You can join more than 350 Snohomish County Master Gardeners in sharing good gardening and environmental stewardship practices with county residents, by becoming a WSU Master Gardener Volunteer Community Educator.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Master Gardener training class, which starts in January. Training focuses on familiarization, and learning how to use resources to research, educate, mentor and answer horticulture questions for the general public in a collaborative environment. All training is open-book, and no memorization is expected.

Training involves approximately 80 hours of classroom and workshop instruction, held once a week every Thursday, starting in early January and extending into April.

Tuition for this extensive training program is $245, plus a volunteer commitment of 50 hours each year for two years working, learning and having fun with other like-minded volunteers on a variety of horticultural and environmental educational projects. Without the volunteer commitment, tuition is $745.

For more information and an application, visit the WSU Extension website at http://snohomish.wsu.edu and look under “News and Announcements,” or call the Extension Office at 425-338-2400.