Conducting varietal evaluations for the home vegetable garden are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly. As a result, most are done on an observational basis only. In 1991, a horticultural training program modeled after the highly successful Master Gardener program began at the Utah State Prison, Draper, for the prison inmate population. In 1994, 12 broccoli, 20 pepper, and 30 tomato varieties commonly used in the home garden were evaluated for growth and yield at the Prison Farm. Inmates raised, tended, harvested, and compiled the trial's data and participated in all evaluations of the varieties. Extension personnel provided the instruction and regular visits to conduct the trial. The project provides instruction on vegetable production and cultivar evaluations to the inmates while providing the public with needed cultivar information for the home garden. In addition, the partnership with the inmate population limits the time inputs necessary to conduct the trials by extension staff. This project will continue and greatly expand in 1995.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Master Gardener (MG) Coordinator Manual, a 14-chapter resource book, was developed cooperatively with teams of VCE MGs, coordinators, and agents to enhance coordinators' skills. It includes chapters on risk management, volunteer management, the educational process, current policies, and the volunteer section of the VCE Master Gardener's Handbook. The VCE MG Coordinator Manual was the basis of four local VCE MG coordinator-training sessions in 1998. This evaluation showed that coordinators are using the manual and adapting the suggestions and samples to fit their local programs, despite the fact that more planning time is often required. Those using the manual increased their understanding of VCE goals and the role of the VCE MG and slightly increased their leadership skills. Reading the manual showed a need for information on training VCE MGs to work with agents to design and implement strong horticulture education programs for Virginia communities. Areas for improvement were identified before final publication.
Oral Session 2— Consumer Horticulture & Master Gardeners 27 July 2006, 2:00–3:30 p.m. Nottoway Moderator: Richard Durham
The demand for horticultural information from the OSU Extension Service is sought by both commercial fresh-market vegetable growers and noncommercial clients. Educational programs at the Demonstration Farm were designed to meet the needs of these two diverse groups. At the request of local growers, vegetable trials were established to evaluate the large number of new varieties that come onto the market every year. Since 1987, nearly 250 varieties of eggplant, melons, peppers, squash, sweet corn, and tomatoes have been evaluated for their adaptability to Douglas County's Mediterranean climate and growing conditions. Annual reports on the performance of the varieties are shared with county vegetable growers and Extension Agents throughout Oregon. Many of the vegetables for the trials are grown as bedding plants in the Demonstration Farm greenhouses. A greenhouse program was established to offer Master Gardeners the opportunity to participate in all of the cultural aspects of bedding plant production. This includes; seeding, transplanting, pinching, watering, and fertilizing. When planting season arrives, Master Gardeners help transplant the seedlings to the trial plots. An average of 40 Master Gardeners have participated in the greenhouse and trial program each year, since their inception in 1987. An average of 300 people attend the field days every summer to tour the vegetable trials. An outdoor gardening class, “Summer In The Garden,” is offered to the general public every summer. An average of five sessions are held in July and August on a variety of topics related to vegetable culture, pest control, and new varieties. The sessions are taught by the Horticulture Agent with the assistance of Master Gardeners. Attendance has averaged 25 students annually.
Two age appropriate curricula for third through fifth graders, Professor Popcorn (PP) and Junior Master Gardener: Health and Nutrition from the Garden (JMG), were compared for their effectiveness in teaching nutrition knowledge, improving fruit and vegetable preference, and improving self-efficacy in gardening and eating fruits and vegetables as part of an after school learning program. Eighteen third through fifth graders participated in an eight lesson summer program (11 in PP, 7 in JMG), and eleven fourth graders participated in JMG during the fall. Knowledge, preference and self-efficacy measures were obtained at baseline and at the end of the program. There were no significant differences in these variables between the participants in PP and JMG at end-program. One interesting finding, however, was the change in gardening self-efficacy of the summer JMG group compared to the fall JMG group. Gardening self-efficacy of the summer JMG group increased (P = 0.063) while that of the fall JMG group decreased (P = 0.012) from baseline to end-program. Further investigations examining the role seasons have in the outcome of a garden-enhanced nutrition program and the activities of gardening occurring at different times throughout the growing season are suggested. In addition, further research should examine the amount of classroom time versus gardening time that is needed to make a garden-enhanced nutrition program more effective in an after school learning program.
Virginia Cooperative Extension's (VCE) Master Gardener!Tree Steward program (MGTS) provides advanced training in leadership development and arboriculture to Master Gardener (MG) volunteer educators so that they may expand the influence of extension through leadership in community forestry. According to a statewide survey, 70% of VCE MGs and agents with MG programs would like to be involved in community tree programming. Only 26% were currently involved. Typically, agents cite limited staff and volunteer resources as the primary factors in restricting program expansion. Furthermore, 90% of municipal foresters indicated they would like to work with trained volunteers. The MGTS program simultaneously answers the desire of MGs to expand their role in the community landscape and the need of VCE to expand its outreach with increasingly limited resources. MGTS training, guided by a 10-unit resource book, integrates technical and program management expertise to foster volunteer pride and self-sufficiency. This allows MGTSs to coordinate much of their own training and recruit and manage large numbers of non-MG volunteers to whom they can provide limited training for specific projects, thus, allowing program expansion without additional staff.
The first four chapters of a hands-on gardening curriculum (Junior Master Gardener Handbook Level One) were introduced into three East Baton Rouge Parish (Louisiana) elementary schools in the fall semester of 2002 as an informal education program conducted by East Baton Rouge Parish Master Gardener volunteers and Louisiana State University students. The curriculum took place once per week for 2 hours during regular school hours. Science achievement tests, developed at Texas A&M University specifically for the Junior Master Gardener program, were given before and after the students participated in the gardening activities to determine whether or not the activities helped improve achievement scores. Science achievement was significantly different (P ≤ 0.0167) between the experimental classes' pretest and posttest scores, while no significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest scores of the control classes. No significant difference was found between the experimental and control classes due to treatment. Several variables may have affected the outcome of the study, but the results show once weekly use of gardening activities and hands-on classroom activities help improve science achievement test scores.
Current and former Missouri Master Gardeners were asked to respond to each of 30 reasons (an adaptation of the Volunteer Functions Inventory [VFI]) for doing volunteer work. Principal factor analysis confirmed the presence of six principal components of volunteer motivation. Master Gardener functions related to new learning experiences (understanding) were equally as important as functions related to altruism (values). Satisfactions related to self-esteem (enhancement) ranked next in motivational importance. Motivations concerning relationships with others (social), protecting the ego (protective) and functions related to preparation for a new career (career), concluded the list. In addition, respondents were asked to indicate whether they were presently volunteering as a Master Gardener, how many years they had been active in the program, and level of volunteer time commitment to the program in the past year. In most cases, no correlations or statistical differences were found among respondents belonging to different demographic categories, making demographic information a poor predictor of motivation for volunteering. However, those who volunteered more time during the past year were more likely to highly rate certain motivational factors.
A survey of e-mail discussion list participants found 84% rated the program as a valuable or very valuable educational tool. Most participants, 82%, thought it was equal to or more valuable than printed materials such as fact sheets or bulletins. Participants cite advantages as rapid response, unique, specific information not found in other sources, and a sense of connectedness to the Master Gardener program. Disadvantages include too much e-mail, frustration with participants who do not look up easy traditional questions, chitchat, and nonhorticultural postings. A summary of messages by subject shows tree and shrub questions are asked most often.
The first prison-based Master Gardener (MG) program in South Carolina was piloted at a minimum security prison for men and women in Columbia in 1991. Since then, 130 inmates have become certified MGs at 7 South Carolina Department of Corrections institutions. Certification is awarded after the inmates complete 40 hours of training provided by grounds maintenance staff, county extension agents, and MGs. Besides offering green-industry job skills, successfully completing the program offered inmates a sense of academic accomplishment and sparked their interest in horticulture.