eddie ,you hit the nail on the head. We can all be great garden gurus but with Master Gardener Volunteers it is more about the people we help. You must possess or LEARN people skills and be willing to concentrate how to help others . Many times people are grieving for a diseased plant,it could have had sentimental value.Sometimes they are feeling depressed because a plant dying makes them feel like a failure.Being in Florida we get many Top Gardeners from the north who come here thinking they can grow 12 months a year and want the same monster tomatoes and killer zuchinis only to discover they must cope with 12 months of bugs, lifeless sand,scorching heat ,and fungus from humidity. These once confident gardeners given the right tools and materials to educate them will soon be back to picking tomatoes but will have learned to do it in a different way. One new to the area gal wanted to cut down her 3 dead pine trees. I lived nearby and decided to take a look as pine borers have been killing many trees. It was winter and they were not pines but 2 bald cypress and a jacaranda tree! Thankfully she asked for help before cutting them down! An elderly woman was concerned about her gardening efforts at her age and how she could still amend her soil when she cannot lug 40 lb bags around any more. Mentioning how helpful red wagons are in my garden her voice lit up with excitement .Seems she had one in her garage and loved the idea of putting it to use. These people become our friends and friends are better to collect then gardening awards. That's what makes Master Gardening worthwhile.

Good points Paul. Outsourcing production makes sense. I haven't really tried to quantify it but my gut tells me to be skeptical about synthetic companies' organic products. My gut tends to be right a lot of the time so I'm starting out with other organic sources. My correspondence with Shel at Organic Lawns for America has been very positive. From speaking with another user I found it seems like they select what they consider the best products and repackage them and provide the convenience of mail order. I know to some this may seem lazy to some but the easier my lawn is to maintain the happier I am :) I got some soil conditioner which seems to be mostly calcium derived from limestone and an assortment of bacteria and fungi that appear to be soil inoculants as well as some other things that seem to help bring nutrients back into the soil. Going to do some more searching on the ingredients. I saw the abstract of one study on one of the bacteria and it increases the size of tomatoes. The Ca in it should help to. Curious to see how the other ingredients play in other plantings. No "fertilizer" in this treatment but with the grasscycling, liming and this treatment I'm hoping to see some better color in the lawn in a couple of weeks.

Hi, I, too, have been a nurse (for 23 years) and am acutely aware of the stress of the career. I took a MG course in '92 (one day a week for 6 wks). We didn't have to apply for the course, just sign up. We recieved a very large binder with all the information that was taught to us during the course for our own use and reference guide. We did hands-on things outside so we could do these on our own after the course was over. We did not have to take a test after it was over, and we had to return 50 hours of volunteer time within 2 years to the extension office. That was easy, because they weren't too picky about what we could do. As long as you were helping someone in need with a gardening problem, it was OK. I usually go to an inservice every fall that they have in different areas of the state because I want to, not because I have to. I always go home learning something new every year. We do have to return a few hours back to the ext office every year, but it's not a great deal of time. I enjoy hearing other's problems and solutions. I have met and gotten to know many people from across the state and it's been wonderful to see them every year. Yes, it is basic for people that have a degree in hort or other landscaping areas. But, if you are going into it just for the joy of gardening, then do it. It's great. I judge for the achievement days that we have every year for 4-H and you find some very young kids that really enjoy the challenge of gardening from year to year. No, you can't get a job in landscaping or design after taking this class, but it sure helps if you're trying to do your own yard (like I have been for the last few years). If you're doing it for your own self-worth and to get a little R-and-R, it's worth it. Our state usually has 3 sites in different areas of the state that you can attend, whichever is closer to you (usually one in the west, middle and east part of the state) Here, you can call the ext agent and request that one of the classes be in your area. (It's not guaranteed that it will be there that year, but it is there eventually.)For me, it was worth the trouble of taking the class. It's help me grow as a person and as a gardener! Weze

Do any of you know about computer programs for designing and printing clothing patterns? I have found a few but they obviously are geared more toward industrial production. I want something for home use. I read about FashionCAD but it lists for $1,200. I realize that CAD programs will cost me but not THAT much. Can anyone steer me towards something that is less expensive?