A Basic Training Course on gardening must be taken. Once this has been satisfactorily completed you can join the Victoria Master Gardeners Association (VMGA) as an Intern. You then have up to two years to complete a number of Volunteer and Education requirements.
Currently, the requirements are that an Intern must complete a minimum of 50 volunteer hours, of which at least 20 hours must be in the area of providing gardening advice, plus 5 continuing Education hours in their second year. Some of the gardening advice options are:
– Clinics, where you provide live gardening advice to the public,
– the provision of written researched answers to questions from the public
– the creation of social media content
– our Speakers Bureau
– and more.
To help you, we have a mentorship program and particularly if you are meeting the public, you will be working with at least one qualified Master Gardener (MG).
For the remaining hours, we have a variety of other external projects where we provide community service, for example, at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific, the Royal British Columbia Museum Herbarium, the Saanich Pulling Together Program, and more. You can also earn volunteer hours by serving on an internal committee.
Both Interns and qualified Master Gardeners are expected to commit to at least 5 hours of ongoing Education per year (with the exception of your first year, where there is no requirement).
If circumstances warrant, an extension to the 24 months can be given.
For a more detailed description here’s the fine print.