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This is the 30th anniversary of the Master Garden program. I can only go back to 1990, because that was the first time I ever heard of the program.

It all started, for me, when I attended the old Lindstrom Home Show in February of 1990. Part of the program was that the Master Gardeners were offering garden classes in the auto shop at the high school. A Master Gardener named Richard Hanson did a class on plant propagation. By the way, he is still a very active member of the Chisago County program.

I was so impressed by his presentation that I took the next class of his on roses. In fact, I took all four classes the Master Gardeners offered. Before that day I had never heard of Master Gardeners.

This prompted me to take Master Gardener training on the St. Paul campus in January and February of 1992. The classes were Thursday evenings and all day Saturdays. I'll never forget how cold that winter was. That was the winter that Governor Carlson closed the schools and the U of M, one particular Thursday. I remember because that meant our class was cancelled and needed to be made up.

Almost every Thursday after class I was dealing with 20 below zero on my way home. Active Master Gardeners could attend any classes free of charge as a refresher course. On two consecutive Saturdays, Clayton Rivard, from Taylors Falls, joined me for classes at the U of M. On both of these Saturdays, the temperature at our homes were at 40 below zero.

When I finished my course work and joined the Chisago County program, we met at the Extension Office by Tanger Mall for our monthly meeting.

Our main event was the Chisago County Fair, some classes such as the ones I mentioned at the Lindstrom Home Show, and an occasional article. In contrast, we now have weekly articles carried by six local papers as well as special spring and fall editions in regional papers.

In 1992, Rod Elmstrand was the Chisago County Extension agent. Since the restructuring of the Extension program he is Regional Director of five counties. I can still hear him encouraging the Master Gardeners to branch out, become more visible and sell our program to the community.

We started the plant clinics that were expanded to every Monday night during the summer. These plant clinics continue every Monday night during the summer from 4-7 p.m. Last year 283 gardeners shared their garden problems with us through the clinics. We also have a year around voice mail line coordinated by Diane Patras. Last year we took 831 calls totaling more than 100 hours of volunteer conversations.

I began by mentioning the Lindstrom Home Show. It is now called the Chisago Lakes Home, Garden, and Business Show. We have a booth each year at this event and last year more than 150 people visited our booth. We also have a booth at the Chisago County Fair each year. This will be the sixth year we have been invited to the The Almelund Threshing Show. Last summer more than 500 came to our booth, asked questions and received information.

In July, we began answering questions at the Lindstrom Farmers Market. This is the eighth year that Peggy Boike has coordinated this event that also involves handing out pertinent Extension Service publications. We average 25 people each Saturday. Last year we served over 150 people. Last year we offered over 30 classes on 40 different subjects with more than 700 attending these classes. Some of the classes are given by Master Gardeners, while some are given by experts in a particular field. In order to defray the cost of some of these speakers we sell bare root plants each spring.

Last spring we sold strawberries, raspberries, grapes, blueberries, asparagus, onion sets and native plants. This spring 104 people bought 3,100 plants, 4,500 onion sets and 400 native plants.

We have 22 members of which 15 are very active. In fact, while a Master Gardener must volunteer 25 hours a year to stay active, many of our members volunteer between 200 to 300 hours per year.

If I say so myself, I think the Chisago County Master Garden program has come a long way since 1992.

If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener, you can apply through your home county. The Chisago county office will have applications available early in September. You can call now and ask to have one mailed to you when they are ready. The application and additional information will also be posted on our website: www.extension.umn.edu/county/chisago/mg (the Extension website has been experiencing some difficulties which should be worked out soon!) You can also come to our meeting on September 25 to get more information about what we do.

There are three options for taking the training:

Those wishing to become Master Gardeners pay $200 for classroom or $250 for online training. They will also complete an internship of 50 volunteer hours with their County Master Gardener group during 2008.

The ProHort option costs $500 for classroom or $550 for online training without any volunteer commitment.

Hort 1003 earns three U of M credits, costs approx. $1,200.

PLANT CLINICS: Volunteer Master Gardeners will be available Mondays from 4:30-7 at the Extension Office in North Branch at 38780 Eighth Avenue to answer your gardening questions.

You can also call 651-674-4417 during these hours to speak with a Master Gardener. Samples can be dropped off during the day on Monday if you cannot stop in during clinic hours.

Please note MONDAY is the only day you can drop off samples, as there is no longer staff at the North Branch Office who can answer gardening questions.

VOICE MAIL: You can leave a question for a volunteer Master Gardener at 651-674-4417. Depending on the volume of calls, they try to respond within a couple of days. During office hours ask for the Master Gardener voicemail, after hours, select ext. 18. You can also get your question answered on the web at: www.extension.umn. edu/askmg

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