A Master Gardener
Usu Extension Office offers classes
for the gardening inclined

Josie Luke

The second year of Master Gardener classes offered through the Utah State University Extension got underway on Jan. 31 with 43 people attending, more than twice the number of the previous year.

The Master Gardener program is a national program sponsored by land grant universities in their respective states. Locally, the classes are held through the local USU Extension offices and alternate between the Emery and Carbon County courthouses on Thursday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 pm through April 3. The cost is $50 for one year or $80 for both years

Topics offered this year include: small fruits, house plants, propagation, tree fruits, landscaping, pruning, trees and shrubs, vegetables, turf grass, and flowers and groundcovers. Presenters for the classes include professors from USU and extension agents.

Dennis Worwood, Emery County’s Extension Agent, explained that 10 classes are held each of the two years for a total of 40 hours for the course. In response to feedback from last year’s attendees, this year’s topics will be more applied.

Worwood revealed that participants have the opportunity to become certified Master Gardeners. “A person can become a certified Master Gardener by taking the instruction and then by donating 40 hours of service,” he said. So participants have the option of either completing the additional service hours, or simply attending the classes.

He also explained that there is no set level of expertise a person must have in order to attend the classes. “We have a pretty good cross- section of people who are just starting out and people who have a fair bit of experience.” Most of those who are attending are adults, but Worwood would encourage anyone who is interested to attend. He also stated that there are roughly an equal number of men and women in the class.
Many areas of the state have offered the class in previous years. Worwood and his counterpart in Carbon County, Ron Patterson, decided to try the program last year to find out if people would to attend. They were pleased with the response. Worwood attributed the higher attendance this year to word of mouth and advertising.

He also expressed that their hope in holding the classes is that, “people will get more enjoyment out of their gardens, and if they are so inclined, they will donate some time to help other people find enjoyment in their own gardens”, and that people will be able to make better use of their irrigation water, use less or alternative pesticides, improve production on their gardens, and eliminate some frustration with the difficulty of growing in the area.

The money paid to attend the classes goes to pay for each person attending to receive a Utah Master Gardener Manual and to pay for some travel expenses, handouts and refreshments.

Worwood is excited by the guest speakers who will be presenting in the classes, especially Larry Sagers, who many people may recognize from KSL Radio’s Greenhouse call-in program. “That is one of KSL’s most popular call-in shows. He’s extremely knowledgeable, so I think that will be a good one,” Worwood commented.

Blu-Ray Great at First Glance

Casey Wood

Blu-Ray, the next generation of wasting your money.  Blu-ray is on the market and has been for over a year.  At first glance Blu-ray seems great.  Discs that hold more, are harder to scratch, have better sound quality and have better picture quality.  At second glance, you see the sales tag, and Blu-ray no longer looks anything remotely close to great. 

After researching, the lowest priced Blu-ray player I could find was just under $300, averaging at a price closer to $600.  DVD players priced at lowest just over $20, and on average about $50.  Blu-ray discs average $30 while DVD’s average $20.

What is it about Blu-ray that makes it worth that extra $400?  Nothing.  Blu-ray does have new, desirable features, but none worth the price.  Blu-ray promotes discs that hold more information, a surface harder to scratch, and a marginally better picture and sound quality.

First, Blu-ray holds more information on a disc.  This is a nice new feature to an extent.  DVD’s generally hold enough information to fit an entire movie, and all desired special features and bonus footage.  In situations where that extra footage can’t be fit on one DVD, the company provides you with a second “Bonus Features” DVD at no extra cost.  What more could you need?  In some cases Blu-ray could come in handy, with a situation like a television series, so that discs do not have to be shuffled so often, but is this small convenience worth an extra $400 plus at least $10 extra for the disc?  To some perhaps. To me, not even close.

Blu-ray offers discs with a stronger surface which is harder to scratch.  Once again this could be useful, but scratching DVD’s can be easily avoided if they are taken care of properly.  Is the ability to mistreat your disc worth so much extra money to you?

Blu-ray gives a marginally better picture and sound quality.  Imagine the picture and sound of a VHS compared to that of a DVD.  How drastic is that change?  Enough to make the conversion worthwhile?  Yes.  Reduce that change by about 75% and you have the difference between DVD and Blu-ray.

Now consider the price of DVD at first release.  It seemed colossal, and it was.  Look at DVD now.  Anybody who wants one can afford one.  It has taken time, but the price has dropped and became a worthwhile, affordable investment.  How long do you think it will take for Blu-ray to make the same price decline and be affordable to the general public?  Isn’t it worth waiting to find out?

Blu-ray is the future, but not because it is worth it.  We live in a money-hungry world, and whatever corporations can do to trick people into dumping loads of cash into their product, they will.  Before you go out and buy a Blu-ray player and make the conversion, I encourage you to step back, do some research, and realize that Blu-ray is not worth the cost. Wait a couple of years to make your conversion when the benefits are worth the cost.