On-Line Hybrid UNH Extension Master Gardener Program Great for Valley Gardeners
If you’ve ever wanted to learn a lot more about all things gardening, UNH Extension’s Master Gardener course is for you. I started the hybrid version of the course last September, and am two-thirds of the way through. Zoom classes are supplemented with field trips. Up here in the White Mountains getting places can take a lot of effort, so the hybrid option is fantastic.
Here are a few of the truly eye-opening things I’ve learned.
Soil
Dirt, loam, fill… words we throw around without really thinking about it. But healthy soil lives and breathes, composed of solids, liquids and gases. More species live below the soil surface than above. Burrowing animals and microscopic creatures – nematodes, bacteria, fungi, etc. – inhabit this subterranean world.
The course opened my eyes to all of this – a good thing, because what is happening in the garden starts here.
Botany
I knew the basics of pollination and the importance of native plants to pollinators, but I had a lot to learn about botanical processes – a complicated subject. The course has given me a better idea of classifications of plants, how they grow and reproduce, and the specific relationships between native plants and native insects. I think it will make me a better gardener (and better blogger, too).
Insects
Insects tend to get a bad rap. Wasp stings, tick bites, carpenter ants… yeech. This course opened my eyes to all that is good, valuable and essential about insects. We studied how to classify and identify them, understand their life cycles and their specific roles keeping the garden healthy and productive. That led me to start taking photos and identifying them, so I could begin to understand the role of each insect in our garden – a whole new and exciting level of understanding for me.
Landscape Design
I knew that our landscaper’s back garden design worked well. Now I know why. Design concepts like scale, balance, unity, perspective, rhythm and accent were explored as well as principles like simplicity, harmony repetition, line and variety. Understanding spatial organization – vertical, horizontal and overhead planes – is also key. It’s exciting to begin to see why a well designed garden can just take your breath away.
Vegetables and Other Topics
Growing vegetables is also covered in this course. I am not a vegetable gardener, having thrown up my hands years ago when a squirrel took one bite out of each of my tomatoes. Not able to face sharing a partially eaten tomato with this wasteful little mammal, I decided the local farm was a better solution for my salad needs. But most my classmates grow vegetables, and the information provided was excellent. Other topics have been Organic Gardening, Composting, Herbaceous and Woody Ornamentals, Plants Grown in Containers, Indoor Plants, Diseases and Disorders, Diagnostics and Herbs. The final segment of the course will cover Pollinators and Native Plants, Propagation, Invasives and Climate Change.
Fun
Judith Hull and Ruth Smith, our leaders, have done a great job with this first ever hybrid on-line course. We’ve learned a lot and had fun along the way. I’m looking forward to the final segment and becoming a part of the Master Gardener community in New Hampshire.