Introduce ourselves We are pleased the Oxford Garden Club - - PDF document

• Introduce ourselves
• We are pleased the Oxford Garden Club members are interested in learning about

the Bay-Wise program. Thank you for inviting us.

• We both are avid gardeners – as are most of you. We also are big proponents of

Bay-Wise gardening at our homes. This means we put into practice many of the things we will talk to you about today – to make our gardens beautiful places that support wildlife and that minimize negative impacts on water quality in our local streams and rivers.

• Although the two of us are standing up here to talk about the Bay-Wise program,

we want to point out that we have a cadre of fellow Bay-Wise gardeners in your

• midst. There are 6 of your members who are Master Gardeners involved in the

Bay-Wise program: ― Marie Davis ― Pat Jessup ― June Middleton ― Chris Miles-Tochko ― Phyllis Rambo ― Reenie Rice

What do we mean by “Bay-Wise Landscaping”? Here are examples from right here in Oxford. Some of you might recognize the raingarden just outside of the Oxford Community Center. Raingardens capture rainwater and allow it to soak into the soil rather than running off. Raingarden plants provide nectar and pollen to birds and bugs, and they provide habitat – shelter and nesting areas – to all sorts of critters. All of these are aspects of Bay-Wise landscaping. Marie Davis’ Autumn Joy sedum attracted a gorgeous spicebush swallowtail butterfly to sip a little

• f its nectar. Although the spicebush swallowtail butterflies can collect nectar from many different

flowers, their caterpillars live only on native spicebush – which Marie also has planted with those butterflies in mind. Phyllis Rambo has created a lovely side garden rather than leaving the area in lawn. Gardens are far superior to lawn for providing food and shelter to birds and wildlife as well as for having more permeable soil for absorbing rain water and reducing destructive runoff. What we plan to do today is explain what the Bay-Wise program is and encourage each of you to try some of the ideas we talk about in your own gardens. The “Bay” in Bay-Wise is our own Chesapeake Bay, and things we do in each of our gardens have impacts on the quality of water in streams, rivers, and the Bay. Our yards and gardens also are important links in the region’s ecosystem. By adding some Bay-Wise practices to our gardening, we each can have a more positive impact on our neighborhoods and on the Chesapeake Bay.

Many of you likely are familiar with the Master Gardener program that is part of University of Maryland’s Extension Service. You may not all be familiar with the Bay- Wise program that is implemented by Maryland’s Master Gardeners. The Maryland Bay-Wise Program is a homeowner education program conducted by Maryland Master Gardeners. The mission is to provide outreach relating to landscape management that focuses on improving water quality and increasing people’s understanding of conservation issues. Master Gardeners in all of Maryland’s counties that border the Chesapeake Bay offer the same type of homeowner assistance like we Talbot County Master Gardeners do. The picture here shows part of our Talbot County Bay-Wise group visiting a member’s garden this summer to learn more about successes and challenges we face as Bay-Wise

• gardeners. Our monthly meetings help us be better prepared when we visit

homeowners in the area to provide Bay-Wise consultations in their gardens. Perhaps some of you might be interested in becoming a Master Gardener. A training program is offered in the winter for 10 weeks on Thursday evenings and Saturday

• mornings. After completing the class, interns are required to provide 40 hours of

volunteer service in the first year. To maintain one’s status as a Master Gardener, we are required to volunteer at least 20 hours per year and take at least 10 hours of continuing education.

Why are all of us so excited about the Bay-Wise program? Because what each of us does in our gardens matters to the Bay. We all share the Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Watershed covers 64,000 square miles, extending from central New York south through Virginia. Almost all of Maryland is in the Chesapeake Watershed which means that all the water in our coves and streams and rivers ultimately flows into the Bay. So the things that each of us does on land in this area – such as in our gardens and yards … or the Oxford Community Center’s Rain Garden – has an impact on the quality of water in the Bay as well as the ecological diversity of the area.

When we hear about some of the challenges to the health of the Chesapeake Bay, it can feel overwhelming. It’s easy for residents to think that the Bay’s problems are

• utside of their control. The Bay-Wise program focuses on what is within our control

and what we can do individually to help. There are many everyday things we do that can be done in ways that can harm the Bay, as these pictures show. But there also are many gardening and landscaping practices that contribute to a healthy Bay.

There are 8 major Best Practices in the Bay-Wise program. Bay-Wise encourages people to implement as many of these as possible. We'll go through each of them. We hope you may find ideas you might implement in your own gardens to make them more Bay-Wise. [Read off the topics] The Bay-Wise program recognizes homeowners who follow these guidelines. We say their gardens are “Bay-Wise Certified,” and we allow them to place the much-coveted blue Bay-Wise sign on their property. The sign is intended to draw attention to the gardens so passers-by or guests might ask about Bay-Wise certified gardens and hopefully get engaged themselves.

Stormwater control really means “slowing the flow”- which is a management technique to trap and contain rain water on-site instead of moving it along to storm drains. The way to battle stormwater runoff is to control stormwater with things like rain barrels, rain gardens, directing downspouts to proper places, and mulching planting beds to trap and use moisture. Bare ground is the worst at being able to let water soak in; grass is a little better, but plantings and beds are the best. Before picture: property received so much stormwater runoff from not only their own landscape, but the neighboring yards as well. You can see that there is sparse grass growing under the mature trees, and the grass growing poorly allows for erosion (bare ground). In turn, this created ditches periodically inundated with water that drained poorly and collected nutrient runoff as well. After: This “after” photo was taken a year ago, and the ditches have grown in a lot more since then. They now sport both red lobelia and the blue lobelia, and well as the giant bulrush on the right. After: the homeowner decided to take charge and embrace the “ditches” that populated the

• property. Instead of filling in with soil, she embraced planting with native species that enjoy wet

feet and would thrive in the given conditions. The owners could not control the adjacent properties, but they could control their own. The “after” image was taken a couple of years after they started planting the ditches which now support a wide variety of native plant species that are clearly loving the conditions. They also started covering the bare spots in the turf with pine needles, which acts like a layer of mulch to protect the soil from erosion. Both the plants and the mulching improved stormwater management which improves water quality in local streams. Plants Deb Danser planted in this ditch: red lobelia, lobelia syphilitica, and giant bulrush Other plants that work in a ditch – both inundated and dry at times

Many of us enjoy having gardens because of the wildlife they support. Maybe it’s the birds. Maybe it’s

• butterflies. Maybe you might even get to have a nice turtle wandering on your paths like my husband and I

did. If you want wildlife in your environment, there are many things you can do in your garden to attract critters. All animals need food, water, shelter, and places for their young. Wildlife is more likely to inhabit a place that has its preferred food and shelter. If you want to attract birds, you need to have bugs for them to eat. Most native insects are specialists and require specific plants as their food source. Because the bugs have coevolved with their food sources, the plants they need are native plants. If you plant native trees, shrubs, and perennials, you will have habitat for all sorts of bugs to feed many families of birds … and turtles. This may sound familiar. It is the message Doug Tallamy offers in Bringing Nature Home. You also can work at having flowering plants through as many months as possible. Think like a bug: what could you eat each month? It is pretty special when I get to see hummingbirds feeding at my zinnias. Pollinators, like Monarchs and other butterflies, need nectar right through the fall, which is why it is great to have asters and goldenrods flowering at this time of year. Water is needed by all animals. A birdbath that gets refreshed every few days is a great way to attract birds without harboring mosquitos. Shelter is important. This means places to hide while scouting for food. And places to hide to avoid becoming food. It may be safe places to overwinter, such as a woodpile or anywhere that provides shelter from extreme temperatures or weather. Brambles, a hedge or even a ground cover connecting various parts

• f your garden are helpful because they allow animals to travel under cover.

Animals also need places to lay eggs and places for their young to grow. Perhaps you could add a birdhouse to bring in families of blue birds, chickadees, or wrens. Or you might leave a dead tree standing to house woodpeckers and any number of decomposers (that also serve as bird food). Simply leaving the stems of flowers and grasses standing through the winter provides habitat for insect eggs or larva.

Shorelines come in many shapes, sizes and designs and are impacted most importantly from energy that approaches the shoreline and frequency of that energy. As such, when redesigning, or just replanting a shoreline there are many things to consider: reach, inundation, sun exposure, existing plantings. Spartina patens, Spartina alternaflora serve as two main grasses planted along

• shorelines. The alterniflora, or smooth cordgrass (or salt marsh) do best in mid-tide to

Mean High Tide where they experience daily salt and brackish inundation; spartina patens prefers irregular brackish water inundation, or fresh non-tidal marshes, and does best above the Mean High Tide line; you can get a general idea of the mean water line from where the plants gravitate. Other Herbaceous Emergents for the shoreline plantings include Hibiscus moscheutos (rose mallow), Iris versicolor (blue flag), rushes, Sagittaria latifolia (duck potato, arrowhead), Iva frutescens (high tide bush, marsh elder), and higher up the banks, various native ferns and other shrubs. Vegetated buffers for woods and shrubs- living shorelines for immediate waterfront. The use of native grasses, which have deep root systems that are much better for erosion control than turfgrass. Turfgrass is really inefficient at stabilizing soils.

IPM is a common-sense approach to managing landscape pest issues. It involves 3 types of activities: monitoring the landscape, properly identifying your pests, and minimizing the use of chemicals. Key to IPM is that it has you utilize practices other than using chemicals as the first step! Proper identification is important. You want to avoid harming beneficial insects. And you want to give nature time to keep a natural balance in your garden.

• On the left, we have a ladybug and her eggs on the backside of a river birch leaf. Ladybug larvae

are very efficient at eating aphids. You wouldn’t want to get rid of those eggs or larvae. So it helps to figure out what bugs you see rather than reaching for a chemical to get rid of them.

• On the right we have a tomato hornworm that has been parasitized by a beneficial wasp (the

tiny braconid wasp). Of course we don’t want to have our tomato plants defoliated by

• hornworms. But Mother Nature has a plan. In a healthy ecosystem, there are natural enemies

that will keep pests like this in check. Predators like lady bugs and lace wings will eat the eggs and young larvae, and parasitoids, like the braconid wasp, control hornworm populations without killing the caterpillar outright. Instead they release eggs inside the hornworms, the wasp larva eat the hornworm from the inside out and then form cocoons like these. When the tiny adult wasps emerge, they kill the hornworm and head out to find additional hornworms. Hornworms are native to North America, and their natural enemies will control the hornworm populations if you let them.

This is a picture of Suzanne Clark’s former home in St Michaels. Suzanne was a Master Gardener who left the area 4 or 5 years ago and was happy to have us use her lawn as a positive example of organic lawn care, proper mowing, and proper watering. Mowing practices

• Less often
• Grass-cycling
• Mow high (mow high and let it lie)

Watering efficiently Fescue – recommended turf-type in Maryland Mow at 3-4” – prevents burn out and shades out weeds Mow frequently during high growth, less frequently or not when turf is dormant “Grasscycling” contributes about 25% of the nitrogen turf requires annually Water only when necessary and deeply Aerate and apply organic matter Overseed in the fall Establishing a new lawn Alternative – mow less by planting ground covers

Mulch and compost are 2 wonder drugs for the garden. Most people think of mulch as an ornamental touch to make garden beds look neat and tidy. But mulch is much more! It keeps down weeds by blocking out light to weed seeds. It protects the soil from erosion. It keeps water from evaporating which keeps moisture in the soil longer. And it moderates the temperature of the soil to keep plant roots cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. 2-3 inches of mulch on garden beds is all it takes to gain all these benefits. There are many types of mulch made from organic materials such as leaves, pine needles, or shredded hardwood or pine bark. Compost also can be a great mulch. Rocks or pebbles are not great to use as mulch in this area because they hold heat and do NOT hold water. Rubber mulch also is not a good idea because it will not break down and is full of chemicals that you probably don’t want in your environment. Compost is great as a mulch. It also is a great soil amendment to add nutrients to your plantings. And it is a great way to recycle yard waste and kitchen scraps rather than sending them to the landfill. There are many ways to compost. The simplest is to create a space and pile up any organic materials. Even if you don’t do anything else to the pile, it will decompose and turn into black gold. If you turn the pile a couple of times a season, it will compost even faster. If you alternate layers of nitrogen-rich materials like kitchen waste or grass clippings with carbon-rich materials like shredded leaves, it will compost faster. If you put your mix of materials in a compost tumbler and turn it frequently, it will compost faster. But all organic materials will decompose ultimately. There are many ways to do it, so you can pick the once that fits your space and activity level best. You also can create really good compost by setting up worm composting also called vermicomposting. Both Lisa and I have worm composters that we keep in our garages. You add kitchen scraps and shredded newspaper, and the worms do the work. There is no smell in the kitchen, no smell in the trash can and the healthy waste produced by the worms creates enough heat to keep them alive in the garage all winter. Vermicompost is great to use for growing seedlings and when transplanting things into the garden. The worm compost is really pricey if you buy it rather than make it – a 5 lb. bag can go for more than $10.

NEEDS EDITING Turfgrass is a major type of landscape in the Bay watershed: 3.8 million acres = almost 10% of the total watershed. In Maryland, turfgrass covers 1.1 million acres, which is 18% of the land in the state. What we do to our lawns really matters!s Fertilizing your lawn

• Get a soil test to know if you need fertilizer and how much of which nutrients
• Correct the pH if necessary (from soil test) to improve the health of your lawn
• Fertilize cool-season grasses in fall
• No fertilizer Nov 15th - March 1st
• Lawn clippings can be left on the ground if you use a mulching mower. Grass

clippings can provide 25% of the nitrogen a lawn needs. Fertilizing garden beds

• Get a soil test to know if you need fertilizer and how much of which nutrients
• Add compost for slow release of nutrients

Be informed -- <10% homeowners consult technical information before applying lawn fertilizer Compete a soil test every 3 to 5 years! 6 to 6.8 pH is essential for a healthy lawn Fertilization – N-P-K, plus calcium, magnesium, organic matter, etc. Interpreting the soil analysis report

We have saved the BEST for last! My favorite Bay-Wise practice is to add native plants to a garden. To become Bay-Wise certified, you do not need to have only native plants in your yard. We encourage people to add natives when they can.

• They are as beautiful, and there is a native plant for any situation.
• Because the native plants evolved in our soils and with our climate, they don’t require a great

deal of maintenance once they are established, like fertilizers or pest control. They get along well with the bugs and birds and wildlife that is native here.

• Adding native plants supports many of the other Bay-Wise best practices. When in doubt,

adding a native plant is always a good idea.

• Concept of gradual change: for those who need transition time, try replacing each “old” non-

native plant you remove with a native plant instead. Or ask us for ideas of native plants that might suit your particular needs. We do not disqualify gardens from certification just because there are invasive plants. We know that our yards are plagued with native plants that are difficult to eradicate. We ask gardeners to work at controlling invasive plants. We also do not expect people to eliminate all of their lawn. Rather, we encourage people to reduce the amount of lawn they have by creating alternative plantings that feature native plants.

• Pollinator gardens, edible gardens
• Mulched island beds around trees in the yard
• Small managed meadows
• Woodland gardens
• Creating a transition from woods to lawn with understory trees and shrubs

Hold up the Yardstick. Explain the concept of accumulating "inches" based on gardening practices. Point out that the program isn’t limited to residential

• properties. There are local businesses and non-profit organization that have Bay-

Wise certified gardens, too. For example:

• Third Haven Friends Meeting in Easton
• Talbot Mentors has 7 raised beds across the back of their building and native

plantings in beds out front

• Others?

Here’s what you would do to start on the path to Bay-Wise certification: 1. Arrange a site visit 2. A 3 or 4-member Bay-Wise team will come to your home and provide a FREE consultation. This is a great way to get answers to questions about plant choices or problem areas. 3. Bay-Wise team will follow up with written suggestions 4. Try some suggestions! 5. When your property “checks out” with the Yardstick, set up a certification

• visit. If your garden “measures up,” we will certify it and give you the Blue

Sign.

We get very positive responses to our consultations. People value the type of advice we provide.

• Bought native plants (Roslunds)
• Embraced a suggestion that resolved a garden challenge (Dede limbed up her

tree on waterfront)

• Undertook major rejuvenations (Third Haven)
• Took the training to become a Master Gardener and participate in Bay-Wise

(Marilyn Reedy)

We showed some examples of local Bay-Wise gardens at the start of this talk, and we can finish with a few more. After hearing us talk about the Bay-Wise best practices, perhaps you can appreciate more how much thought that your Oxford Master Gardeners have put into their gardens.

• Marie Davis leaves her native flowers standing through the winter to allow birds to feed on seed

heads such as the goldfinch is doing on these coneflowers.

• Phyllis Rambo’s shady raingarden is a great example of how using Bay-Wise practices can create

beautiful spaces while helping improve water quality by capturing rain water from the roof and allowing it to infiltrate slowly rather than run off her property. Who wouldn’t prefer strolling along this lovely path rather than walking across a lawn? Phyllis tells us it now is becoming a sunnier spot after her crabapple tree came down. Which creates an opportunity to try different plants.

• Pat Jessup, too, prefers garden spaces to just having lawn. Her vegetable garden makes great use
• f her sunny side yard.

We will leave you with these images and these reminders: 1. Your garden has an impact on the Bay – and the impact can be positive or negative. We ask that you try to make it positive. 2. There are many valuable things you can do to help the Bay and the health of our local environment, and as you heard today a lot of them are pretty easy. 3. A Bay-Wise consultation might help you address problems you’ve been struggling with and come up with ideas of things that could have a positive impact. We hope you will give it a try. We appreciate you asking us here today to talk about the Bay-Wise program. Thank you. Please help us spread the word by sharing these ideas with others and getting your own garden Bay-Wise certified.

In fact, we have prepared for having several of you interested in having a Bay-Wise Consultation! We have 2-3 person Bay-Wise teams ready to consult with you in the next few weeks. You can sign up with us for any of these dates and times today! Please talk to one of us and let us know you’d like to have a Bay-Wise consultation, because what you do in your gardens and in your yard matters!