Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
Hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers from across the state descended upon the University of Maryland’s College Park campus Wednesday, May 22 for the annual Maryland Master Gardener Training Day.
Maryland Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by University of Maryland professionals to educate state residents about ways to build healthy gardens and landscapes using safe, effective and sustainable practices.
This is the 15th consecutive year the MD Master Gardener program has hosted a statewide training day. The event drew more than 900 people to UMD’s campus this year.
“Training day has been growing every year and this is the largest crowd we’ve had yet,” said Jon Traunfeld, state coordinator of University of Maryland Extension’s Master Gardener program. “Master Gardeners are a passionate group of people dedicated to sharing their love and knowledge of gardening with people in their communities.”
Participants in this year’s training day engaged in sessions covering more than 30 subject areas including landscaping, wild gardens, honey bees, horticulture therapy, aquaponics, insect control, healthy trees and more.
For the first time, this year’s MG Training Day included volunteers from the Maryland Master Naturalists program, which instructs people on how to help preserve and share the state’s environmental wealth.
There are currently more than 1,700 trained Master Gardeners in nearly every Maryland county, Baltimore City, and two state prisons. In order to become a Master Gardener, volunteers complete a basic training – usually 40 to 50 hours – and then receive additional instruction on an annual basis.
To find out more about becoming a Maryland Master Gardener, click here.
