Have you heard of the Colorado Master Gardener program? Well if not, let me fill you in on this great group doing great things in our community. The Master Gardener Program is an Extension volunteer outreach program that trains gardeners in research based horticulture practices. These trained volunteers then deliver their knowledge to the community through classes, community outreach, and individual contacts. The national Master Gardener Program was started by Washington State University Extension in 1972. At this time, WSU had two new horticulture agents that were being bombarded with questions from the community. They thought that if they could train volunteers to help them deliver horticulture education, their reach could be greatly expanded. Although the idea of training volunteers to educate clients was initially denied, the program eventually was accepted and became a great success. Colorado State University Extension’s Colorado Master Gardener Program began in 1975 in Denver and El Paso Counties. Jefferson County followed, adopting the program in 1976. From here, many Colorado Counties started up their own Colorado Master Gardener program. The program is still going strong today with 34 counties in Colorado participating, including Pueblo County.
In 2021 there were 1,528 volunteers across Colorado, and they donated 47,010 hours of volunteer service to their communities. Through these volunteer hours Master Gardeners in Colorado have helped over 128,000 citizens expand their horticultural knowledge using research-based information. Pueblo County currently has over 50 active Master Gardeners who, in 2021, donated over 2,000 volunteer hours to our community. Volunteers in Pueblo also stay up to date on the latest horticulture research by completing continuing education hours. In 2015, our volunteers in Pueblo completed over 500 hours of continuing education courses, making them very valuable resources for home gardeners.
Colorado Master Gardeners participate in many activities around their communities. The activities that volunteers around the state spent the most time on last year were community greening, booths and clinics at shows, fairs, and festivals, and phone calls, emails, office, and field visits. The Colorado Master Gardeners in Pueblo provide education at many events around the county. Some of these events include public yard and garden classes, local Farmers’ Markets, Science Day at a local elementary school, Pueblo County Fair, and the Colorado State Fair, and the edible landscape project. The volunteers also publish a quarterly newsletter called From the Ground Up, they run a seed lending library called the All Pueblo Grows seed lending library, and they help host an annual plant sale that brings many local vendors together and raises money for the program.
Wouldn’t you like to be a part of such a great program? If so, then there is good news, CSU Extension in Pueblo County is now taking applications for the 2023 training class! We have scholarships available through a local organization called Supporters of Horticulture Education (SHED). Classes are online and self-paced making this easy to fit into a busy schedule. Visit our website at https://pueblo.extension.colostate.edu/ for more information and a link to the application.
