I read your articles in the newspaper but am wondering what is a Master Gardener and what do you need to do to become one? CS

During the educational programs we teach in area elementary schools, we typically ask the students what they think a Master Gardener is. We get lots of interesting answers, but they all tend to circle around one answer - someone who is good at gardening. While we do our best to be people that are good at gardening, Master Gardeners are primarily volunteers who have a love of gardening and a desire to help others become more successful at gardening.

Master Gardeners come in all shapes and sizes, and from a variety of backgrounds. They each bring their life experiences with them to our organization, and we know we are better for it. We have former physicians, counselors, teachers, cafeteria workers, real estate agents, nurses, basically, we are your neighbors. Some Master Gardeners arrive at our doorstep after gardening their entire lives, others are fairly new and are wanting to become better gardeners. But they all share one common desire - to use gardening as a way to help improve the lives of their fellow Tulsans.

The Master Gardener program is part of a much larger, nationwide network of organizations based out of land grant universities. You’ve probably heard that term, but here’s what it means.

The existence of land grant universities can be traced back to Abraham Lincoln who signed the Morrill Act into law back in 1862. John Morrill was a Representative from Vermont who first introduced the bill creating land grant universities in 1857 but it was vetoed at the time by President James Buchanan. Morrill resubmitted the bill in 1861. It passed and was signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln.

The law authorized Congress to allocate over 17 million acres of land to states to sell. However, the states must use that money to establish endowments for the creation of colleges in their state. Iowa was the first state to sign up, however Kansas State University was the first land grant university to be created. Oklahoma State University was founded in 1890 as our primary land grant school.

With most colleges of the time being considered “liberal arts” schools, land grant universities were created with a different mandate. They were intended to teach agriculture, science, and engineering. In addition, they were mandated to not only teach students, but to also conduct research, and then share that information with the general public. This sharing of information is accomplished through the OSU Extension Services. Oklahoma has OSU Extension offices in all 77 counties of our state. Now on to Master Gardeners.

The first Master Gardener program was started in 1973 at Washington State University as a way to help provide horticultural information to the general public. Estimates suggest there are about 100,000 Master Gardeners across the country in a variety of programs. In Tulsa we are fortunate to have one of the larger Master Gardener groups with over 300 active Master Gardeners who contribute over 30,000 volunteer hours each year. What are we doing when we’re racking up those hours? Here’s what.

First of all, we maintain our Diagnostic Center at the Extension office here in Tulsa. Each day, Monday through Friday Master Gardeners staff the office with the sole purpose of answering your horticultural questions. You can visit in person, email, or call on the phone. Either way you’ll find a friendly person that will do their best to provide you with a research-based solution to your horticultural dilemma. This is an important distinction. Our mandate is to provide research-based answers as compared to a lot of what you find on social media sites etc. We’ll just leave that right there…

We also teach classes during the year. Our Urban Gardener and Master Composter classes are very popular as is the Lunch and Learn classes we teach at both the Tulsa Central Library and the Hardesty Regional Library. We also have a Speaker’s Bureau which teach classes for various civic group meetings.

In addition, we teach in area elementary schools. In a good year, we’ll be in front of 16,000 to 18,000 elementary school students talking to them about worms, butterflies, insects, spiders, and a variety of other topics. As you can imagine this is a huge endeavor.

In the last few years, we started what we call Exploring Insects. At this event, 1000 3^rd graders come to the fairgrounds to engage in a variety of hands-on activities to learn about the amazing world of insects. Some brave students get the opportunity to taste fried meal worms. This is always a fun day.

Now that we are past the pandemic, we are able to get back out in area nursing homes doing something we call Senior Living. During these programs we engage the residents with a little horticultural therapy. It’s a great way to brighten someone’s day.

Many of you are probably familiar with our program called Tulsa Blooms. In this program we plant and care for flowerpots in the Brookside area as a way to help make our city more beautiful. Watering during this weather is a lot of work, but just visit Brookside and I think you’ll agree, it’s worth the effort.

Speaking of flowers, there’s our yearly garden tour where Master Gardeners open their home landscapes so you can enjoy a day in the garden while getting lots of ideas about what you can do at home. And then there’s our yearly plant sale. Each year this just seems to get bigger and bigger, but it’s our primary fundraiser that helps provide financial support for all our activities.

You’ve probably heard of Habitat for Humanity, but did you know Tulsa Master Gardeners landscape all the Habitat homes. It’s our way of welcoming new neighbors and helping turn their house into a home.

And, last year we started a new program we are very excited about called our Seed to Supper Farm. On this farm we teach Master Gardeners about growing vegetables on a larger scale and then we donate the produce to area food pantries. Last year we donated over 5000 pounds of produce and this year we have already surpassed that amount.

We are about to start our once-a-year training to become a Master Gardener so to find out if it’s right for you, you can come to one of our informational sessions at the OSU Extension. There are two opportunities: August 9^th at 10:00 am and then again on August 16^th at 1:00 pm. You can learn more on our website: www.tulsamastergardeners.org. Come join us. See you in the garden! Photo: Tom Ingram