Master Gardeners Make Life More Fr
BETH MILLER
Cumberland Co.
Correspondent
KINGS GAP (Cumberland Co.)
When visitors come to admire
the wonderful herb gardens at this
state park, they should leave
thanking Cumberland County’s
Master Gardeners.
The local people who volunteer
for the program not only get their
hands dirty, they get their minds
stimulated as well.
Ten of those volunteers were
recognized for their green thumbs
and their dedication to making life
a little more pleasant and a little
more fragrant during the 76th
annual meeting of the Cumberland
County Cooperative Extension.
Those people honored were
Michael Dau, Karen Olson, Joan
Baker, Marcia Thompson,
Kathryn Grabowski, Ralph
Ncgley, and Frank Kenski.
They are just a few of the peo
ple who have participated in the
Master Gardener Program in this
county since it was founded in
1988.
Kathy Wolfe, who runs the
Master Gardener Program in the
extension office, said the volun
teers make a big commitment and
devote a lot of hours to get their
program certificate.
Before they are accepted into
the program, volunteers are pre
<ips.,oegi. ig.
medicinal garden, one of the four herbal gardens planted by
the Cumberland County Master Gardeners at Kings Gap
Environmental Education Center.
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tested and must answer a certain
number of gardening questions
properly, Wolfe said. Also, they
must go through an interview with
an extension agent, she said.
“Usually we try to select
enough people according to the
number of projects that are started
and the new ones that are being
planned,” said Wolfe.
After they are accepted into the
program, the volunteers must
receive SO hours of training in
classes taught by extension
agents, specialists from Penn State
University, and other Master Gar
deners. she said.
Each week in those classes, she
said, the participants study a diffe
rent gardening topic. The topics
include propogation. plant dis
eases, pruning, lawn care, care of
ornamental plants, and similar
knowledge.
Some of the study sessions have
hands-on workshops, Wolfe said.
After the educational program
is completed, Wolfe said, the par
ticipants must give SO hours of
service back to the community.
That service has to pertain to
something they have learned in
the course, she said.
The gardens at Kings Gap are
perhaps the most evident contribu
tion the Master gardeners have
made so far in the program.
The Kings Gap project is really
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Cumberland County Master Gardener Kathryn Grabowski works In the culinary
herb garden the Master Gardener volunteers have made at the Kings Gap Environ*
mental Education Center.
a big teaching garden.
The Master Gardeners planted
the herbs in four separate and spe
cialized gardens in a circular area,
said Master Gardeners Marcia
Thompson and Kathryn
Grabowski.
One garden is a fragrance gar
den, they said. They said the other
gardens are a medicinal garden, a
culinary garden and a garden
filled with herbs that are used to
make dyes.
Grabowski and Thompson said
they hope to make the Kings Gap
project even more attractive this
year by placing a sundial in the
center of the gardens.
Each of the gardens is taken
care of by some of the Master Gar
deners who already have gra
duated from the program and by
partiepants who are just going
through the program, they said.
Other projects the Master Gar
deners are working on at Kings
Gap are a compost demonstration
course for home gardeners and the
construction of a native and a
wildlife garden.
Another new project they have
irvt tl
4.99
planned is a Plant Clinic to be held
at the West Shore Library in Camp
Hill. At that clinic people will be
able to bring in plants that have
diseases for advice and the Master
Gardeners will answer gardening
questions.
In the past year. Master Garden
ers also presented more than 30
educational talks on wildflowers,
perennials, herbs, water gardens,
bonsai, pruning, plant problems
and composting.
They helped youths in the coun
ty by judging in the botany divi
sion of the Capital Area Science
Fair and by judging at the 4-H
Fair. They also helped pilot the
4-H “Meet the Plants” project for
fourth graders in two elementary
schools in (he Cumberland Valley
School District
Wolfe said there are about 30
volunteers in the program to dale.
The volunteers come from all
walks of life and all age groups,
she said. There are homemakers,
teachers and doctors in the prog
rams, she said, adding that all you
need is a little knowledge of gar-
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dcning and a lot of enthusiasm.
Wolfe said Cumberland County
has an “extremely good’’ retention
rate for people who become
involved in the Master Gardener
Program.
Approximately 90 percent
return for more work after com
pleting the program, she said.
Once a Master Gardener is cer
tified they undergo an additional
eight hours of training with the
requirement of giving back
another 20 hours of volunteer
work to the community, Wolfe
said.
Master Gardeners who return
for the second year of the program
have found their “niche” in the
program and the projects that their
fellow gardeners have planned,
she said.
Their rewards for continuing in
the program, Wolfe said, are that
they gain more in-depth know
ledge of a subject they love while
they give a contribution back to
their community and share their
common interest with their fellow
gardening enthusiasts.
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