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Talking Sweet About Nothing

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Bay-Wise Certification

We recently had our yard certified Bay Wise by the University of Maryland Extension Service. The Bay-Wise program is designed to inform and encourage landscape practices that promote the health of local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay.

I initially contacted the AA County Master Gardeners regarding some run-off affecting a side area of our lawn. In addition to scheduling a consultation for this, they directed me towards the Bay-Wise literature including the "yard-stick" used to measure our current landscape practices. The general ideas on this yard-stick encourage one to:

Fertilize Wisely
Water Efficiently
Mow Properly
Control Storm Water Runoff
Mulch Appropriately
Recycle Yard Waste
Manage Yard Pests with Integrated Pest Management
Plant Wisely
Encourage Wildlife

I knew this was a goal Katie and I would aspire towards, but I had my big backyard project to focus on. I went through the Yard Stick to estimate our progress, but had planned on saving the certification goal for next year. The Yard Stick asks a series of questions related to the above topics assigning points/inches towards a goal of 36. In my rough estimation, I gave us a 25-28 on the scale. Not bad, but not quite there yet.

On the day of my meeting with the AAC Master Gardeners we discussed my runoff problem and they offered amazing advice on how we might control this better (more on this in a future post). While they were here, we took a leisurely tour around the entire yard and they offered comments and advice on everything I could think of to ask. These three ladies were an incredible source of experience and information. We took about 30-45 minutes just looking at everything in the front and back yards. They loved the idea of no-grass backyard garden. They praised the reuse of the compost bin and the Cedar mulch as pathways and ground cover. I had just installed my first rain barrel along with the soaker hose system for part of the garden, too.

From Garden '11


After the outside tour, we came inside to go over some literature, discuss some specific plans for the runoff problem on the side of the house, and to talk more about the Bay Wise program. I told them I had already estimated my progress and that I wouldn't meet the requirements just yet, but they wanted to go through all of the questions with me just for fun. We went through the entire questionnaire and they were able to award points/inches that I hadn't originally given myself based on their tour of the yard. In the end we actually had 54 inches when we only needed 36 for the certification. It turns out I had been way too conservative on some accounts and had completely missed some others. So we are officially "Bay-Wise" and now have an awesome sign in our front yard for bragging rights ;)

From Garden '11


Here's a short list of some of the practices that we use around our yard that helped us in achieving this. The list is far from complete and some of these topics actually encompass several more narrow topics:

use of native plants
removal and/or control of non-native plants (I'm looking at you English Ivy...grrr)
no lawn in backyard (no mowing!)
mowing with highest setting in front yard
no irrigation for lawn
no pesticides
organic fertilizer on backyard garden
mulch on all beds, around trees, and on garden
rain barrel/soaker hose system
composting
encourage wildlife through native plants and shelters
|| Adam, 3:29 PM || link || (0) comments |

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Backyard Overhaul Pt. 2

In between backyard tillings, we had another high priority yard project on the side of our house. There were two Cedar trees that had become severely overgrown, to the point where they could reach the siding on the house. These Cedars were also choking out two other nearby trees.


We had these two Cedars removed and asked that their chips be left behind. Take that Cedar trees.


In addition to recycling, we wanted the Cedar chips to help ward off pests such as moths and mosquitoes. We had plans to use them for pathways and borders in our backyard. We also mulched our front yard beds. In fact, we had so much we shared it with our neighbors. This Cedar chip pile could swallow my car.


The ornamental Maple and the Cherry tree in the backyard are much happier without those Cedars getting in the way.
|| Adam, 4:07 PM || link || (0) comments |