By Julia Harmsworth
Across Ontario, master gardeners are volunteering their time to help out home gardeners.
These experts unite under Master Gardeners of Ontario Inc. (MGOI), a non-profit organization that educates the public on ecologically responsible gardening.
“It’s hard to navigate everything that you read online now,” said Karen Sciuk, MGOI president. “We get a lot of questions about pests and diseases, or plant identification, or people want ideas about what to plant.”
MGOI started in 1985 as an Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) program, but is now completely independent.
The charity supports around 700 Master Gardeners, who collectively volunteer over 38,000 hours annually to advise the public on gardening and horticulture matters. Each master gardener belongs to one of 28 local Master Gardener groups.
To become a Master Gardener, you join a group, pursue an education path through Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, or take a certification exam (if you have already graduated from one of those institutions) and complete the required 30 yearly volunteer hours for two years.
MGOI has an Ontario-wide Facebook group with 40,000 members, through which the public can ask questions. Local groups also have their own emails, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.
“It can be quite social to join other people with a love of gardening,” said Sciuk. “People come together, and they learn from each other.”
Master Gardeners speak at horticulture societies and events, offer workshops to teach gardening skills, and operate advice booths at farmers’ markets and garden centres. In 2023, MGOI set up an advice booth at the Canadian National Exposition (CNE) in Toronto.
“We are a group of people who love gardening and want to communicate that passion to the public,” said Sciuk. “We want to make people more aware of their gardens as an ecosystem.”
MGOI also has a variety of gardening resources available for free on its website, from information about invasive plants and weeds to tips on gardening with children. It acts as a liaison between home gardeners and whichever resources they need.
“Often, this information isn’t available at garden centres, especially at big box stores. There are fewer independent garden centres now, where you have knowledgeable staff,” Sciuk said.
The organization is involved with the Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation, which works with partners across the country to inform a unified response to invasive plants, mitigate their spread, and educate the public on the issue.
“There are a lot of invasive species that are still very popular in the horticulture trade — still grown at nurseries and sold at garden centres,” Sciuk said. “People buy those plants not knowing they’re buying something that’s invasive.”
Looking forward, MGOI wants to continue acting as a liaison between the general public and the horticultural trades, so people know when to contact professionals.
So the next time your garden has you scratching your head, reach out to your local Master Gardener.
