It does take a lot of time. When people ask me how to become a master gardener, the first thing I tell them is that the program is really made for people who have a lot of free time and are looking for a really rewarding experience to take up their free time. Most of the master gardeners I've seen around the state are retired but very active gardeners who love spending lots and lots of time serving the community.
For people with a full time job that doesn't relate to gardening, the master gardener program can start to feel like a burden. For those people, I recommend they join local garden clubs instead of the master gardeners.
