Step into Gardening with the Master Gardener Course
By: Elizabeth Johnson
I fell in love with plants and gardens in my early 20s and have nurtured that love for several decades. My experiences range from gardening to small-scale farming, from native plants to plant evolution. I know I’m not alone in my love of plants. As the program coordinator of the University of Arizona’s Coconino County Master Gardener program, I work with plant and garden lovers every day. Our Master Gardener volunteers give freely of their time because they understand the good that comes when humans and plants connect within a garden. Through researching garden questions, giving talks, organizing gardening events, and supporting other gardeners, our Master Gardeners bring gardens, plants, and people together for the good of our community.
Each year the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and other land grant universities across the nation offer horticulture courses focused on training new volunteer Master Gardeners in the nitty gritty of gardening. This training is a comprehensive, research-based course designed to deepen your knowledge of gardening and prepare you to improve the lives of those in your community via the human-garden connection.
This spring we are working with a new statewide training model that will provide a robust and research-based curriculum via an online platform. We’ll host weekly live Zoom calls designed to fit diverse schedules, while also meeting up during in-person workshops for hands-on training and community building among our Master Gardener cohort. In the course you’ll get to explore all aspects of a garden. We’ll dig into soil biology, botany, water, plant physiology, pest management, vegetable growing, and more. The course is designed to build a strong foundation in home horticulture while connecting you with other gardeners in the community and across the state.
After the training, you’ll step into volunteer service, engaging with the public through outreach. Our certified Master Gardeners share their love of gardening by answering community questions, writing articles, giving talks, supporting educational events, and expanding sustainable gardening practices via our partner gardens. Don’t have time to volunteer but still want to learn about gardening? We also offer a Home Horticulture Certificate track for those that want the knowledge but can’t commit to the volunteer requirements of the Master Gardener program.
Recent graduates from the last two class cohorts happily shared their perceptions and endorsement of the training. They reported that they learned how to grow plants successfully in our challenging high-elevation environment, both from class presentations and from hands-on volunteer experiences. Amy Anderson (2026 class) said that she learned “…how important mulch is. Every single presenter mentioned it multiple times!” Other topics that attendees reported enjoying included fire-wise landscaping, rainwater harvesting, and the botanical science underlying plant growth.
Laura Huenneke (who took the course more than five years ago) reported that the reverse is also true; the class helped turn her good science background into some actual green-thumb skills. As Kim Barnes (2026 class) said, 'I learned that there are specific requirements of certain plants other than water, “dirt”, climate and prayer.'
Students in both the 2025 on-line course and the 2026 in-person course also celebrated the sense of community they gained, connecting to a wide range of Flagstaff-region gardeners and growers. Kara Espino (2026 class) wrote, “The most exciting thing I learned was how many incredible people in and around Flagstaff are super friendly and very knowledgeable about gardening in Flagstaff- and they are all so happy to share and help!”
The next offering of the course runs from January 14 – May 20, 2027. The deadline to apply for the Master Gardener Volunteer track is December 1st. The deadline to register for the Home Horticulture track is January 7th. If you are ready to grow your gardening skills and give back to your community in a meaningful way, we would love to welcome you.
To learn more about our course options please visit: https://extension.arizona.edu/programs/master-gardener/join
Elizabeth Johnson is the Master Gardener Program Coordinator for Coconino County Extension. Gardening Etcetera is written for the community by certified Master Gardeners of the University of Arizona's Coconino County Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program. Have a gardening question? Visit our Online Plant Help Desk at https://extension.arizona.edu/programs/coconino-county-master-gardener.
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