Should I Become a Master Gardener?

By: Jamie Seitz

With my passion for gardening, constant curiosity, and love for sharing what I learn, becoming a Master Gardener feels like a natural next step.

Time to level-up my gardening skills

Someone asked me this year if I was a Master Gardener. I answered truthfully, no, I was not, but if I’m honest, part of me wanted to shrug my shoulders and say, “Who can know these things for sure? Maybe I am?”

One thing you should know about me is that I enjoy a title and a tiny bit of prestige. Of course, I want to earn the title — no free rides or faux degrees wanted here. And I don’t need to be crowned the Queen of Something or receive a key to the city, but I’ll happily take a quick flash of wide-eyed surprise or a “Good for you!”

For example, I am a recycler. I take it seriously and recycle often and a lot. Several years ago, I spied a yellow lid on my neighbor’s blue recycling bin. Odd. Out of curiosity, I did some digging and found that one can become a Gold Level Recycler in my city. All you need to do is fill out a form to state your intentions, have your recycling bin monitored for a few weeks to ensure that you are, in fact, worthy of a gold lid, and voila…the city swings by and puts a new lid on your bin. The secret oath about always doing my very best to recycle for the rest of my life that I said in my heart on the day mine was replaced was to make it a little extra special, but you wouldn’t have to do that.

Master gardener requirements

So, the question begs to be asked. If I love gardening, write about gardening, and love to learn new things about gardening…is my lifelong destiny to become a Master Gardener? According to my research, I would first need to declare my intent. Done. Of course, I intend. Next, I would need to do a little paperwork and pay my fee. No big whoop.

Then comes the good stuff. Complete the ISU Extension and Outreach Master Gardener training in 10 weeks. Lucky for me, I am an excellent student, and I even regularly miss the good old college days of taking notes and preparing for quizzes. There’s even a class at my alma mater, Iowa State University. At the end of 10 weeks, I will have learned extensive knowledge about vegetables, insects, houseplants, flowers, fruits, native plants, propagation, wildlife, and more, and will receive a certificate that says I’m a Master Gardener. I bet in the memo line, it might also say: Jamie is the best Master Gardener to have ever graduated from our 10-week course. Again, I can’t be sure of this, but it feels right. Please tell me where the downside is in this plan for my life?

All about timing

The volunteer commitment is the one thing holding me back from signing up immediately. And not because I don’t want to, but with busy kids, schedules, and jobs, extra time is hard to come by. But guess what? The last Seitz kid leaves for college in 2½ short years. Just think of how much free time I will have to become the very best Master Gardener that Iowa has ever seen!

True or False: Jamie has the Master Gardener application page bookmarked on her computer and looks at it at least once a week to ensure the requirements haven’t changed. False…it’s once a month. She’s not a maniac.

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