WORTHINGTON — Nobles County Master Gardeners presented an annual report to county commissioners during their work session Wednesday, which included information on a giving garden behind Prairie Rehab and Fitness and a pollinator garden by Golden Horizons.
The University of Minnesota Extension’s Master Gardener volunteer program consists of about 3,498 master gardeners statewide, with five in Nobles County. The program is growing in Worthington with three additional interns, including May Willardson.
“Our group did not exist until two years ago. We had two master gardeners before that (Sandy Ahlberg and Nancy Hofstee) and they were pretty much on their own after they completed their training,” Willardson said. “Currently we have eight of us in the group.”
The training requires an online, self-paced learning course provided by University of Minnesota Extension that takes approximately 40 to 50 hours to complete. Then, the trainee must complete 50 hours of volunteer work in their county, with an additional 25 hours of education hours, which can include attending Extension seminars related to horticulture.
According to Ahlberg, each master gardener needs to volunteer 25 hours a year to maintain their status — which is not difficult to achieve. “Last year I had over 100. Nancy had over 100,” she said.
There are eight areas in which the gardeners concentrate their volunteering including horticulture skills, clean water, plant biodiversity, nearby nature, pollinator health, climate responsiveness and local food. Nobles County Master Gardeners spoke about their giving garden, which was started last year and recognized by the state.
Collaborating with Prairie Rehab and Fitness on Oxford Street, master gardeners planted and maintained a 400-square-foot giving garden that grew cabbage, kohlrabi, cilantro, cucumbers, green beans, onions, tomatoes and a variety of peppers, yielding a harvest of more than 300 pounds. The fresh produce was donated to Manna Food Pantry and the Worthington Christian Church Food Shelf to serve low-income families.
Hofstee said they began planting again earlier this week.
The Nobles County master gardeners were also recognized by Extension last year for master gardener Heather Raverty’s work on a pollinator garden by Golden Horizons, which she has maintained for many years.
Other work includes the free seed library at the Nobles County Heritage Center. Last year, on Earth Day, master gardeners spoke on heirloom seeds and this year on companion planting.
“We are available to teach classes and also we will answer questions,” Hofstee said. “One of our answers, which is kind of a joke amongst master gardeners, is ‘it depends.’ That will be our favorite answer because it depends on your soil and what part of the state you live in, if you’ve had rain, (etc.)”
The county’s master gardeners also work on sprucing up areas around the YMCA.
Ahlberg and Hofstee are currently doing seed trials in their own gardens.
“I’m doing a lettuce trial and I just saw yesterday that some of the seeds have germinated,” Hofstee said.
Ahlberg’s seeds are all dwarf zinnias. Both she and Hofstee received six packages of their seeds with different tags on each.
One of the people told us that master gardeners kill the most plants because we’re always trying to grow something and learn.
Sandy Ahlberg
Ahlberg had to wait until the soil was at least 70 degrees to plant her seeds and did so earlier this week, and Hofstee planted her seeds last week on a less windy day so they didn’t end up in her neighbor’s yard. They place each tag with its respective seed spot so they can keep track.
“We turn all that information in — and we don’t know what seed companies they are — and then it’s compiled and put out on the website for the best seeds to buy for specific plants,” Ahlberg said. “We have a lot of data that we collect for that.”
Commissioner Gene Metz jokingly asked who gets to do the weeding. The master gardeners take turns, yet Ahlberg said she loves to pull weeds.
“We’re learning as we go how we do this with finding money to support us because we’re volunteers, we don’t have the money,” Ahlberg said. “We did crowdfunding through the University of Minnesota for the giving garden, so we have specific things there we’ve been able to get for that garden. In the future we will come back and ask you for an appropriation.”
Commissioner Chris Dybevick shared his appreciation for the master gardeners, especially their partnership with the historical society, saying the seed library is a great program.
“We’re always educating ourselves,” Ahlberg said. “One of the people told us that master gardeners kill the most plants because we’re always trying to grow something and learn.”
Chloe Farnsworth became a reporter for The Globe in April of 2025 and has been the paper’s community editor since October 2025. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree for journalism from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
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