Frederick Master Gardener Training Class

Do you love to volunteer in community greening efforts? Are you interested in learning the most current information about plants for your home, garden or landscape; pests and plant diseases; beneficial techniques for vegetable gardening and landscaping; or anything else related to home horticulture; and then sharing that information with others in the community? If so, you may be interested in joining the Master Gardener Program.

In Frederick County, the Master Gardener Training Class is offered annually in February, lasting about 11 weeks into mid-April. Click here for the latest schedule: Frederick Master Gardener Training Class Schedule. Though actual dates and instructors may change, the overall schedule is very similar each year.

Classes meet from early February through mid-April on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon (with a few exceptions). Total classroom time is more than 50 hours and participants are asked to give 40 hours of volunteer time to the communities of Frederick County in order to complete the program. Classes are held at the Maryland Cooperative Extension Office at 330 Montevue Lane in Frederick. The registration fee for the training course is $200, and includes the Maryland Master Gardener Handbook and other educational materials. Class size is limited and applications will be considered in the order they are received. Partial scholarships are available for a limited number of participants. Click here for more information on scholarships: MG Training Class Scholarships.

Master Gardener Volunteers give their time to Frederick County communities throughout the growing season by running Plant Clinics at the farmer’s markets at Baughman’s Lane on Saturday mornings, monthly on Tuesdays at Ft.Detrick and each Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. at the Horticulture Help Desk at the Cooperative Extension Office. At the Plant Clinics and Help Desk, people ask Master Gardeners for help identifying plants, plant diseases and insects found in their homes and home landscapes. Master Gardener Volunteers also give their time and expertise by sharing environmentally beneficial landscaping methods through the Bay-Wise program; running a booth with a great variety of programs at the Great Frederick Fair; speaking to garden clubs and other community groups; teaching children about gardening, helping them green their schools and giving them the chance to go on field trips through the Junior Master Gardener Program; testing and sharing gardening ideas in the Demonstration Gardens on the Cooperative Extension Office grounds; leading hands-on therapeutic horticultural activities for senior citizens and the developmentally disabled; writing articles for the Frederick News-Post and other local news venues; and supporting greening efforts throughout the region. Next year, we'll have two Plant Clinic/Open Houses in the Demonstration Garden to show off the garden and to celebrate spring flowering and fall harvest, one in June and one in October.

Having completed the initial training program, Master Gardeners continue to receive training at monthly meetings, statewide training programs organized by the Home and Garden InformationCenter, and on field trips. Programs and field trips have included beekeeping, native plants, edible landscaping, herbs, organic vegetable gardening, tree identification, ornamental grasses, water gardening and designing with stone.

To support their community work, Frederick Master Gardeners also run two annual fundraisers, a Plant Sale that takes place on the last Saturday in April and a Spring Seminar Series that starts in early March. The plant sale is in conjunction with the Cooperative Extension Open House and is a lot of fun, besides being a great source of plants and another venue for learning/teaching about plants and environmentally beneficial landscaping.

If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener, being added to the horticulture mailing list, or have horticultural questions, contact , the Horticulture Faculty Extension Assistant at the Frederick County Office of the Maryland Cooperative Extension at 301-600-1596 or FrederickHorticulture@umd.edu . The office is open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For the Master Gardener Training Class, please provide your name, address, daytime telephone number and e-mail address, if available. More detailed information and application materials will be mailed.