It's just about that time of year again.  The Master Gardener Program will start recruiting new people to be a part of the 2013 Master Gardener Training class.  In about a month, I will have the online applications ready for interested Solano County residents to apply.

The Master Gardener training class will begin in January, but there are a few steps before a person is seated as part of the training.  First, the application will be completed and turned in by October 31, 2012.  Once the applications are received, I will call and make interview appointments with the potential trainees.  These interviews will happen from November 5-9.  There will be a panel of 2-3 current Master Gardeners and myself who will do the interviewing. After the interviews are completed, the class will be picked.  Space is limited, so we will take approximately 20-25 new trainees.

There will be an orientation in mid-December, and after that, the new trainees will show up for their first class in January 2013.

The class fee is $125.00, which includes receiving your CA Master Gardener Handbook, Pests of the Landscape Trees and Shrubs book, class materials/handouts, fingerprinting, and your official name badge, once you successfully complete the final exam.

The training class will meet every Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.  They start early January and go through April.  There is a final exam, which is open book-open note-open resource, at the end of the training class and then a graduation ceremony about a week later.

Each class is a stand-alone, so if you miss one class, you can be left behind very quickly.  The instructors are packing into 4 hours of lecture, what a horticulture student might learn in a semesters worth of instruction for that particular topic.

Once a trainee has completed their final successfully, they are considered a certified Master Gardener and are then allowed to volunteer in the community-that is when the real fun begins!

If you have any questions, email me at jmbaumbach@ucdavis.edu.