Pasco County Master Gardeners

Who Are We?

Master Gardeners are adult volunteers recruited and trained by county extension agents and University of Florida specialists to provide assistance in Extension home horticultural programs. Through this program, enthusiastic gardeners study such areas as botany, horticulture, soil science, and plant and insect identification and management.

The Florida Master Gardener Program is administered by the Cooperative Extension Service, a part of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. This instruction gives the MGs a good background to prepare them for the wide variety of questions they will face as volunteers at plant clinics, giving talks, answering phones, and in the other duties they undertake in interactions with the public on behalf of Extension. Master Gardeners volunteer 35 hours per year for Extension and take at least 10 hours of continuing education classes every year. This may seem like a lot, but many of our MGs turn in twice that! The hours don't matter much when you're doing what you love.

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How Do I Join?

Master Gardeners attend a 12-week training program starting in April. In early spring, an essential pre-course meeting ("Getting to Know What it Means to be a Volunteer Florida Master Gardener") should be attended. The course is only offered once a year because it is so intensive and requires a huge commitment in time from our instructors.

After successfully completing the training program, Master Gardeners teach and promote environmental wise use of resources as well as reduced chemical, water and energy usage. They talk about gardening at fairs or festivals; speak at clubs, libraries and schools; answer phone questions; speak in clubs, libraries and schools;  and write about gardening for local newspapers.

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Requirements of Master Gardener Volunteers

  • Commitment to volunteering 75 hours the first year; 35 thereafter
  • Willingness to share gardening information with people of Pasco County
  • Time to spend volunteering and attending monthly meetings, field trips, and training sessions
  • Love of gardening and the desire to learn and practice Florida-friendly horticulture methods
  • Eagerness to learn Florida horticulture by active participation in the intensive Master Gardener Training Course and commitment to learning via continuing education activities required to maintain certification
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Training and Certification

If you are accepted into the Master Gardener Training Program, you will receive 72 hours of horticultural training in a 12-week course. The fee covers educational books from the University of Florida Press and other class expenses. The course is held one full day a week (Thursdays from 9:00 am-4:00 pm) and has historically begun in May but will begin in April starting 2009.

This comprehensive and intensive Volunteer Master Gardener course covers basic botany and entomology; plant propagation; pruning; how to fertilize; how to grow vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals; landscape design; and plant pest problems, among other topics.

This curriculum will help you be a better Florida gardener. Most importantly, it will enable you, working through the Extension office, to help fellow citizens with their gardening questions as well as teach them how to be Florida-friendly gardeners.

Individuals who are accepted into the program must agree to give a minimum of 35 hours of volunteer work and receive a minimum of ten hours of continuing education annually to remain certified as a Florida Master Gardener.

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The Core Areas Include:

  • Botany, entomology, pathology, soil management and plant nutrition
  • Cultural methods of growing vegetables and fruit, trees, turf and plants (including annuals, perennials, ornamentals, wildlife-attracting plants, natives)
  • Providing customer service
  • Other related programs such as Florida Yards and Neighborhoods and 4-H
  • The program includes classroom training via lectures, multimedia presentations, and group activities.
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Maintaining Master Gardener Certification

  • Volunteer a minimum of 35 hours a year
  • Areas of volunteer service include, but are not limited to, staffing plant clinics, answering residents' questions on the phone or in person, maintaining demonstration gardens, assisting with displays at public venues such as the county fair, teaching youth through schools or 4-H, speaking to clubs or civic organizations, etc.
  • Attend Master Gardener monthly meetings, field trips, and activities
  • Complete at least eight hours of continuing education/training per year

Suggested Websites by Master Gardeners

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