Master Gardener / University Extension programs???

[Walwen]

There was a thread on this from 2015 but I thought I'd make a new one instead of necro'ing.
viewtopic.php?p=91055&hilit=master+gardener#p91055

Every state has a master gardener program run by a land-owning university. The idea is that people become trained by the university to be knowledgeable about growing and maintaining plants in their own area, and then volunteer their knowledge to the community to promote healthy successful gardens and growing.
To become a master gardener it varies a little by state, where I am, it's a 200 dollar three-month hybrid class. Then you have to do a 40 hour internship. Then to keep an active master gardener status, yearly you have to log 20 volunteer hours and 10 continuing education credits, which mostly come from attending in-person or virtual trainings, other people's seminars, workshops, etc.

I think if I lived in the boonies and didn't have anywhere to easily get involved in gardening, and my aspirations were in restaurant management and chess, it wouldn't make sense.

However gardening has become my biggest hobby and a lifelong aspiration. I used to volunteer under a master gardener in an herb garden and I dream a lot about having a charitable lavender garden. I'm also a stone's throw away from dozens of places I could get involved in, public forage forests, horticultural centers, university gardens, butterfly sanctuaries, etc. I want the connections most of all, to talk to people, to be in those conferences and after-seminar Olive Garden dinners.

I think it makes sense, but everyone I've told about this said, "200 dollars??? I wouldn't do it." Am I delusional and starry-eyed? The other ERE thread had that sentiment too: "you can get all the knowledge from YouTube and books." I'm sure I can learn pretty much whatever from youtube and books and there's not going to be any arcane knowledge in the class, but I don't think I have the motivation to cover such a wide basis without it being like a structured class, if that makes sense. I'm not paying for arcane knowledge: I'm paying for a structured curriculum and for in-person instruction, and to be around other people.

There's a lot of scams out there but I just don't think this is one of them, unless you somehow had the notion that becoming a master gardener would get you a lot of money, but I've never once seen it marketed that way.

In general it's a sort of, "When is it worth paying money for personal development?" question. I just feel like if I started going to Starbucks before work every single morning and dropping 15 dollars, no one around me would care. But I say I've decided to buy a 450 dollar escooter everyone I tell IRL says "why not just drive, sounds like a waste of money." Every time I want to do something like this people go "200 dollars???" When I think about it literally everyone telling me these things has tens of thousands of dollars of debt, including 80k degrees in Underwater Basketweaving they don't use in their careers and consumer debt for piles of video games they hardly play. It makes my head hurt. I wish I knew more ERE people offline.

[mathiverse]

$200 sounds pretty reasonable to me. If you made a fishbone diagram, it sounds like the only negative would be the cost? The positives: social contact with more gardeners (leading to potential opportunities), learning about gardening (leading to better yields in your own?), support to find an internship, support/motivation to get through the curriculum, and maybe more? Gardening is also already something you do regularly, so there is not much risk you'll take the class and then never use anything you learned or meet anyone you met again. Seems firmly like a good idea to me.

How much does continuing education cost? If that $200 turned into $200/year for continuing education, what would you do?

Are there ways to get into the course for free or cheaper (eg volunteering in some way?)? Can you get involved in all the things you mentioned that are near you without the cert?

[Scott 2]

You're paying for the network effect, not the education. This is extremely reasonable. I would have zero hesitation.

[Western Red Cedar]

It makes my head hurt. I wish I knew more ERE people offline.

Connecting with a group of local, master gardeners sounds like a great place to meet some of those people offline.

[Walwen]

How much does continuing education cost? If that $200 turned into $200/year for continuing education, what would you do?

Are there ways to get into the course for free or cheaper (eg volunteering in some way?)? Can you get involved in all the things you mentioned that are near you without the cert?

It seems like most of the continuing education is free. And at least in my state. I wouldn't blink at 200 a year: my mom spends more than that going to conferences throughout the year. Her university pays for some of it, but not all, especially not the goodies and food she buys along the way lol. There's also not really anything bad that happens if you don't keep an active membership, it's not like they make you pay to take the first class again or anything.

No way to get the course for cheaper that I see. You could get involved in a lot of things for free, but I just don't think it would be the same experience or that I'd have the same motivation then if I was a part of something bigger.

[shaz]

Unlike YouTube videos, your local Master Gardener program will teach you about gardening specific to your local conditions. It sounds like a bargain to me. Go for it!

Our state university ag extension has been tremendously helpful in teaching me how to manage my acreage. Neighbors regularly ask me how they can grow pasture like mine. Then they disregard my advice to request someone from the extension program come out, walk their property with them, and help them put together a plan. It's free! But they would rather mope around, pester me for advice to ignore, and watch videos. People are crazy; feel free to ignore them when they scoff.

[jacob]

I think the only issue is that the gardening in the master gardener course may be overly focused on ornamental plants like flowers, bushes, turfs, ... rather than vegetables.

[7Wannabe5]

I think the certificate alone would be worth the $200, because it would likely be just enough "cred" to afford you access to as much borrowed land as you might want for a variety of gardening or permaculture projects. Learning about ornamental gardening will not be a waste of time, even if your primary goal is growing food, because strictly growing for food production, even in a backyard plot, is too much towards just recreating a miniature version of the factory farm model. Growing ornamentals helps you to "see like a bee" and also will go a long way towards being able to design calorie/nutrient productive landscapes that are acceptable in urban and suburban environments. It is almost always possible for a garden to create the "yield" of "lovely to look upon" in addition to other yields. For instance, somebody in my social circle recently told me he hated mowing, so he was going to tear up his small front yard and just dump a bunch of wildflower seed, and I was able to advise him on a better easy maintenance design, inclusive of some edibles, that would be less likely to antagnonize his perfect-lawn-ideal neighbors.