By MICHAEL PENNACCHIA
Have you seen a Master Gardener lately? Chances are that you have, though you may not have known it.
They’re maintaining trails at the R.I. Veterans Memorial Cemetery, planning events at Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, maintaining gardens at the Cumberland Monastery and Charlestown School House Gardens, and they’re answering questions at “Ask a Master Gardener Booths’ throughout the state.
Last year they grew and distributed 12,000 cabbages and 3,000 collards through the Rhode Island Food Bank.
You’ll see them at their annual plant sale on May 10 at East Farm (Rte. 108), where they’ve been growing perennials, annuals and vegetables for the last month. Around Christmas time, they’ll be selling traditional and unusual poinsettias that they’ve grown.
“The volunteer program (at the greenhouses) has grown exponentially,” said Mary Mason, a retired navy nurse and Master Gardener from the class of 2002. Mason is also the Greenhouse Manager at East Farm and has logged in more than 2,500 hours of volunteer time to date.
“We started with 30 people in two greenhouses in 2002,” she said. “Today we have 140 volunteers and crews working seven days a week.”
You may have spoken to Master Gardeners on the URI Gardener Hotline (800-448-1011), where volunteers are trained and available to answer your garden, lawn and related questions Monday through Thursday between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Inquiries may also be emailed to
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Once accepted into the Master Gardener Certification program, which begins in February, candidates attend 16 weeks of intensive classes at the University of Rhode Island and are required to perform 50 hours of volunteer service to acquire certification. A $250. registration fee is also required.
In order to sustain annual certification, Master Gardeners must complete 20 hours of volunteer service, 16 advanced education hours and pay an annual $15 membership fee. Deadline for applications for next year’s class is Nov. 1 www.urimga.org.
The program is geared toward learning and promoting sustainable gardening practices. A sustainable garden is defined as “one that thrives with minimal inputs of labor, water, fertilizer and pesticides.”
According to Rosanne Sherry, State Master Gardener Program Coordinator, 1,500 students have completed the program since its inception in 1977. Around 110 candidates are accepted into the program annually. The ratio of men to women is about 1:4, and the ages of this year’s class range from teens to those in their 70s – a diverse group of garden enthusiasts.
“A good gardener should be able to tell you a lot about her plants,” said Sherry. “An organic gardener is active in the garden and familiar with what she has there.”
There’s a lot to learn in the Master Gardener program, and it will take time. So far, this gardener has learned how to “see” the landscape, identify issues, and know what to look for. And if he doesn’t have all the information he needs, he knows where to look for it.
There are about 250 “active” members, of the 600 member URI Master Gardener Association, the volunteer arm of the program.
The Association is involved with “reaching out to the community,” “teaching best gardening practices,” and “community projects related to the environment.”
Master Gardener candidates are taught everything from basic botany and entomology, soil science, plant diseases, and turf grass management to propagation, pruning and composting.
On a recent Thursday morning, nine gardners volunteered at the East Farm greenhouse, where Mason recited a list of tasks that required attention – from planting morning glory seeds to watering, transplanting and taking the temperature in different sections of the greenhouse.
Volunteers are preparing for the big sale in May and need to make sure that the plants are healthy, watered and well fed.
When the conversation among a small group of women transplanting heuchera shifted from bikini waxes to Mother’s Day and organic gardening, Martha Vigneault (’06) admitted that she’d be getting “four trash barrels of horse poop” for her garden if she whined enough.
“Other women want diamonds, I want horse poop,” she said. That may not be typical of all Master Gardeners, but generally, they are an earthy group.
Nancy Saloio (‘04) said that she likes horse manure “better than cow” manure. “It breaks down faster,” she said. “I used some last year and everything grew in that garden.”
There’s an easy manner among the volunteers in the greenhouses. Conversation flows, everyone pitches in and work gets done – lots of it. The Association raises about $30,000. with the plant sale.
“Becoming a Master Gardener was a great way to broaden my circle of acquaintances,” said Cynthia Drummond (’06). “Everyone knows what you’re talking about when you’re talking plants. You’re not just getting blank stares. And I’ve never seen a volunteer organization as well organized as this one.”
“It’s a great organization,” said Mason. “When you put people and plants together, that’s about as close to heaven as you can get.”
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Master Gardener Tips:
Start with a soil test and raise or lower pH accordingly Add compost to soil Don’t fertilize the lawn until you know it’s growing, i.e. it’s time to mow. Plant allium (onion family) to keep harmful insects like aphids and flea beetles away water lawns 1” per week Identify and treat disease early; ideally with organic treatments Buy sustainable plants Buy premium grass seed; don’t buy URI #1, 2 – URI no longer controls this product and it’s now inferior
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