Home Gardening - Urban Horticulture
The focus of the Urban Horticulture workgroup is to facilitate change of home gardening attitudes toward more sustainable and environmentally friendly horticulture methods. This includes addressing the high priority issues of: storm water run-off and water quality; water efficient landscapes; development of a statewide outreach program for the adoption of IPM in home gardens; sustainable tree care; and development of new educational materials. We are also developing and implementing alternative outreach methods via UCTV, Internet accessible publications, and a Home and Garden web site.
Additionally, the workgroup addresses the needs of the Master Gardener Program on a statewide basis. Master Gardeners impact the gardening community by sharing the horticulture expertise they have acquired through experience and training. They teach gardening techniques in formal and informal settings to the experienced, well-informed gardener and to the casual novice visiting a garden for the first time.
The Master Gardener volunteer is the core of the outreach to urban residents and is an example of an effective partnership between the University and motivated citizens. Because Certified Master Gardeners represent UC Cooperative Extension, they broaden UCCE's clientele base and sphere of influence to about 146,700 public contacts annually. In 2002, Master Gardeners donated more than 16,000 hours of service to the public and the University. Since program inception over 1.4 million hours of service have been donated.