The Tennessee Extension Master Gardener Program is an organized, educational outreach program of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
Tennessee Extension Master Gardener is the University of Tennessee Extension’s volunteer training program that enables the state’s land-grant universities to implement their mission of outreach and education to local communities in the area of residential and consumer horticulture. Volunteers are selected, trained and certified to serve the university as volunteer educators in non-commercial horticulture.
The Tennessee Extension Master Gardener volunteer certification program is developed and managed by the UT Extension, a division of the UT Institute of Agriculture (UTIA). To attain certification, volunteers must commit to a required amount of training in plant sciences, horticultural crop production and allied soil science, entomology, and plant pathology fields. This training is concurrent with volunteer service in accordance with standards defining the program. In the effort to continually establish, maintain, and promote the Tennessee Extension Master Gardener program, UTIA recognizes, supports and enforces the state Tennessee Extension Master Gardener program guidelines.
Mission and Vision
Mission:The Tennessee Extension Master Gardener Program seeks to improve the lives of Tennesseans by delivering research-based consumer horticulture education through a trained, skilled and dedicated volunteer network that promotes individual and community health and well-being and environmental stewardship.
Vision: To provide innovative, research-based, and practical horticulture information to all Tennessee residents and communities.