Think Local — Buy Local!

With May in bloom, are you planning on purchasing plants, garden supplies, etc.? Please think your local greenhouses.

Our local businesses give so much to our community. So, let's SHOP LOCAL.

The Maumee Valley Growers Association wishes everyone a wonderful Spring 2012.

» Find your local Maumee Valley Grower here.

You can also use the "Info Search" and the "Find An MVG Grower Near You" search boxes on the left of each MVG page.

MVGA Customers: New Program Offering!

In an effort to "blossom" the Buy Local movement, we are pleased to announce Garden Rewards from the Maumee Valley Growers.

Garden Rewards is a rewards card (see picture above) that offers a 10% discount on PLANTS from participating Maumee Valley Growers members.

The one-time fee of $10 allows you to take advantage of this discount on all PLANT purchases for the 2012-2014 growing seasons. What better way to support LOCAL businesses than to purchase directly from the growers?

Contact your favorite Maumee Valley Grower retailer for participating information.

Have a great Spring everyone!

Outdoor Decor Equals Color Galore!

Click here or click the graphic above to view and print your coupon good from now through June 4, 2012 for $5 off a purchase of $25 or more from the following participating MVG members:

Barrow's Greenhouse Bench's Greenhouse & Nursery Creque's Greenhouse Hoen's Greenhouse & Garden Center Lievens Market North Branch Nursery Ohlman's Farm Market

Rhodes Garden Fresh Schmidlin Greenhouse Schweizer Fruit Farm and Greenhouse Tom Strain & Sons & Daughter, Too Wardell's Garden Center Whiteford Road Greenhouse

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Also, look for the full page ad in The Toledo Blade for a coupon valid through
May 23^rd for $5.00 off a purchase of $25 or more at the following participating MVGA retailers:
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Barrows Greenhouse Bench's Greenhouse & Nursery Creque's Greenhouse Fitkin's Greenhouse Gardenland Nursery & Garden Center Hoen's Greenhouse & Garden Center North Branch Nursery Oak Park Landscape and Water Garden Center

Ohlman Farm & Greenhouse Rhodes' Garden Fresh Schmidlin Greenhouse Schweizer Fruit Farm and Greenhouse Tom Strain & Sons & Daughter Too Wardell's Garden Center Whitehouse Daylily Farm Wolf's Blooms & Berries

Plant Purple - Grow Hope Campaign for 2012

MVG's Plant Purple - Grow Hope Campaign is returning for 2012. Here are the MVG participants for this year:

• Barrow's Greenhouse
• Bench Farms
• Bench's Greenhouse & Nursery
• Black Diamond Nursery
• Bostdorff Greenhouse Acres
• Creque's Greenhouse
• Fitkins Greenhouse
• Gardenland Nursery & Garden Center
• Hoen's Greenhouse & Garden Center
• Louis Keil & Sons
• Oak Park Landscape and Water Garden
• Ohlmans Farm & Greenhouse, Inc.
• Schmidlin Greenhouse
• Tom Strain & Sons & Daughter Too
• Wardell's Garden Center

The 2011 campaign generated appreciation in many places by many people. Click here for two letters exemplifying this sentiment.

Also, Plant Purple — Grow Hope was spotlighted in an article in the Toledo Blade on May 2, 2011.

Ask an Extension Expert with New Online Tool

County websites of Ohio State University Extension now have "Ask a County Expert" tool where Ohioans can ask questions related to the educational programs Extension offers.

"The Ask an Expert tool makes it much easier for clientele to ask us questions directly," said Jerry Thomas, leader for Innovation and Change for OSU Extension who helped develop the tool. "And, it will help speed up our response time and find the right person to answer their questions"

OSU Extension's county websites are easy to find: http://extension.osu.edu/ask-an-expert

USDA 2012 Plant Hardiness Zone Map

[Click the map to go to the USDA Plant Hardiness Interactive Map]

The USDA has updated their Plant Hardiness Zone Map for 2012 with new data and have made it interactive. According to the USDA, the map is "the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones." This map updates the 1990 version, using data from 1976 to 2005: there are 13 hardiness zones in this map, from 1 (coldest) to 13 (hottest).

In the previous map, Ohio was mostly zone 5 and is now mostly zone 6.

The USDA's Plant Hardiness Zone Map site also offers an interactive map of the entire U.S. that can be clicked-and-dragged, or zoomed to view zip codes; click the "Interactive Map" menu tab.

Maumee Valley Grower Specials

Maumee Valley Growers is an industry-based association committed to working together to strengthen our local greenhouse industry. The industry includes more than fifty individual Maumee Valley growers, alike in offering top-quality local plants but distinct in location, product mix, and focus. Learn more about what you can find at these individual locations by visiting our specials page.

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Ohio's Food Systems — Farms At the Heart

University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center commissioned a study of Ohio's food system by Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center, a non-profit organization that works with communities and their allies to foster democracy and local self-determination. From the study's Options for Action:

This study has found that the prevailing food system in Ohio has failed to build health, wealth, connection and capacity in Ohio communities to the extent that Ohioans deserve. Indeed, the food system often frustrates these purposes.

In response, residents are actively building community-based networks that include clusters of food businesses, with supportive social connections, popular organizations, and policy inititives, that strive toward a better future for Ohio.

» Click here to read the study's full report «
» Click here to read the study's Executive Summary «

[This study was funded by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.]

Northwest Ohio Food Vendors

Are you a food producer in NW Ohio? Are you thinking of adding food production to your greenhouse or field production? Check out this new site: maumeevalleyfood.org.

This web site offers information about Northwest Ohio local food vendors. The information is based on one compiled by the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio, Inc., the local administrators of the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program.

Maumee Valley Natives

Once established, natives are low-maintenance, they require no irrigation, and are naturally resistant to diseases and insects.

Maumee Valley Growers would like to welcome you to the Maumee Valley Natives brand of wildflowers now available for distribution at your nursery or garden center! Maumee Valley Natives are grown locally for Northwest Ohio. Click here for more information about the benefits of Maumee Valley Native Plants.

Maumee Valley Growers: Choose the Very Best

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Maumee Valley Growers are offering recycling: • Find out what items can be recycled • Get more information about the recycling program

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About the Maumee Valley Growers

Maumee Valley Growers (MVGA) is an industry-based agriculture producer group committed to working together to strengthen our local greenhouse industry. The industry includes more than seventy individual growers, alike in offering top-quality local plants but distinct in location, product mix, and focus. MVGA is committed to sustaining and growing the local economy. Through a collaborative process of sharing resources and knowledge, we identify solutions to commonly shared problems.