Is your gardening thumb more green than brown?

Do you enjoy working with children and mentoring adults?

Can you contribute 50 hours, mainly during daylight, assisting others to help their landscapes flourish?

If you answered yes, you're ripe to become a Washington State University Master Gardener.

It's a common misconception that everyone who signs up is already an expert in all aspects of gardening. That's simply not true, WSU Extension agent Marianne Ophardt said recently when talking about the program she oversees. She's a horticulturist with the Extension and runs the Master Gardener program in Benton and Franklin counties.

-- Who are they?

Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who staff plant clinics where they help people identify plant diseases, problems caused by improper planting or care and what insects are munching on their prize tomatoes.

They also help maintain the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden next to the Mid-Columbia Library off Union Street in Kennewick. Master Gardeners also share their extra plants at a plant sale once a year and organize a garden fair to help fund the program and maintain the garden.

Master Gardeners also help organize an annual Spring Garden Day, scheduled this year for March 3. At the Benton County Fair, they staff a booth answering gardening questions and handing out fliers and booklets.

They also work with schoolchildren, teaching them the basics of gardening and nurturing our future crop of green thumbs.

-- How are they trained?

First-year trainees receive more than 60 hours of instruction. Much of it is in the classroom, but some time is spent outside in the Demonstration Garden where the training is hands on.

The Master Gardener core curriculum includes lectures in basic botany, horticulture, soil and garden management, principles of pest management, landscape plant management, pesticide safety, entomology, plant pathology, principles of weed management, tree fruit and small fruit production, vegetable garden production, tree and shrub pests, principles of weed management, home lawn care and plant problem diagnosis.

Classes are taught by a variety of WSU extension staff and other plant and garden experts.

-- What are the requirements?

Master Gardener training begins Jan. 23 with an orientation session for new volunteers. Classes run four hours, from noon to 4 p.m., and are generally on Tuesdays beginning Jan. 30. Sessions also are scheduled for March 1 and 24 and May 5.

Classes run 15 weeks and will be held at WSU-Tri-Cities in the East Building Auditorium in Richland and at the Demonstration Garden in Kennewick.

No one is expected to memorize all the information. However, it helps to have a good memory so you know where to look for answers when someone brings in a brown, shriveled leaf or a strange-looking insect.

Pass an open book test at the completion of training and you'll be named a Certified Master Gardener.

The cost for the first year's training is $100. At the end of the season, if you've returned 50 volunteer hours to the program, you'll receive a $50 refund.

-- Get more information

To register for the Benton-Franklin Master Gardener program call 735-3551 and ask for Marianne Ophardt. Or pick up an application at an Extension office: 5600-E West Canal Drive in Kennewick, 1121 Dudley Ave. in Prosser or 412 W. Clark St. in Pasco.

* Reporter Loretto J. Hulse can be reached at 582-1513 or via e-mail at lhulse@tricityherald.com.