The Washington State University Extension of Chelan and Douglas Counties is extending its registration period for their Master Gardener training course.

The deadline to sign up is now January 18, and the new date has also pushed back the course dates by about two weeks.

Program coordinator Marco Martinez says the shift was made to enhance the a portion of the training.

"Pushing it back allows us to do some of the in-person classes outdoors in April and May. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. If we'd have started the course in January, it would have been a little bit iffy to do the in-person classes outdoors. So this will give us some options to get out in the field and do some of the training in a hands on manner."

The training will now be held from February 7th through May 23rd, and Martinez says the courses will be divided into two main branches.

"It's a 13-week program that gets started with orientation and will continue from there every Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The first six or seven classes will be done virtually then we'll transition to in-person classes in April."

Participants who successfully complete the training and fulfill an internship requirement of 55 volunteer hours in the first year will receive certification as a WSU Master Gardener.

To find out more or to register, visit bit.ly/trainingMG or send an email to marco.martinez@wsu.edu.

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