Yes, Nancy, it will make you one of "those." Those who know that the best way to understand the soil requirements is to have it tested. But it won't make you a "snob" unless you were one already! ;-)

The Master Gardener program teaches us to take our advice from science based research, not so much from what worked for our Auntie or Uncle or neighbor. Their soil and conditions may be different from ours and therefore what worked for them may not work for everybody. How soil has been treated and fertilized in the past varies widely from site to site.

As far as soil tests go, a lab test gives the most accurate results but there are signs in the garden that can help if a test is not practical. Those signs should be taught in your classes. If not, ask about them or do some internet research, looking for answers from universities, not somebody selling something. I don't know about your area, but sending the soil sample to a lab is not terribly expensive here and well worth the cost.

As to the Sluggo and other products, again it's a question of what the science says works, not what some advertising program persuades you to buy. There are some non chemical remedies for a lot of problems in the garden and that's what we are encouraged to try first, part of Integrated Pest Management, also something you will be taught.

All in all, the MG program is excellent. The people and policies vary from place to place and I've heard some horror stories, just like can be found in anything. But I wouldn't trade my 15 years as a Master Gardener for much else. It has been very educational and extremely rewarding, and in the process I feel I've contributed to helping others become better gardeners.

Hope this answered some of your concerns, Nancy.

SandyG

No need to send soil tests out of state - there are numerous soil testing labs in California. As the leading agricultural state in the country, soil testing services are pretty much a requirement :-)) It is just that the extension service no longer provides that service for free (or for a very reduced rate) like they do in many other locations.

I am not sure I understand the reasons behind why recommending a soil test makes one a snob. Making a suggestion based on knowledge and/or experience is not snobbery, it is just good sense. A soil test may not be necessary in every situation but is often the fastest and easiest way to determine how to amend or improve your soil. And for very novice gardeners, a guideline for what can and cannot be grown easily without changing the soil first.

Here is a link that might be useful: CA soil testing labs

Becoming a Master Gardener will not change your personality. The people I've met in my MG group are very nice. We have a large group, about 300, so there are all kinds of people. What we do in our own gardens is up to us. I never had my soil tested, but some people have. The big rule is that the information we give the public should be scientifically based, not our own opinions or grandma's folklore. Being in California, we rely on UC resources, which are available online to the public.

There will always be snobby people, and there will always be MGs who really don't know too much. What you will become is more critical and observant of plants and gardens. Prior to becoming an MG, I enjoyed the mystery and innocence, so to speak, about gardening. Now, I'm more factual and inquisitive. I've retained that innocent awe of gardening, which I was afraid that I would lose.

Now retired from both the Monterey Master Gardeners and the Sonoma County Master Gardeners I have had soil tests for both my properties done by Perry Lab in Watsonville. It is not just the test itself, but the explanation of the results that you will find of great value. If you will email me your mailing address, I will send you a copy of my test so you can see how useful it is. Al

Thank you all for your responses! The last time I looked into it , the classes were closed for a year or 2! Went to the Sonoma Co Fair and the Master gardener booth was open and a sign was up with the MG again taking applications for the 2016 classes!

There are apparently only 35 openings!

I just don't know hat I have enough knowlege to make the cut!

I do know that to be a MG, you have to put in a certain amount of volunteer time. No problem there, as I have already started some gardens at Spec Ed locations (worked in Spec Ed for 38 years) and can continue at both reg ed and spec ed almost anywhere! I've also done some nutrition stuff in spec ed.

Al, I'm not sure how to get hold of you. Nancy

Why does it matter if you send the soil out of state? Postage is the same, turn around time is a day or two longer. What matters is the cost, how close to you the place you pick up the vials is, and how long the form you ill out is. If the local Home Depot sells little kits, it can be more convenient to mail samples to New Mexico then physically take soil to a lab in your state.

When I went to the Master Gardener class in Florida, the teacher said everyone passed.

zzzackey, good to know! Nancy

If you understand that Mother Nature does not give a rat's a@@ about the term "master" you will never become a snob. I think the social aspect is lovely but depending on area some have high school undertones that can get tiresome. Still, nice to share a hobby with like minded people but snobs stick together and if you're not one, they won't seek you out....

Oh my! I might become an outcast! Been there done that, Bossy! ;) Nancy

Estategardener....thank you for that! Nancy

It won't make you a snob, but there were alot of snobs in my master gardener program. I think most were born that way.

LOL!! There is something about the honorary title of 'Master Gardener' that brings out the snob in anyone tending in that direction :-) Why, I am not sure........I am a degreed horticulturist and still decline to call myself a "master gardener". Just a very experienced one with a lot of education.....and I still have so much to learn! Horticulture/gardening is a virtually endless subject and completing Master Gardener training is only a very small first step to becoming an accomplished and knowledgeable gardener

I have a question...

If someone completes the 'Master Gardener' Course, but doesn't, nor has never had a garden, does the title apply? Conversely, if a person has gardened their entire life, and comes from generations of gardeners... well lol... Just playing.

My mother was a certificate holding Master Gardener. It took her years to realize what little it meant.

Mike

What the program teaches you is how to research University based information. The classes give you the tools to do that. I have been in for 20 years and alot of the information is stuffed in my data bank(memory) however I still look up many things. Especially when I work the help desk.

Some people here have their eyes open and can see clearly what the Master Gardener program is and what it is not. If you go into it thinking that the title conveys to you some sort of authority and/or specialized knowledge you are just fooling yourself and/or you are trying to fool others. If you don't realize that green industry professionals laugh at it and don't take it seriously compared to their formal education and experience, then you really don't have nearly the experience or the awareness to deserve the title in the first place. Similarly, the public who holds the title in esteem are pretty much clueless. These are the same folks who use the services and think that they have hit on some secret treasure trove of guarded knowledge, when the most rudimentary skills of research and observation would allow them to find the answers on their own, in many other places.

I know many master gardeners in their fields of interest, both horticultural professionals and so-called amateurs with no formal training who don't have the official title. Often these can be found as members of many of the specialty gardening organizations, as opposed to local garden gossip clubs, and many of them can blow most of the credentialed Master Gardeners out of the water with the depth of their knowledge, and certainly with their professionalism and desire for continued learning and accurate knowledge.

I am in a Master Gardener program, and although I realized many of the limitations going into it, I must say that it is downright embarrassing to be associated with it at times, when I experience the mentality of some of my colleagues. Even though there was an interview process, I question what purpose it held other than trying to make the program look way more pretentious than it is. Everyone and anyone gets in as far as I can see, or if they didn't, I'd hate to see the rejects. There is a definite focus on science based research and knowledge, but it is the old leading a horse to water deal, since it is obvious that many of my program mates are still bound and determined to rely on anecdote, folk knowledge and unproven home remedies. Their questions show that their mindset is not changing no matter what we are taught, and they do not even comprehend the difference between science and research based knowledge, and what "someone said would work." Some see such onerous topics as identifying plants by cultivar and using Latin names as, I guess, only the domain of the upper echelon of academia, and not something that normal people need even bother with. I pity their children with attitudes like that, and wonder if they ever even stop to think what kind of thought process goes into curing disease or building a skyscraper or designing a car. Who or what mentality do they think ever accomplishes those things if no one ever chooses to think beyond what they can read on a cereal box?

I went into this with the desire to help pass on knowledge in my areas of interest and expertise. I pity the person who calls and get me for other things, expecting an expert, for although I'll learn and regurgitate all that they teach me on those subjects, lawns for example, I fee that they are the most useless waste of space on the face of the planet. I would just as soon see them all transformed into gardens, productive pasture or landscaped in other ways, and have no interest in creating "good" turf that just needs so much frequent maintenance. There will be, however, several areas where I can make a significant contribution and help to educate people if they call about those subjects. I feel really sorry for those who call with questions and get the people who just like to say that they are gardeners but who never actualy took the time to seriously study any aspect of it, and just decided to take the Master Gardener program because Agnes and Mable in the bridge club did, and she's tired of hearing them boast about it. And there are a lot of them.

I think the depth and information from each person may depend on the county they are in. We have had people join for one year and then vanish. I agree with you on unless lawns and have influenced afew people to remove theirs, especially during the drought. Given your name I think you are from California. I find the most inquisitive MG enjoy working the help desk. I also write several researched articles each year for the local paper. And my spile is prepped - I don't know everything, but I know where to research it. With your pen name I gather you are in California.

"Everyone and anyone gets in as far as I can see, or if they didn't, I'd hate to see the rejects."

I am a reject :-) Well, I never formally applied (never wanted to) but was told by our local coordinator not to bother. I have a degree in ornamental horticulture and work in the industry as a consulting horticulturist. Since the program was intended for hobby gardeners to assist other hobby gardeners, they don't want no stinkin' pros messing up the process :-) LOL!! And I have no time to volunteer and would not be very inclined to do so anyway, since I make my living sharing my expertise to those who need it and pay for it.

Well I'm glad that we agree on lawns, though I am nowhere near California. Despite the last few years of drought-like conditions I actually live in an area where lawns do not require watering other than to first get established (though that still does not stop IMO fools from doing so). Not sure how an interest in sempervivums associates me with California. I too have prepared speeches for some of the more common questions in my fields of expertise, but although helpful they are not always foolproof. As I have found, once you try to make something idiot proof, someone just always seems to come up with a better idiot.

I am a reject :-)

Don't loose sight of the context of the thread, albeit resurrected, which as a reminder, indicated that the program has many different formats from location to location. All I can and did comment on is my experience in my area, where actually they seem to encourage and are in desperate need of professionals to help. In many areas including mine, the program is actually intended for researchers and scientists who are associated with a university to assist all other stakeholders, which includes green industry professionals and commercial farmers, who are just as much if not more in need of current research as they next guy, all the way down to the woman who thinks it is funny to laugh that she can't grow anything and has a brown thumb, but decides to broadcast her lack of sense to anyone who will listen, and manifests that pathological behavior in the form of questions to which she has no intention of listening. Yes, even here the conduit between the two is often the hobby gardener, but that has just as many pitfalls as the imaginary problems created by any professionals with differences of opinion, or more likely fact. I am actually running into that issue now myself in that I corrected some extremely outdated and inaccurate information provided by one instructor in one of our classes and provided her with current research and resources, all learned from my profession outside the green industry. Time will tell if it will be well received or seen as a threat. I'm guessing the latter based on her personality, but facts don't lie. For my part I would gladly be surrounded by professionals trying to mess up the process with their own science based ideas, and deal with the fall out from any of that, than the opposite, a bunch of intellectually bankrupt zombies who haven't advanced in their interest to learn past high school.

Well, thank you ALL for your responses! It ends up I didn't go through the program. Partially because I had retired and didn't really want to go through 4 months of classes, partially because I never liked science much LOL.

What I have been doing is helping several Special Ed classes set up small raised bed gardens along with compost set ups. I have also helped my neighbor, who retired from Kaiser set up a garden at the main hospital, where she sometimes conducts cooking classes. I think I'm doing the same thing as if I was a MG!

I have recently moved from my 1 1/4 acre place to a home downtown and will be changing to container gardening and/or a community garden (when I find one!)

Again, thanks for all your help and insights! Nancy

In Napa our classes are 10 weeks long 1 day a week. If you are doing what you love that is all that matters.

Napapen - we're lucky in that U.C. does a GREAT Master Gardener program with continuing education - not a once off thing. In Calaveras county we go from January through April once per week for 4 hour classes. We're pretty active in our community. Hate to see anyone thinking of the program get scared off by this thread. Here it is a really worthwhile group. Calaveras County Master Gardener Facebook page.

I've been in the program since Jan 97 and have not worked my way through all the committees so that there is always something new to learn and an activity so I recommend it often.

napapen - I recognize your Houzz id - I used to be faerygardener (member since 2001 in the bay area), had been less active here since my move to the mountains. The Napa area groups have done some great work with drought education, here we held (and our Sierra region is holding more) public info sessions on bark beetle and for rebuilding after the Butte fire / reforestation. We've been able to bring the UC Berkeley expert on oaks out of retirement to educate our community, plus some of the most respected people on these topics. Other than fundraising, I'm not involved in the school gardens, but we participate in a school garden at every single school in the Calaveras Unified school district - we have some very dedicated folks in that area. If you went to the conference by Yosemite - I may have met you! My blog post on the MG Marketplace

I didn't go to Yosemite but I hear they had a wonderful learning experience. I mostly work the help desk and write article for the Register.

I should clarify that my "I was a reject" statement was a bit tongue in cheek :-) The MG program, which was started here in WA state, was not intended for professional horticulturists but for hobby gardeners with some specified training helping other hobby gardeners. It may have diverged in purpose and practice in other areas as the program expanded but that was the underlying intent at inception.

I have been involved with the local program on and off for years but only in an advisory or teaching capacity, not as a participant.

As with any program like this, you will get good results as well as bad results, although the good tend to far outweigh the bad. I recall working at one large urban retail nursery many years ago that actually banned onsite MG clinics for a period because of the egregious behavior of the participants and the inaccuracy of the information they were imparting. Discussions with the program advisory committee got those issues worked out and the clinics resumed although were eventually discontinued there as the permanent nursery staff had a high percentage of CPH's (Certified Professional Horticulturists) and the onsite clinics were no longer considered necessary or of benefit.

In my career as a consulting horticulturist, I have worked with a number of MG's, most of whom have had considerable horticultural experience and a great deal of knowledge and never once made a big deal of their title or their participation in the program.

In California, you can't use Master Gardener title to sell anything like services. A few almost do but not blatantly. I realized the MG started in Washington state and had just written an article "do you know a Master Gardener" and mentioned the history.

Yes, don't sell anything at all here - part of our outreach, so I do have in my Houzz about me that I'm a Master Gardener and do share some things and events. You can run into folks who don't know about the program or that they can choose to join and get the program training. Hadn't realized until this thread that the title gets some folks stuck or even that some folks seem to think because you have one part of one class on landscape design you must join because of aspirations to have a traditionally beautiful garden. Perhaps because we're rural or California (or a combo of both) we have more interested in sustainable gardening, gardening for wildlife (so chewed up milkweed is a bit of a badge of honor), food and school gardening. I'll start a new thread as I'm interested what others do for fundraising.

I took the course after the death of my wife of 40 yrs and found it helpful for the fellowship I got after completing the course I found no snobs in our group and no question asked was laughed at .

I do agree taking the course doesn’t make you an instant expert , I have been a gardener for 40 years and read countless books and articles that the course was pretty much common sense stuff to me but very helpful to a beginner, I still have question and issues I have to research .

I did learn once people find out that I took and passed the course i was besieged with questions and requests for help, a lot of the ?s were no brainers but some I had to research.

My fellow and more seasoned MGs cautioned me not to do their work for them but to teach them the right way and get them started but be more of a teacher this was the best advise I got so maybe people view us as a snob as we don’t do the project for them .