James City County/Williamsburg Master Gardeners
Master Gardener Training Program

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2008 MG training Class

Classes for the 2008 JCC/Williamsburg Master Gardener training Program were held every Monday and Thursday morning from 9-12, from January 7 through April 3, in the JCC Human Services Building, 5249 Olde Towne Road, Williamsburg. This training program exists to develop volunteers who are willing to make a significant volunteer commitment to educate other county citizens in sound horticultural practices as part of the education outreach of the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Well known experts from the local community, area colleges and Colonial Williamsburg will be teaching classes on a wide range of horticultural subjects. Courses will be given on basic botany, identification and control of insects, weeds and diseases; culture of turf, trees, shrubs, flowers, fruits, vegetables; pruning, landscape design, water issues, and other topics needed to become well-versed in sound horticultural practices in order to conduct educational programs for local residents.

Look for information on the 2009 MG training class in late summer.

Objective

The objective of this program is to train long term volunteers to assist the County Extension Agent in providing JCC residents research based information on horticultural topics. Development of long term volunteers is the only objective of this program. Master Gardener trainees agree to provide a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer service in 2007. Volunteer time will be utilized to help citizens who have horticultural questions, and to assist in planning and conducting educational programs designed to teach proper horticultural techniques.

Schedule

trainees receive 70 hours of classroom and field training plus 20 hours of on-the-job training on the “Extension MG Help Desk” in the Extension Office. Classes will be held during January, February, March and early April. Help Desk training will occur April through October.

Classes

Instruction will cover elementary botany, plant physiology, identification and control of insects, weeds and diseases, and culture of vegetables, fruits, flowers, trees and shrubs, turf and indoor plants. Other classes will be devoted to soils/fertilization, water conservation, composting, pesticides and pruning. Outstanding horticultural professionals from this area will provide the classroom training. Registration fee is $200.00. This covers the cost of the Virginia Master Gardener Handbook and 2007 JCC/Williamsburg Master Gardener Association dues. $95 will be refunded upon satisfactory completion of all training and 50 hours of volunteer service during 2007. Financial assistance is available for qualified individuals.

Certification

Master Gardener trainees will become certified Master Gardener Volunteers in December 2007 upon satisfactory completion of all training and volunteer commitments. Experienced Master Gardeners are available at all stages to advise and assist as needed.

Training Staff

Master gardener volunteers, under the guidance of the JCC Horticulture Program Associate, organize the curriculum, contact speakers and recruit participants for the three-month training class for master gardeners. Throughout these classes, they monitor class procedures, explain VCE MG organization, objectives and procedures, and keep records of each individual's progress.

They continue working with the participants after they have completed their classwork successfully and become MG Interns. These same volunteers then coordinate management with the JCC Extension Office staff and initiate interns with the various MG projects, helping them track the accepted volunteer activities. This continues until their 50 volunteer project hours and 20 Help Desk hours are completed and the interns graduate as trained Master Gardener Volunteers.