The three of you should get together after the snow melts and plant some more cabbage. I am in Georgia right now, the sun is shining and I am outside in a short-sleeved shirt. Inside we are having to run the air conditioner. About a month and I can start the spring garden and doing some grafting. Come on down.

Eddie,

Sounds like you're having a rough time - weatherwise. I'd love to come down and learn about grafting. Just tell me when & where. Maybe, if I locate those other two, they'll pass on the cabbage planting and join me too. lol

Summer

Summerday, Just had to check to be sure you'd take it as a joke before I posted that. Grafting is easy, it's carpentry. Mother Nature takes care of the healing & joining process. Basically you just cut and splice together like diameters of compatible plants, that's all there is to it. The springlike weather here is coming to an end. It will only be in the mid fourties at night by next weekend. I'll have to break out a blanket and shut the windows. Let me know when you hear from those other two Canadian Master Gardeners. Hope nothing happened like a broke down snowmobile. Your turn.

Eddie,

I'm all alone here !!!! The 3yr Horticulture Course I'm taking through the University is more brutal than the weather. I wanna see grafting in person - please don't say you've changed your mind about the "come on down." Those studies are GREEK to me. I need some hands-on info, reading just isn't the same. Where are those other two, anyway? Maybe their snowmobiles broke dowm - I don't have one! so I know IT isn't broken. This is fun. Your turn.

Summer

Well if your snowmobile will make it all the way down here then come on. I can understand grafting being a little puzzling. I don't think I've ever seen anyone else do it, just learned by reading about it. Yes, I am a hands-on type of guy. The book says do it a certain way but I have broken a few rules.

Eddie,

Can't find any Ontario MGs. It seems that depending on where you are the requirements to become an MG are so different. Many speak of MG classes. Here I had to pass a test to become an MG in training. Afterward, I enrolled in a horticulture course through the university - considered to be 3yrs. I'm also required to attend a MG meeting once a month, fulfill specific volunteer duties & pass my course (which I understand is the same one for anyone persuing a career in the 'Horticulture' field.) I'm passionate about gardening & it's a hobby for me - I really had no idea what was involved learning all those Latin words, botany etc. Had hoped some others going through the same would share experiences.

With work, commitments & now studying, my time is so limited. Thanks for the diversion. I realllly needed it!

Summer

I am sorry no other Canadian Master Gardeners have responded to your post. Yes, it sounds like you are extremely busy. Are you implying that the horticulture course at the university for 3 years is part of your Master Gardener requirements? Surely not. Latin words can be intimidating at first, it's not that it's so hard, it's just different. It's like eating an elephant - you just take it one bite at a time.

Eddie,

Yes, the course is a requirement! Very intimidating, after being out of school for so long. I am trying to make it - one bite at a time, as you put it. At least now, I've gotten to the point I don't fall asleep trying to read those 'foreign' words. lol. I'm determined to continue on - til the bitter end - I'm very committed, & stubborn, too ! ! ! ! Wish me luck.

Summer

Although I've been up looking at AgCanada, McGill University, and Guelph University I have not seen anything about a Master Gardener course in Canada similar to the one offered by the USDA. You really need to search diligently for any consumer information from AgCanada, even the plant hardiness zonnes they put out.

Hi summer,
I'm a master gardener in oakville
just want to let you know we are here. but today was the first time I came across this forum, didn't know we had one
edel

edel,

WOW! What a pleasant surprise. I live about an hr. away from you. According to Eddie, there is one more of us - lol. Seriously, it would be great to have more Canadians involved in this forum. Are you volunteering at Canada Blooms, or attending?

Summer

Hi Summer,

I will try to spread the word about this forum among other MG's.
and yes I will defenatly volunteer again at canadas bloom allthough maybe not with the MG ( last year I found it a bit disorganized ).
are you going??

Hi Edel,

Yes, I know what you mean about it being a bit disorganized. It's very difficult for the volunteers to be efficient, when they haven't been provided with necessary information. I don't think I'll volunteer this year, but I'm definitely going.

To me, it's like a 'breath of spring' & I get to dream & scheme of what I'll do next. Love gardening with a PASSION! My goal is to finish this course, fast, so that I have more time to play in the dirt when the nice weather finally arrives.

Did you take Horticulture 1, 2 & 3 through Guelph U ?

Summer

no I didn't take Hort,
I took 9 courses in horticulture at sheridan college and I had to do a special test for the qualification to pass as MG. although I bought the first 2 courses from Guelph but so far never got around to start it since I'm in the landscape business and I really don't have to much spare time.

Edel

I've read through this thread and still am not sure how the MG programs in Canada are structured.
Is there an over-riding Canadian association and then provincial associations that confer diplomas/certificates on individuals who meet certain requirements?

I was thinking of becoming a Master Gardener, but then after I read your posts, well, forget that! Who has the time? I love gardening and I have a large garden so I am very busy, plus I have learned everything by experience, including botanical names.We had a master gardenere here once and I knew more than she did, so it kind of got me to wondering, you know. I'm in Ontario too and although I don't have the title, people are always asking for help and I gladly give it.

I, for one am not an MG for the title, anymore than I'd become a brain surgeon to be called Dr. I, like you, have a broad knowledge, passion & desire to help others. Often strangers call for advice. Do I know more than some MGs? Absolutely! Do I know everthing? Not by a long shot. Being accepted into MG (in 3 now hoping to finish this month) has made me realize how much there is to learn.
My experience has been a challenge but fulfilling. It's opened doors & opportunities I would have otherwise missed. I've attended seminars & learned from some of the best experts in their field. There's no title for the sheer pleasure received from hugs of grateful terminally ill people because you did a workshop for them. Working the hotline forces me to stretch myself to offer the most complete, current, detailed advice for a problem.
Personally, I'll never know enough & will continue to learn & grow as long as I'm able to do so. I'm just plain ol.......

Summer