If you visit this site regularly, you are familiar with the user-friendly, evidence-based information available at your fingertips. This wealth of data, tips, techniques and more has come courtesy of the blog posts written by Sarasota County Extension agents and subject-matter experts, as these professionals draw upon years of training and experience in their fields.

That team is growing.

Beginning in March, a core of local Master Gardener Volunteers will start posting to the Sarasota County Extension blog, honored to become part of the illustrious group of experts helping you find solutions. Each month for the remainder of 2021, Master Gardener Volunteers will share a post focused on topics of interest to our area, with an assist from the Sarasota County Extension agents and staff you have come to know. Search on the “UFSaraExt_MGV” keyword/tag to find these posts, or simply point your browser to blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasotaco/tag/ufsaraext_mgv.

So, what is a “Master Gardener Volunteer“?

We are community members with a love of gardening and nature, who have received 12-15 weeks of University of Florida-designed training to become volunteer educators in the Horticulture program at UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County. Our mission is to assist Extension agents in providing to Florida residents research-based horticultural education on gardening, environmental horticulture, pest management and other topics.

From October 2019 to September 2020, Master Gardener Volunteers with UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County clocked almost 12,000 volunteer hours, with an in-kind monetary value of $302,552.

Absent pandemic restrictions, you will find us at in-person Plant Clinics and at school garden sites throughout the county. We propagate plants to stock a very large annual plant sale which is open to the public. And, we are currently involved in a major demonstration project at Twin Lakes Park, developing the Educational Outreach Gardens (EOG). Perhaps you have listened to the Master Gardener Radio Hour, broadcast live on WKDW 97.5 FM every other Saturday morning at 10 a.m. and also available at facebook.com/MasterGardenerRadioHour.

Through all we do, we are here to serve the Sarasota County community. And, we look forward to serving you through this new blogging venture.

Resources

• UF/IFAS Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Sarasota County
• UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County Plant Clinics
• UF/IFAS Florida Master Gardener Volunteer Program

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