The soft morning light and the sweet songs of birds trickle through your window and awaken you in the morning. You know it is spring! The season every gardener has been waiting for all winter. You emerge from your home with clippers, pruners, trowels, shovels, insecticides, and fertilizers. During those cold winter months you envisioned planting trees, shrubs, flowers, herbs, and all those delicious vegetables. You are dancing happily through your favorite nursery, just taking in the sight and smells of plants growing.

Stop! Wake up! It's only a dream. Get out of bed and take a good long look at your property. Examine it carefully. What do you see? Are there too many weeds, or enough to live with? Have you had your soil tested in the last three years? If not, how much lime do you actually need? What is this IPM (Integrated Pest Management) thing you've been hearing so much about? Should you plant impatiens or petunias, boxwoods or hollies, or a maple or crabapple?

So many questions and not enough answers.

The Penn State Master Gardener volunteers can help you with those questions.

The Master Gardener program, coordinated by the Penn State Cooperative Extension, provides horticultural training to interested individuals in exchange for a commitment of volunteer time. Master Gardeners are volunteers who have a keen interest in gardening, helping others, and a desire to learn new gardening techniques.

A Master Gardener completes a minimum of thirty classroom hours in subjects such as entomology, plant science, soil science, pesticide safety, plant propagation, and communication skills.

All Master Gardeners must complete the class work and score well on a test administered by Penn State Cooperative Extension before beginning their volunteer hours. Many Master Gardeners continue with the volunteer program for years.

Master Gardeners provide a variety of services to their community, such as answering home garden questions phoned into the "Green-line," assisting local 4-H clubs, giving educational talks to community groups and communicating with the public through newspaper articles.

Butler County Master Gardeners can be contacted through the Butler County Extension Office at 724-287-4761 or you can submit your question along with your name, address, and telephone number to Master Gardener, c/o Penn State Cooperative Extension, 101 Motor Pool Way, Butler, PA 16001. E-mail inquiries can be sent to ButlerExt@psu.edu.

The Penn State Master Gardener program is coordinated through the Penn State Cooperative Extension.