The St. Tammany Master Gardener Program is now recruiting trainees to help educate home gardeners in St. Tammany Parish. Rusty Batty, LSU AgCenter County Agent, is coordinator of the St. Tammany Master Gardeners program.

Batty said “the Master Gardeners have benefited St. Tammany home gardens and communities with lots of horticulture related information through seminars, garden clubs, and their annual Northshore Garden Show.”

The Master Gardener training will include topics on plant science, insect/disease/weed control, soils, fertilization, safe use of pesticides, vegetable production, fruit and nut production, herbs, perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs and lawn care. Master Gardener trainees will receive training materials that are not available to the public. Participants should be willing to help people, be outgoing, flexible, dependable, unbiased and be open minded.

The training session will begin on Aug. 11. Classes will be on Tuesday and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon and runs through the end of October. Classes will be conducted at the St. Tammany Extension office on 1301 N. Florida Street in Covington, with the exception of a couple field trips. Trainees must attend 80 percent of classes and pass a written exam to graduate.

Many previous Master Gardeners are still involved with community horticulture outreach with The Farmer’s Market, Covington Garden Club, Northshore Spring Garden Show, Native Plant Society and the Slidell Herb Festival. This year the St. Tammany Master Gardener Association had nearly 40 lawn and nursery exhibitors at the Northshore Spring Garden Show. More than 2,500 residents attended the 2 day event held annually the 3rd weekend of March. The St. Tammany Master Gardeners also coordinated seminars on lawn, landscape care, an herb demonstration garden at the Slidell library and a vegetable workshop.

Master Gardener trainees will be asked to conduct many educational activities such as providing information on the phone, assisting in the Extension office, teaching gardening to special audiences, organizing community gardens, helping with school gardening activities, etc. A Master Gardener trainee must agree to volunteer for a minimum of 40 hours of service to earn the title of a Louisiana Master Gardener.

Everyone that applies for the Master Gardener training may not be selected.

An application process will be conducted and 25-30 applicants will be chosen. For an application, call 875-2635 or stop by the LSU AgCenter office. The address is 1301 N. Florida Street, Covington, LA 70433. The deadline for applying is June 19. Confirmation of trainee selection will be made by July 11.