After attending several U.S. Extension Master Gardener conferences, Dr. Lee and his colleagues selected the U.S. model to be used to develop their master gardener program. The culture of volunteerism is growing in South Korea, and Dr. Lee is looking to the Extension master gardener volunter coordinators in the U.S. for advice in building their program.
In late September 2014, a group of Extension staff and MGVs from the U.S. went to South Korea for the 2014 Master Gardener Korean International Conference to speak as well as to support the effort. Representatives were from Kentucky, Nebraska, Washington, Michigan, Virginia and Ohio. The South Koreans were excited to show us their country as well as their efforts in developing the program.
In 2012, South Korea trained their first group of volunteers. Today, the country has 250 MGs around the country with a goal of 50,000 MGs in 10 years.
The South Koreans’ focus will be urban agriculture and community neighborhood gardens. We were able to visit some of their successful community garden projects during the tour.
One of the reasons for creating a program that would teach others about gardening, said Dr. Lee, is that South Korea has such a high suicide rate. The thought is that gardening might be able to help de-stress a community or a nation.
They took us to several community garden sites to visit. These gardens were in low-income neighborhoods.
The gardeners consisted of adults and children from the neighborhood as well as a good-sized group of master gardeners. They had a great garden that was growing strong in late September.
One of the interesting things was that they used old shipping containers as their garden storage area and indoor classroom. They painted them bright colors, added windows and seating. It was a great re-use idea.
We also got to tour some of the private gardens of the master gardeners and were treated to a garden picnic on Jeju Island. Their climate and gardening issues are very similar to ours.
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