Platte County is building up membership for a quickly growing master gardener program provided by the University of Missouri Extension Program.
They were founded just two years ago and have since blossomed from three members to about 30. Now, the program is focusing on some community projects while continuing its outreach to provide educational and supportive resources for area gardeners.
To earn the MU Extension certificate, individuals must enroll in training, either a face-to-face course or complete a 20-week online course. Participants must also complete 30 hours of community service before becoming a Master Gardener, a membership that remains active as long as they stay engaged.
Carolyn Vellar, president of the chapter, has noticed that most prefer in-person training because it brings a more communal learning process with direct instruction from MU Extension horticulture specialist Dr. Todd Higgins and other master gardeners. The next course runs from Sept. 4 through Oct. 16, meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in a classroom setting at Metropolitan Community College - Maple Woods.
The alternative online course runs from Aug. 10 to Dec. 23 in a self-paced format. The course costs $200, which includes a free soil test.
“The neat thing about this is that even though you take the classes and read all the stuff you are supposed to learn, most people don’t learn until they are doing it,” Vellar said.
Approximately half of the program’s members are retirees while the other half consists of younger individuals as young as their 20s. Vellar, who has been a gardener most of her life, enjoys making connections the most and building something beneficial for the community.
“We built relationships,” Vellar said. “That’s what keeps us all coming back. We’re connected to each other now because we’ve been through the experiences of plants dying, watering the soil too much and other hardships of gardening.”
One key aspect of the program is the communal aspect. In partnership with the YMCA Platte County Community Center South, the local master gardener chapter operates four plot spaces at the Platte County Community Garden while 26 additional plots are leased out in a well-pollinated area with garden education.
The master gardeners grow everything from fruit trees and berry bushes to healthy herbs, flowers and vegetables.
The program also took over the previously vacant greenhouse at the Northland Career Center. After a laborious six-month cleanout process, it had finally been prepared for proper use.
The chapter got to work inside, but it took a learning curve to figure out how to care for the plants in a greenhouse setting. To end the season, the chapter had a two-day plant sale where they sold out all their produce to the 400 visitors.
“It was as much of an education for us, personally, as it was for us working in the community and explaining the plants to people who bought them,” Vellar said.
While master gardener programs exist throughout the nation, it is very rare for them to have access to a greenhouse with so much success.
“We were lucky that in a year and a half, we have been able to create this for Platte County,” Vellar said.
Platte County’s master gardeners hope to continue their current projects focused on growing native plants and developing a plan to provide youth education to plants and gardening.
Those interested in joining the program can sign up and learn more by visiting extension.missouri.edu/counties/platte/extension-master-gardener. Those with general questions can email the program’s hotline at plattemgs@gmail.com.