News You Can Use" is a weekly newsletter issued by the OSU Extension, which newsletter contains timely information for Cuyahoga County Master Gardeners. The newsletter includes statewide events and programs of interest to Master Gardeners. Please provide information on your events to MGV Program Coordinator Tammy Currier at the Extension Office, currier.37@osu.edu, 330-599-7734. Recent issues of "New You Can Use" are linked below:
	I s s u e	Month
		May	April	March
		5.1	4.1	3.1
		5.2	4.2

Important News and Upcoming Event

■Telephone Hotline Needs You!

Telephone Hotline is gearing up to begin answering gardening questions in April.

From April through September, Telephone Hotline is working remotely with MGVs answering telephone messages from their homes. Each person is assigned three days of the month for which they retrieve the calls, and then call the callers back to answer their questions. This is done remotely from our homes, with access to the phone calls through OSU online.   This worked well last year and is a good solution when the office is still not available, or even if it is.

If you are interested in joining our group please contact Lois Rose at dlroses@roadrunner.com.  We could use one or two additional experienced Master Gardeners.

■2022 Plants in the Park

Volunteers Needed!!! - Click here for flyer

Help Us Get Potted - Click here for flyer

Coming to a Kiwanis Pavilion Near You: Plants in the Park, Saturday, June 4, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Time to start thinking about digging and dividing for PIP!

Although spring is just peeking its head out and not much is blooming besides the snowdrops, it’s time to start thinking about digging, dividing and potting up plants for PIP on Saturday, June 4th. We hope you’ll start thinking about treasures from your garden that you’re willing to share for our largest fundraiser. PIP generates about 20% of MGCC’s budget every year!

We sell herbs, vegetables (time to start thinking about starting herbs and veggies in pots!), annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, house plants and container gardens. Native or rare plants are particularly appreciated because they enhance our sale tables and command higher prices. We welcome all plants except invasives, though we don't do well with unnamed daylillies or plain, unnamed green and white hostas either.

So that your plants will look their best for the sale, we recommend that you start digging and dividing them in April (maybe!) if you can, but no later than early May. That way, they will fill out in their pots and look lush and full! If you wait until a few days before the sale, they will look wilted and unattractive - even though they may be perfectly healthy and will return to their normal vigor in a short time.

Tips for preparing your plants:

Dig!   Choose a cool, cloudy day if possible. Plants may be taken whole or as divisions - cut a piece with roots and leaves or take out a whole clump and divide it into pieces.

Divide!  If you are dividing a clump, place it on a tarp and use two shovels or a sharp utensil (saw, knife) to cut it apart. Discard the usually waning center section and pot up and/or replant the rest.

Pot Up!    Place the plant at the same level in a pot (with good drainage) as it was in the ground. Fill in with moist potting soil, soilless mix, or good soil from your garden. Water well and keep in a partly shady location until delivery to a location near you.

Label! Label each plant with as much information as possible. Include the name and varietal of the plant and its scientific or Latin name if you know it. Include requirements, i.e., likes sun, shade, likes moist/dry soil, and size
Tip: Don’t affix labels until just before delivering them for the sale.
Otherwise, watering and rain make the labels fall off or get soggy or smudged.

Deliver!  Deliver your plants to one of our convenient drop off locations the week before the sale. We will provide a list of drop off dates and locations with contact information in a few weeks.

If you are unable to dig plants because of illness or physical limitations, or if you need pots to use, please let one of us know: Dave Appel: appeldb@gmail.com, 216-973-6618, Deb Hanzel: dah503@aol.com, 216-310-3738 , Amy Shaper: amyarledge@hotmail.com, 216-513-7277.

Over the next few weeks we will be sharing lots more PIP information including:

-list of desirable plants
-list of invasives (you can also google or use the link above)
-plant labels
-drop-off locations
-volunteer sign up sheet

Remember, PIP is a great way to get lots of VOLUNTEER HOURS with lots of tasks including:
-digging and dividing plants you are willing to donate
-hosting plants (where deer and rabbits can’t get to them!)
-transporting plants
-set up day before PIP
-plant intake and grooming
-cashiering
-working in the plant holding area
-publicity (any social media experts out there?)
-container planting
-and more!

Thank you and stay tuned – we appreciate your support for PIP 2022!

When: Saturday, June, 4 - 9AM to 1PM
Where: Kiwanis Pavilion, Independence Civic Center at
6363 Selig Drive, Independence, OH

Your PIP Co-Chairs,

Dave Appel, Deb Hanzel and Amy Shaper

■2020 Annual Meeting The 2020 Annual Meeting has been postponed. It is held at the Parma Snow Library from 5:30 pm -8:00 pm with dinner included.

■2018 State MG Awards
Congratulations are in order: 
-Congratulations to Pat Koch who was named Outstanding Master Gardener!  Well deserved, Pat.
-Our Therapeutic Horticulture program won an Outstanding Master Gardener Project– with a $100 award. Thanks to the entire team of  hort therapy volunteers and special thanks to Hedy Westra, Jeanne Menger and Katie Harbage who put together the nomination.   
-Our friend, Green Circle Growers, was awarded one of five Friend of Master Gardeners Awards.  Thanks to Kim Hawkins and Cookie Krismanich, who work with Green Circle Growers to help with our Plants In the Park and for putting together the nomination.  We hope to honor Green Circle at next year’s annual meeting. 
- In addition, MGCC won Platinum Standards for Excellence Award, again!  A clean sweep!

■Ben Franklin Herb Garden Recognition
2017 was a most special one for our MGVs who take such devoted care of the Ben Franklin Demonstration Herb Garden. Rita Robinson, Carol Norton, Rita Vautner, and Ellen Thibo completed their goal of making the garden more special than it has ever been--all the plants in the garden are native herbs! The Herb Society of America recognized the garden with a "Green Bridges" Certificate for promoting biodiversity through the use of native herbs and environmentally-friendly gardening practices. The National Wildlife Federation certified the garden as "Wildlife Habitat" because of the owner's conscientious planning, landscaping and sustainable gardening, so that wildlife will find quality habitat here--food, water, cover, and places to raise their young.

■Strategic Plannining
The Advisory Committee has approved strategic planning which discussed and prioritized key areas of focus and address three primary strategic initiatives: Optimize Volunteers and the Volunteer Experience, Enhance Educational Programming, and Strengthen Organizational Structure. The planning process produced a clearer definition of where the organization desires to go in the next three years and what MGCC expects of itself. Task forces will be created to implement the plan, reviewing current practices, developing methods for achieving the desired ends, and implementing them. The following information provides details:
    Strategic Initiatives: (These documents are in the Archives, which requires ID and password. Check with the MGV Program Coordinator if you have forgotten them.)
        Introduction
        Initiative I - Optimize Volunteers and the Volunteer Experience
        Initiative II - Enhance Educational Programming
        Initiative III - Strengthen Organizational Structure
    Gantt Chart - showing timing of plan steps
    Glossary and committee members listing

■MGV Management System
The Master Gardener Volunteer Management System is now operational for the reporting of volunteer hours and continuing education hours by each Master Gardener directly into an online internet reporting system. Time logs for recording information between submissions are posted below. New project listings (Click here for Project Listings) must be used to record volunteer hours in order to coordinate with new state-wide tracking categories. If time is not reported, the hours will not be counted toward annual requirements. Provisions have been made for Master Gardeners without internet access.
Continuing Education Reporting - Continuing education hours earned at Master Gardener-approved events must be included on time logs and entered into the online reporting system. Continuing education credit may also be obtained by other means, but a form (see below) must be submitted in addtion to the online reporting. Forms are provided for use in obtaining credit by other means: 1) reading a book and writing a book review, 2) visiting a garden and writing about what was seen and learned, and 3) attending a non-Master Gardener program and writing about it. The form itself need not be completely filled out if the information requested in the form is included on a report provided as an attachment to the form. Completed forms may be emailed to:.
Go to the Forms page for Instructions and an online tutorial for using the MGV Management System, Time Logs, project categories, and non-MG Continuing Education reporting forms.

■ Guidelines for Community Gardening Volunteer Hours
There has been a lot of confusion about Master Gardener involvement in community gardening. While the MG Program wants to support community gardening, guidelines have been established for when it is an approved Master Gardener activity and when it is an extension of personal horticultural interest. See Guidelines for Community Gardening Volunteer Hours.

Special Volunteer Opportunities
Check out the Volunteer Center for these and other volunteering opportunities:

■ Community Gardening Mentors Wanted -- Enlisting Now!
The Community Gardening Committee is seeking new volunteers to mentor gardens for the coming season. Training will begin this month and will equip you with knowledge and skills to help a new garden get growing! Volunteer hours are flexible, so this is a good volunteer position if you have a job or family constraints.

The training will include basic vegetable gardening skills, pest and disease management, and advice on how to be a garden mentor. Attendance is not mandatory, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, especially for new mentors. Two hours of continuing education credits will be given.

Please contact me to learn more. Even if you’re just curious, please come to one of the training sessions. (You only need to attend one.)
Note: Note: registration links below are different for 2/2 and 2/26
Saturday, February 2nd, 10:00 – 12:00, OSU Extension Office, 12200 Fairhill Road, E Building, Cleveland - Register: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=asphx9zab&oeidk=a07eg1gjapz83c9dd92
Wednesday, February 26th, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Maple Heights Library, 5225 Library Lane, Maple Heights- Register: - http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=asphx9zab&oeidk=a07eg2aub3o2fdedfac
On Saturday, March 16th, 10:00 - noon, there will be a Meet and Greet, where mentors and garden leaders come together. Parma Branch Library, 6996 Powers Boulevard, Parma.

Marianne Sachs
mari@sagework.net
216-702-3861
Community Gardening Committee

■ Ben Franklin School Demonstration Gardeners Needed
The Ben Franklin Perennial, Herb and Vegetable Demonstration Gardens were created so that the visiting public could learn from the gardens and the volunteers who care for them. These gardens are always in need of many hands to give the proper care to the plants and to manage the weeding and watering. Please join other Master Gardener Volunteers on Monday nights from 6:45pm to 8:45pm and Saturdays from 8:30am-10:30am. This is in addition to the usual hours of 8:30am-12:00pm on Thursdays.

■ Share the Health Garden Volunteers Needed
We have an urgent need for volunteers at the Share the Health Garden. If you haven’t been out to see it, you will be amazed. It is a very large garden with an electrified deer fence, irrigation system, and lots of vegetables. Vegetable plants are growing strong and so are the weeds!
We meet on Monday mornings at 9 AM. The more hands, the faster the work gets done - but we usually work for about 2 hours. You will learn a lot about vegetable gardening. The garden is located at the Gates Mills Environmental Education Center, 390 County Line Road, Gates Mills.
Please come or email Laura at arual74@hotmail.com if you have questions. We can use your help and you can get some good volunteer hours in a beautiful country setting.

■ Willott Iris Garden Needs Volunteers
Volunteers are always needed at the Willott Iris Garden at the Greenhouse. From 9:30 AM until 12:30 PM every Wednesday and Saturday are good times to go. This time of year is always busy with weeding and dividing. You will learn so much! Contact Hank Doll.

■ Ben Franklin School Children's Garden - Thursday mornings, 9:00 - 11.30 - The Ben Franklin School Children's Garden needs volunteers. Earn hours. Come to 1905 Spring Rd., Cleveland, about 5 blocks west of Rt. 176 (Jennings Freeway) or 2 blocks east of Broadview (map).

Master Gardeners of Cuyahoga County, Inc. (MGCC) controls and is solely responsibie for this web site and its contents. MGCC is an Ohio not-for-profit Ohio corporation organized as a I.R.C. 501(c)(3) educational charitable entity, the members of which are Master Gardener Volunteers in the Master Gardener Program of The Ohio State University Extension.

This web site is intended to provide timely, relevant and accurate information. Accuracy, however, cannot be guaranteed, and events may be subject to rescheduling or cancellation. For comments, suggestions and corrections, please contact the Webmaster.

MGCC embraces human diversity and is committed to ensuring that all research and related educational programs are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDS status, military status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. This statement is in accordance with United States Civil Rights Laws and the USDA.