By Alec Rosenberg

Rose Hayden-Smith believes in the power of planting a seed. Her goals are to encourage a national gardening movement and use gardening as a tool to teach children about food.

"Gardening is the gateway drug to engagement in the larger food system," said Hayden-Smith, director of the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Ventura County office. "If you want to get kids interested in agriculture, gardening is a good way to start."

Hayden-Smith’s phone is ringing off the hook with interest, as spring is prime time for gardening. She points local people to the Master Gardener Program, which is part of UC’s outreach efforts to provide the public with expert gardening information. And she advocates nationally for gardening through her UC Victory Grower site. A U.S. historian by training, she has modernized the World War I and II movement that encouraged home gardens as a way to feed the nation for less, saving money for efforts to win the wars.

The Victory Grower has a simple message: "A garden for everyone; everyone in a garden." Having served as a 4-H youth development advisor and master gardener coordinator with UC’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hayden-Smith especially wants to get that message out to young people.

"It’s a fabulous time to be gardening, and the University of California is front and center in this," Hayden-Smith said.

And the centerpiece of that effort is the Master Gardener Program, a partnership with UC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and county governments. Master gardeners, who are university-trained volunteers, answer horticultural questions, develop educational materials and encourage people to be good land stewards – conserving water, reducing fertilizer use, composting green waste and landscaping for fire safety.

In California, the number of certified master gardeners has grown 40 percent within two years, accompanied by a jump in volunteer hours, said Pam Geisel, statewide academic coordinator for UC’s Master Gardener Program. Forty-three California counties have Master Gardener programs, and 4,477 Californians are certified master gardeners. Certification isn’t a cinch – it entails 50 hours of class training over 16 weeks with a final exam. Class fees range from about $90 to $150, including course materials.

"In California, we’re growing because there’s tremendous interest," said Hayden-Smith, a 17-year Cooperative Extension veteran. "In Ventura, we can’t accommodate everyone who wants to do it. We have to turn people away."

Meanwhile, Hayden-Smith encourages people to increase their connection to gardening. For new gardeners, she suggests that they begin with a small container garden on a patio.

"Grow some fresh herbs," she said. "You can do it on the cheap.

"If you have a little more space, you can do raised beds," she said. "It’s easy. We teach kids how to do it."

For the more ambitious, "Go to a community garden and rent a spot and make some friends," she said.

Hayden-Smith’s garden is filled with fruit trees: lemons, blood oranges, avocados and apples. She also grows herbs and tomatoes, has a raised bed with lettuce and is trying corn. Maintaining her garden has been difficult this past year and a half, as she travels often as a Kellogg Food and Society Policy fellow, advocating nationally for people to get involved in gardening. She recently visited Washington, D.C., to support the USDA’s People’s Garden, which will green a 6-acre plot on the National Mall.

An estimated 7 million gardens were started this year in the United States, according to the National Gardening Association. Hayden-Smith attributes the interest to a combination of food shortages, rising prices, environmental concerns, civic engagement, the eating local movement and the popularity of cooking shows. It also has helped that first lady Michelle Obama planted the first White House garden since World War II.

"The timing is right for the message," Hayden-Smith said. "Gardening is not a novelty. It is connecting people with the food system and with agriculture."

A Ph.D. candidate at UC Santa Barbara, Hayden-Smith has researched wartime gardens, or Victory Gardens, which were popular during World War I and II. To promote the role of gardens today, Hayden-Smith started the Victory Grower Web site, a mish-mash of gardening resources and history, with a gallery and public policy pieces. Hayden-Smith also has a Victory Grower blog and sites on Facebook and Twitter to spread the gardening message through social media.

"She’s amazing," Geisel said of Hayden-Smith. "She’s very innovative."

While skeptics question how much impact gardening can have, Hayden-Smith notes that in 1943, 40 percent of fruit and vegetables consumed in the United States were from school, home and community gardens.

"If we do this in an organized fashion, we can have significant results," she said.

With an infectious enthusiasm, Hayden-Smith has made it her mission to promote the growth of gardens.

"It is really my vocation and avocation," she said. "It’s my personal calling."

Alec Rosenberg is coordinator of agriculture and natural resources communications at the UC Office of the President.