LUBBOCK Is your green thumb itching to get back in the garden? Are you doting just a little too much over those favorite houseplants?
If so, you are a prime candidate for the 2003 series of Master Gardener classes slated in Lubbock County. Master Gardeners is an intensive horticulture course offered statewide by Texas Cooperative Extension, part of Texas A&M University’s Agriculture Program
The 2003 Lubbock County Master Gardener series begins Jan. 21, and continues twice a week every Tuesday and Thursday, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for seven and one-half weeks at the Texas A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center. This 50 hours of instruction will also include at least one field trip.
Extension faculty, research specialists and garden club members teach Master Gardener students about botany, soils, lawn culture, vegetables and fruits, landscape materials, and other horticulture topics. The research and extension center is north of Lubbock International airport: take Exit 11 off of Interstate 27 North and drive one-half mile east on FM 1294.
Those who complete this training are considered Master Gardener interns. Interns who wish to become certified Master Gardeners are required to complete 50 additional hours of volunteer service in horticulture education.
Most interns fulfill their volunteer service requirement by working in Extension demonstration gardens; serving as a horticulture adviser for a community garden; helping with school gardens; helping other community service agencies such as Habitat for Humanity; or by returning telephone calls to the county Extension office about horticulture and related projects.
Master Gardener tuition costs $75 per person, or $100 per couple (including one handbook). Registration is first-come, first-served. Class size is limited to about 35 persons.
For more information on Master Gardeners, or to register for the 2003 classes, call the Texas Cooperative Extension office in Lubbock County at (806) 767-1190.
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