Our membership of trained certified Master Gardeners is over 200 strong. These volunteers, with a quest to share their knowledge, training and passion for gardening with their communities is the heart of the organization.
An active GCMGA member:
- Has completed the Master Gardener course of instruction, fifty (50) volunteer service hours and has been certified by Texas A&M AgriLife
Extension Service. - Maintains annual recertification which requires 6 hours of approved Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and 12 volunteer hours.
- Participates in chapter programs that include membership meetings, outreach events, horticulture research, and public education that support community well-being and promote Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
Interested in becoming a Texas Master Gardener? We host an annual training program consisting of 11 weeks of valuable in-person workshops, 4 hours at twice a week. Click here to fill out a form if you are interested in the training program. We’ll place you on our interest email distribution list and you will be contacted once registration opens. Read more below about our organization.
Texas Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in research-based horticulture including soils, water conservation, composting, entomology, plant pathology and related subjects. As county AgriLife Extension Service volunteers, they give to the community by extending research-based knowledge and providing solutions in one-to-one problem solving, in a demonstration gardens and educational programs. What really sets Texas Master Gardeners apart from other home gardeners is their special training in horticulture.
Texas Master Gardeners are representatives of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. In all volunteer work related to the program, Texas Master Gardeners follow research-based recommendations of Texas A&M Systems. The title Texas Master Gardener can be used by volunteers only when engaged in Extension-sponsored activities.
- Manage demonstration gardens
- Organize youth & adult gardening education programs;
- Site visits providing advice about best practices and how to improve the homeowner’s garden;
- Manage school garden projects;
- Maintain a speakers bureau;
- Programs free to the public with presentation on specific gardening topics;
- Provide an annual Open House with information about GCMGA’s training course;
- Coordinates with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension a 10-week Texas Master Gardener certification training course with field trips;
- Monthly chapter meetings with occasional educational speakers for continued education and training;
- Conduct plant, tree and fruit tree sales and simultaneously provide educational material and advice.
- Promote EarthKind gardening practices.
GCMGA is a voluntary, nonprofit, educational, literary and charitable association organized to support Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Texas Master Gardener Association. GCMGA is not affiliated with any commercial enterprises. We serve Galveston County, Texas, in cooperation with the counties’ Texas A&M AgriLife Extension offices. Each Texas Master Gardener chapter is associated with its county Extension Agent. The Galveston County Master Gardener Association is a chapter of the Texas Master Gardener program serving county and regional residents through education programs.
- Complete the Texas Master Gardener course of instruction;
- Complete fifty (50) volunteer service hours within one year of the training course;
- Receive certification by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Master Gardener program
Thereafter and to maintain Texas Master Gardener certification
- Maintain certification annually which requires 6 hours of approved Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and 12 volunteer hours.
- Note members are encouraged to attend and participate in membership meetings which are hosted the second Tuesday of each month.
- To increase the gardening knowledge of its members and the general public.
- To support and assist Texas A&M AgriLife Extension by providing the community with information on good gardening practices through news articles, clinics, presentations, schools programs and other community groups, by telephone and digital media.