension Agent and Master Gardener Coordinator, at 615-444-9584 or by email at jstefans@utk.edu .
