Master Gardeners - interview with Pam Geisel

Pamela Geisel is the Statewide Coordinator for the Master Gardener program for the State of CA. Pam has held this position since 2006, at which time it was a newly created position.  The Master Gardener program has been active in the State of CA since 1980.

What is the Master Gardener program?

The purpose of the Master Gardener program is to train homeowners and garden hobbyists to become expert gardeners, thereby creating volunteer agents to assist in fielding the growing number of gardening questions from the general public.

In Washington, a number of years ago, the small staff of farm advisors was trying to field an overwhelming number of calls from homeowners. Being familiar with the gardenmeister program in Germany, staff members decided to implement a similar program in their state. Based on the tremendous success in the State of Washington, comparable programs quickly cropped up across the country.

In California, as in other states, the Master Gardener program is administered by the land grant universities. In California the Master Gardener Program is administered locally by participating UCCE county offices, the principal outreach and public service arm of the University's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Each of 44 California counties has a UCCE Master Gardener Program staffed by UC-trained volunteer master gardeners who are available to answer gardening questions specific to their locale.

The Master Gardener Program is an example of an effective partnership between the University and motivated citizens. Because certified master gardeners represent UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE), they broaden UCCE's client base and sphere of influence.

Who are Master Gardeners?

Master Gardeners are community members who have been trained under the direction of the University of California Cooperative Extension. Each volunteer has completed more than 50 hours of formal classroom training. Master Gardeners help the Cooperative Extension office provide practical scientific gardening information to the home gardeners of the county.

In exchange for the training and materials received from the University of California, master gardeners perform volunteer services in a myriad of venues.

Below are examples on how master gardeners share UC research-based information to the public:

• Classes
• Workshops
• One-on-one consultation
• Demonstration gardens
• Websites
• Fairs and plant clinics
• Mass media

Why become a Master Gardener?

The opportunity to learn more, not only with the initial certification training, but also ongoing, often cutting edge research which comes with your continuing education requirement. It’s also a chance to give back to your community. As a Master Gardener you are a certified expert and also a volunteer agent of the UC system.

Last year, 258,000 volunteer hours were represented by the Master Gardeners in the State of California. Truly the Master Gardeners provide a valuable service to the citizens of California.

How do I become a Master Gardener?

The program is administered by the UC Cooperative Extension office in each of the 44 participating counties.  Click Here to go to the Master Gardener website, then click on the button entitled “Find your local Master Gardener Program” (or click here). That will take you to the list of participating counties with a link to each of the respective county websites.  Here you can get more information about available resources and classes, contact list, office address and more.  Additionally on this website you can learn more about the history of the Master Gardener program, statewide resources, links to helpful resource pages and so on.

Each of the Master Gardeners in the State, of which there are approximately 5,000 currently, has become a certified gardening expert by the UC Cooperative Extension. To qualify for that certification, the individual has successfully completed 50 hours of training (about 16-18 weeks, three hours per week) using core curricula and then passing a final exam. About half the programs in the state have demonstration gardens used for hands-on education.

The certification lasts only for one year, during which time the newly certified Master Gardener must contribute 50 hours of volunteer time doing outreach and education. Every year thereafter, twenty-five hours of volunteer activity is required. UCCE approved volunteer opportunities are available for Master Gardeners to extend University research based information to the gardening community in Sacramento County. Each year twelve hours of continuing education is also required.

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Pamela Geisel

Pam is the Statewide Coordinator for the 44-county program in California.  Within each of those counties there are either advisors, county directors or program representatives or program coordinators that help to manage the day-to-day operations of the volunteers.

Pam’s responsibilities include

Ensuring that academic oversight is provided to the volunteers

Serve as a liaison with the University

To set policy in an effort to provide uniformity among counties

Help to develop statewide materials that can be utilized throughout the state, that are educational in nature.

Problem solve: be that point person for both national and international programs that relate to Master Gardeners.