KNOXVILLE, TN – Colorful perennials, native plants, and mouth-watering vegetables fill the pages of the newly redesigned and updated Master Gardener Handbook produced by the University of Tennessee’s Extension Program.
The new format features sixteen chapter booklets focusing on topics such as growing vegetables, identifying and controlling insect pests and plant diseases, and creating backyard habitat for wildlife.
“We wanted to redesign our original 859-page manual to be easier for our Master Gardener’s to use,” says Natalie Bumgarner, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Tennessee. “By placing the reference materials on our website and including large, full-color photographs we were able to reduce the overall size of the manual and improve its visual appeal.”
The new handbook format was proposed and designed by Kathy Jacobs of Kathy Jacobs Design and Marketing. The content was edited by Tom Knecht of Words by Tom.
“We both love gardening, so this was a fun project for us. I even got to use some of my own photography in the manual,” says Jacobs. “We are thrilled that the new format we proposed offers both a cost-effective option for reprinting as well as an easy-to-use format for Master Gardeners.”
Each chapter is self-contained and can be removed from the program binder, making it more cost-effective to print updates to individual chapters compared to the cost of reprinting an entire book.
Chapter 8: Woody Ornamentals, written by Carol Reese, University of Tennessee Extension Specialist, was awarded a Gold Award in the Association for Communication Excellence’s Critique and Awards Program for the category Graphic Design: Print: One- to Full-Color.
We worked with specialists in many horticulture fields to produce the content and find photos for the new manual,” states Reese. “It was a labor of love and we are thrilled with the results.”
The University of Tennessee’s Master Gardener program provides horticulture training to volunteers throughout the state. Once a volunteer completes around 40 hours of classes, they are certified to provide services to their community related to community gardening, landscape
programs, and horticulture education.
To learn more about the Master Gardener Program at the University of Tennessee, visit https://extension.tennessee.edu/MasterGardener/Pages/default.aspx or contact Dr. Natalie Bumgarner at (865) 974-7308.