Idaho Master Gardener Program

Linda Bittle
Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Other Courses

I just found out that I can download a free PDF of the Idaho Master Gardener Program Handbook! It's over 400 pages. Your state may also have this or similar free resource.

https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/master-gardener/handbook

Comments

  • merlin44
    merlin44 Posts: 426 ✭✭✭✭

    Great resource. Thanks for sharing.

  • EarlKelly
    EarlKelly Posts: 230 ✭✭✭

    Indeed, after having taken the master gardener course I have my states handbook edition. Ton of info in it on just about every subject. I would get to know some of your master gardeners. They will help you research anything you want know about. Can also get you information that you are looking for. We now have almost 200 master gardeners in our county. We all donate hundreds of hours of volunteer time. Use them they enjoy helping. Our county has a call in line so you can ask questions and lots of county events that we put on for fellow gardeners.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I intend to study over the winter!

    My plan is to set up at least 2 raised beds this year. The older I get, the more I appreciate not having to get down on my knees. Even a little height will help a lot.

    We get short growing seasons at 3000 feet, and it does get hot and dry in the summer. I know a couple of ladies who have gone through this Master Gardener program, and will talk to them about raised beds, growing tomatoes in a short season, and I do plan to start growing some greens this year. The continual lettuce scare seems to indicate that it's the best way to to assure healthy greens.

    My fruit trees started to produce this year - 3 years after planting dwarf trees! I do need to learn how to keep the apples, pears, cherries, plums, and apricots healthy! I'm really hoping the apricot will do as well. It's only been in the ground a year.

    It's so exciting to see food in the yard!

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2019

    @Mary Linda Bittle As you moved from WA-state, maybe you too learned that the (now nation-wide) 'Master-gardener program' was Started in 1973 in Washington state, even in our county "to meet a high demand for urban horticulture & gardening advice." And held its very 1st. class then just a few miles from our home here.

    Nationwide are over 95,000 active Extension Master Gardeners, who provide approximately 5,000,000 volunteer service hours each year. - Of the now over 4000 Master Gardener volunteers across our state, they staff plant clinics in 105 communities at 171 locations. Each Master Gardener receives about 60 hours of training and volunteers those same hours as a community educator in his or her community annually. Some have served actively in the program for more than 20 years.

    I know about 20+ MG's in my area mainly thru the WCFS that I am a member of, who say I can get a Scholarship to attend the program. Maybe when I can afford to Stop working, I will do it. So thank you for your Guide 🙂, as I can't find one here.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @rainbow I can't find a free PDF of the manual, either. Looks like a new edition is about ready for sale. I did find this site with a bunch of resources for King County gardeners. http://www.mgfkc.org/plants/plant-tips-and-tricks

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thank you so much @Mary Linda Bittle it looks wonderful. As resourceful as you are 🙂

  • wbt.affiliates
    wbt.affiliates Posts: 100 ✭✭✭

    @Mary Linda Bittle We live at about 6500 feet, meaning an even shorter growing season. Although I start my plants inside, It's May before I can set anything out. Tomatoes can be a challenge up here. We don't get those hot, long summers. It might get in the 90s for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks, which the tomatoes love. Still, every year I grow them. And every year we enjoy fresh tomatoes.

    I downloaded the Idaho Master Gardener book. I'll use it, but not for raised beds. I have a stool that I use for weeding and other close work, Instead of raised beds, I layer everything on top of the ground. No digging this way.

    I start a new garden or prepare a garden path with a layer of cardboard, then layer everything on top of that. For paths, I get rocky red sand from a nearby mountain in buckets and pour it on top of the cardboard. The mountain also provides me with stone borders. I think it looks kinda nice.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @wbt.affiliates no digging sounds good!

    I would be better off to save the expense of raised beds, too. More money for plants!