Frederick County Master Gardeners Administrative Information

Welcome to the Frederick Master Gardener Administrative Page. This page is open to the public, but is designed to provide information primarily for current Master Gardeners and Master Gardener Interns (those who have gone through Master Gardener Training, but have not yet received certification). It includes information or links to the Frederick Master Gardener Meeting and Training Schedule, Volunteer Opportunities, Requirements, Volunteer Activity Logs (Master Gardener timesheets), Site/Project Codes, and a list of resources available in the Horticulture Library. For more information about the Master Gardener Program in Maryland, please visit: http://www.mastergardener.umd.edu

2008 Frederick County Master Gardener Schedule

Frederick Master Gardener Volunteer Opportunities

Master Gardener Requirements

Please refer to the Maryland Master Gardener Program Policies and Guidelines (Home and Garden Mimeo MG #10) for detailed information.

o Intern Requirements. To become a certified Master Gardener in Maryland, you must complete the following requirements within one year of starting the Master Gardener training class (though in Frederick you are strongly encouraged to fulfill these requirements by the end of November, since the Frederick training class starts in February):

Attend at least 75% of the training classes.
Pass the final exam.
Complete Maryland Cooperative Extension Volunteer Policy Training.
Volunteer 40 hours on approved Master Gardener projects.

In Frederick, as part of those 40 hours, you are required to:

Volunteer at two Plant Clinics. During the growing season, there are weekly Plant Clinics at Baughman’s Lane on Saturdays, and monthly Plant Clinics at Ft. Detrick on Tuesdays. Volunteering for two sessions at the Great Frederick Fair also fulfills this requirement.
Volunteer 3 hours in the Demonstration Garden (planning or maintenance).
Volunteer for one Help Desk session. These are Mondays during the growing season at the Maryland Cooperative Extension office in Frederick.
Attend 3 monthly meetings.

o Certified Master Gardener Requirements. To retain Master Gardener certification in Maryland, you need to fulfill the following requirements annually on a calendar year basis (January to December):

Volunteer 20 hours on approved Master Gardener projects.
Receive 10 hours of continuing education. If Interns complete Bay-Wise or attend the annual Master Gardener training day in College Park during their intern year, those continuing education hours can be used for the requirements for their first year as a certified Master Gardener.

In Frederick, you are also required to:

Attend 3 monthly meetings.

o General Requirements.

Volunteer Tracking. Because the program receives county and state support, we must show how it beneficially impacts the community. The best way to do this is documenting volunteer hours given to the community and programming impacts measured through contacts with the public. The time Master Gardeners spend completing Volunteer Activity Logs is vital for letting the public know how much their investment in supporting the Master Gardener Program benefits the community at large. In Maryland, all the Horticulturalist-Master Gardener Coordinators are supported by county funding through annual contracts except Baltimore County, which has recently established the only tenure-track (non-contractual) position in Urban Agriculture in the state. So, besides all your hard work, your record keeping (for January and subsequent reports, as well as presentations to the County Commissioners and Maryland legislators), helps keep the program not only alive and tremendously successful, but helps garner appreciation for your efforts and success. Thank you so much!!!
Volunteer Agreements. In order to be active, you need to have a current volunteer agreement with the University of Maryland. Master Gardener agreements can be up to three years (to help reduce paperwork). They protect you and the university in case of accidents or other issues while you are volunteering as a Master Gardener. Visitors/guests sign short-term volunteer agreements when they want to volunteer for a day or temporarily on a special project.

SAMPLE Frederick Master Gardener Volunteer Activity Log

Frederick Master Gardener Volunteer Activity Log (pdf version):

Frederick Master Gardener Volunteer Activity Log - (Excel version): -- automatically totals the hours, etc. Rather than printing and writing in the hours by hand, type in on the computer, then forward by e-mail, or print out.

Frederick Master Gardener Project List: Color Version (pdf) or Black & White Version (pdf)

Frederick Master Gardener Volunteer Activity Log with Project List Codes

Guidelines for MG Articles

Book Resource List:
The following list is provided primarily for Frederick County Master Gardeners so that they will know what references are available for public presentations. Other community members are welcome to visit the Frederick County Office of the Maryland Cooperative Extension to use these references on site. In the future, we hope to provide an annotated bibliography. Hort-Frederick County Extension Office Reference Books.pdf

For more information, contact Susan Trice

Last updated: 03/13/2009