From August 2023
In Master Gardener years, Scott Fitch has been a Master Gardener for two and a half lifetimes. In non-MG years, that’s 25 years (so from 1998!). Any way you look at it, that’s a “wow!” As if that wasn’t a big enough deal, Scott has also been awarded MG of the Year 2000, Behind the Scenes 2005, Outstanding Cooperator Award 2005 and Lifetime Master Gardener 20 Years of Service. That’s a lot of swinger bars.
Scott grew up pulling quack grass with his brother in the Idaho wheat fields. However, despite that or maybe because of that, he still developed a love of gardening and the soil. He even spent his entire career working with the soil and environment. While he grew up in Idaho, he lived and worked in varied places, such as, Bend, the coast, The Dalles and Hood River.
So, to say that Scott has always been a “soil person” would be an understatement. Although he is quick to point out he is only one of many “soil people” in the Master Gardener program. When asked what he is excited about for the future, he cites the current experiment of the black plastic covering part of the garden space at the Fish Food Garden which hopefully will help eradicate some of the quack grass (I sense a theme here.) underneath and then with mulch (his area) will hopefully double the production space. Scott volunteers multiple days a week on the mulch there. He is also quick to put in a plug for more volunteers. “People addicted to weeding” as he says.
Scott’s enthusiasm for the garden is understandable considering his history with the garden. He has been volunteering there since when he was part of a “van crew” that came from The Dalles to work in that garden. Yes, it’s as epic as you think, a minivan of Master Gardeners who traveled together to garden. At that time, Scott was living in The Dalles where he became certified as a Master Gardener. He had heard of the program from his co-worker, Fred Paige (he and his wife Patricia owned the van), and a small advertisement in the local newspaper. That, along with his already established love of gardening sealed the deal. Fred, Patricia, and Elizabeth Daniel (who lived in Mosier) were his van mates. Scott is quick to point out that he “stood on their shoulders.” They were his mentors in the Master Gardening world, and he gives them full credit to this day. Scott has been through the garden transitioning from a church affiliated garden to a master gardeners garden. When asked what keeps him volunteering and active in the organization all these years, he states his continuing love of gardening and always learning. In fact, his favorite gardening advice (if he could just give one piece of advice to new gardeners) is “if you don’t get the seed out of the seed packet, you won’t have a crop.” Solid advice for all of us, so just get out there and garden! Scott said so.
By Stephanie Gale-McKnight
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