Blog by Vincent Hughes
Hello there, and Happy New Year to everyone! And welcome to the incoming class of 2026! For those who may be unaware, the start of the new year brings with it not only the opportunity to begin working on your New Year's resolutions, but the start of class for the newest class of future UC Master Gardeners. As I look forward to meeting our future Master Gardeners, I cannot help but reflect on the process that we all go through to become a part of the program and how truly exciting it can be.
Becoming a UC Master Gardener is a process that one chooses to undertake for a variety of reasons, often varying from being a passionate plant nerd to being a home gardener who wants to learn more. This process begins in late August to early September when all the hopeful applicants begin to apply to join the program. All prospective Master Gardeners fill out the application, consisting of their contact and demographic information, and the written questions about themselves and their experience. After submitting the application, the applicants are scheduled for an interview, which typically takes place towards the end of October. And upon completing the interview, those applicants who have been selected for the incoming class are notified in November of their acceptance into the program.
Acceptance into the program, however, is only the beginning. Starting the very first Friday of January, the new class begins its sixteen-week training period. During this training period, the class undergoes four-hour training sessions each Friday on a variety of subjects. These subjects range from basic horticulture to soil science, composting and worm bins, irrigation, integrated pest management, fruit trees, and so much more. Each subject is taught by an expert on the topic, ranging from veteran Master Gardeners to college professors and industry experts! The depth of knowledge and the vast wealth of information brought into each training session by their subject experts is invaluable to the program, and the passion through which this information is conveyed shows through in each and every session. It can be a lot for the incoming class to take in over a relatively short period. But with plenty of notes, helpful handouts, and study, every member of the new class is given the tools they will need to help share that knowledge with the public. And in addition to what they learn in class, the incoming class is split into groups that each researches and learn about a specific topic, which they then present to their class at the end of the training session.
And finally, upon completing their sixteen weeks of training, passing their final written exam, and completing their group presentation to the class, the newly graduated class receives their official badges as UC Master Gardeners; a very large achievement!
I can’t help but look back to this time last year as I began my own sixteen-week training session and think about how excited the new class must be. I know I was certainly both nervous and excited! After I made it through my first session, however, I knew that training was even more than I had hoped it would be. Each presenter who came to class to speak brought their passion and wealth of knowledge to share with us in a way that made it hard to lose focus. Not only were their talks deeply interesting, but often they had a hands on component to accompany it ranging from simple soil testing one could do at home to viewing samples of plant species or various signs of plant disease or pests, demonstrations on various means of propagation such as grafting and more, and even a scavenger hunt to identify various types of commonly found weeds. For myself, it felt as if I had learned more in the sixteen weeks of training than I had learned in my prior horticultural education, and I loved every moment of it.
Though if the training itself wasn’t enough, I can’t begin to overstate how wonderful it is to be surrounded by the most wonderful of people who also share the same passion that I had. In joining the Master Gardeners, I’ve had the opportunity to meet truly wonderful figures whom I may not have otherwise had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know. And over the course of training and beyond, those friendships only deepen. I can remember at the very start of training, when our class was separated into groups for our group projects, being nervous about what working in a group would be like. I’m sure that many, if not all of us, can recall a time of being in school or in college, having to work on a group project and having group members who wouldn’t pull their own weight or simply coasted to get by. But as luck would have it, I was blessed to be in the California Native Plant group with some of the hardest-working, passionate, insightful, and amazing people that I could have met. And while we may have just started as fellow classmates, I can’t help but smile every time I see my phone light up with a text message alert from our Plant Nerd group chat. Especially when it’s for us to plan for another holiday meet-up or barbecue!
So, to the incoming Master Gardener class of 2026, I wish you a very warm welcome! I hope that you go through your training with the same bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, eager enthusiasm that those of us who have gone through it before went through it with. I hope that you find new and dear friends among your classmates and among the rest of the Master Gardeners in the program. And while I had the pleasure to meet some of you at the recent wreath-making event this past December, I hope to meet all of you soon and to see you all at events across the years. Welcome, Class of 2026, and good luck!