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LEARNING EXPERIENCE
New training program targets Master Gardener certification
August 28, 2020
by Marilyn Stewart/Victoria County Master Gardener
Edited by Charla Borchers Leon/Victoria County Master Gardener
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER BRYNN LEE
Every summer in recent years prior to COVID-19, Kids Camp has been attended to capacity by area youth for a summer camp at Victoria Educational Gardens coordinated by Victoria County Master Gardeners. Educational gardening activities with adult supervision, refreshments and take-home crafts have been provided. Shown here is Extension Agent and Master Gardener Coordinator Matt Bochat talking about "The good, the bad and the ugly of the insect world" to last summer's campers.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER BRYNN LEE
Early in 2020, the Victoria County Master Gardeners planned Saturday Seminars available to the public with local and statewide-known speakers presenting various gardening topics. Shown here is a full house at one of these seminars prior to COVID-19 restrictions which prevented large group attendance at events.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER BRYNN LEE
Several thousand students and gardening enthusiasts have annually visited the Master Gardener Victoria Educational Gardens (VEG) around the Officer's Club at Victoria Regional Airport, completely designed, constructed and maintained by Master Gardeners since 2003. Shown here are students at a field trip learning about various plants at VEG with Master Gardener Marcia Kauffman, back, right, and two school teachers, left.
32 Hours of Online Training
• Begin Gardening 101 modules as soon as possible.
• Get started by registering at https://agrilifelearn.tamu.edu/product?catalog=HORT-005
18 Hours of In-person Training
• Will be announced/offered in early 2021
• Will be completed before the end of April 2021
Applications can be obtained from Victoria County Extension Office in-person, by phone at 361-575-4581 or online at 2020TrainAppV2.pdf
Your application, certificate of completion of Gardening 101 modules and a $60.00 fee must be submitted by Dec. 15 to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension - Victoria County office 528 Waco Circle, Victoria, TX, 77904.
For more information contact Marilyn Stewart at 361-652-3607 or Carla Rodriguez at 361-484-8436.
The Texas Master Gardener program is one of educational volunteer instruction conducted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service of the Texas A&M University System. Victoria County Master Gardeners are residents of Victoria and surrounding counties who take an active interest in lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers and gardens. They are enthusiastic, willing to learn and help others and able to communicate with diverse groups of people.
What is a Master Gardener?
What sets Master Gardeners apart from other home gardeners is their special training in horticulture. In exchange for their training, people who become Master Gardeners contribute time as volunteers, working through the local county extension office to provide horticultural-related information to their communities.
Master Gardeners are representatives of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. In all volunteer work related to the program, Master Gardeners follow Texas A&M Agrilife Research & Extension-based recommendations. The title “Texas Master Gardener” can be used by volunteers only when engaged in extension-sponsored activities.
Is the Master Gardener program for me?
How do I become a Victoria County Master Gardener?
To become a certified member of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association (VCMGA), you must follow the steps below, which comprise a different training program from previous years.
What type of training will I receive?
VCMGA has recently revamped its training program. For the first time, VCMGA will use a combination of 32 hours of remote online instruction and 18 hours of in-person training.
Remote online instruction
The remote online instruction is being provided through Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in a self-paced format, consisting of eight modules with four hours of training credit per module. People who successfully complete all eight modules will be issued a certificate of completion.
For the remainder of the calendar year 2020, the eight modules, collectively titled “Gardening 101,” are free of charge. Please note that Texas A&M Agrilife Extension–Victoria County reserves the option to charge a registration fee for Gardening 101 after Dec. 31.
In-person training
The 18 hours of in-person training will be offered beginning in early 2021. Because of the uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the exact schedule will be announced at a later date. It is anticipated that the training will be completed before the end of April 2021. At this time, the topics being considered, among others, include:
What is the volunteer commitment to become a Victoria County Master Gardener?
Master Gardeners who belong to VCMGA are required to provide 50 hours of community service in their first year. Those volunteer hours may be performed during and after the in-person training. Volunteer service will include a combination of working in the Master Gardener Victoria Educational Gardens and the following:
When can I become a certified Victoria County Master Gardener?
After submitting your application, certificate of completion of Gardening 101 modules and a $60 fee by Dec. 15, you will be notified as soon as the schedule of in-person classes is finalized.
Upon completion of required training and volunteer activities during 2021, you will become a certified Victoria County Master Gardener at the annual year-end celebration in December 2021.
For more information, please contact Marilyn Stewart, 361-652-3607, or Carla Rodriguez, 361-484-8436.
The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.
ph: 361-935-1556
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