The University of Illinois Extension will be offering its Master Gardeners course to prepare for the gardening season. The course, offered February 6th through April 16th, will teach participants all about gardening and the available tools, said University of Illinois Extension’s Wendy Ferguson. She adds the course will be taught in a hybrid form with in-person training based in Macomb and Galesburg.
“Once you graduate the class, you become a Master Gardener intern, and then you have the next two years to volunteer 60 hours of your time. That sounds like a lot of time right off the bat but, if you figure, it’s only 30 hours a year. That’s less than an hour a week.” said Furguson. “Then in order to maintain your status you have 10 hours of continuing education because that’s one thing about sciences that things are always changing.”
On top of continuing education classes, Master Gardeners need to complete additional volunteer hours with Extension.