The Bay-Wise Brief
UME-St. Mary’s Master Gardeners
Summer 2015
[Edition 1, Volume 2]
UME-St. Mary’s Master Gardeners
Summer Bay-Wise Update
Hello Bay-Wise Practioners!
.
Mid-way through 2015 and Bay-Wise certifications
continue! Below are a just a couple photos of folks
who have had their landscape practices certified as
being Bay-Wise.
Individual efforts in individual landscapes may seem
small but they all add up to making a difference for
our waterways. Keep up the great work!
The University of Maryland
Extension(UME)-St. Mary’s Master
Gardeners commend you for
making choices on your property
that help contribute to cleaner
local waterways! This brief,
seasonal newsletter is meant as an
acknowledgement and
encouragement of your landscape
management practices. Great job
on reaching the goal of having
certified practices! Is it time to
add or revise any of your
landscape approaches?
Feel like you need a
refresher on Bay-Wise
landscape practices? Check out
the yardstick, available at
http://extension.umd.edu/baywise
/publications
Do you have a great picture
that is a clear depiction of a BayWise management technique?
Please feel free to send it in to the
UME-St. Mary’s Master Gardener
office, Jennifer Horton
jhorton3@umd.edu
You may also email to have your
address removed from the
distribution list
.
Blue Crab Tagging Research Requires
Early Mornings and Helpful Citizens
Robert Semmler • July 2, 2015
Click on the link below to read this blog entry from Maryland Sea Grant.
http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/fellowship-experiences/blue-crab-taggingresearch-requires-early-mornings-and-helpful-citizens
BAYWISE VOCAB:
Grass-cycling- the act of allowing grass clippings to remain on the lawn after
mowing to return nutrients back to the soil.
http://www.thelawninstitute.org/pages/environment/best-managementpractices/mowing-grasscycling/
Host Plants-plants that in aid, protect or shelter insect larvae. Sometimes these
insects are beneficial, like Pollinators or are pests, like the brown marmorated stink
bug.
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/habitat/butterfly-garden.asp
http://www.stopbmsb.org/where-is-bmsb/host-plants/
From the Yardstick…
by MG Ann Drissel
Control Stormwater Runoff: Install rain barrels to collect and
store water from downspouts. This reduces runoff and conserves
water.
Rain barrels offer a simple solution to so many problems! They reduce runoff,
conserve water, and protect water quality while also saving energy and money.
Installing a single rain barrel can conserve more than a thousand gallons of water
each year. Water that would have otherwise runoff into local waterways and
eventually the Bay can be diverted to containers, gardens, landscape plantings, and
lawns. Whether you build your own or purchase a premade design, they can be very
affordable. Installation is fairly simple, and they can be beautifully incorporated into
every landscape design style.
Check out the following links for more information about the benefits of rain barrels
and how to make your own.
http://www.cbf.org/Document.Doc?id=30
http://www.chesapeakeecologycenter.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={5F61A148-4A9F4883-992C-3EBA343BC6CD}
http://www.epa.gov/region3/p2/what-is-rainbarrel.pdf
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/tools/make-a-rain-barrel-save-water/
Not Just for Butterflies….
By MG Linda Crandall
Butterfly gardens are lovely, but if you follow
traditional gardening techniques they can sometimes be
a lot of work. Creating a bed for butterflies and other
native pollinators is easier than that. This bed was
created on a section of lawn with morning sun and
afternoon shade. The first step was to mow the grass
close (under 2”) and then cover the bed area with thick
sections of newspaper. Once that was done, the grass
clippings were dumped on top. Once a good layer
(about 2”) of grass clippings were in place, the bed was
topped off with 2” of Leafgro. Three Pycnanthemum muticum, short-toothed
mountain mints were planted. According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center,
mountain mint is considered to provide a special value to bees; both honey bees and
native bees. This is in part because it is a good source of nectar. It is such a rich
source of nectar for native butterflies and moths, it is included on The Xerces Society
for Invertebrate Conservation’s list of recommended plants for the Mid-Atlantic
region. At the Lurie Garden, a special conservation garden that has been planted in
downtown Chicago, they feel that no plant in the garden is more attractive to
beneficial garden insects than mountain mint. In my garden, the addition of a small
dish to create a water source guarantees this bed is always buzzing and butterflies,
beneficial wasps, and moths. They are often visited by many of my neighbor’s
honeybees as well. This bed has been weeded a couple of times a year since it was
planted 5 years ago, the mountain mint has grown to become about 2 – 2 ½ feet
tall and has spread (from the three original plants) to create a bed that is about 8
feet long. It is lovely to look at and very aromatic, which makes it a great addition
to flower arrangements.
For more information: ~ http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PYIN
~http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/
The state-wide UME-Bay-Wise website can be found at this link:
http://extension.umd.edu/baywise
Better Water Quality Through Smarter
Gardening
The Maryland Bay-Wise Program is a
homeowner education program
conducted by Maryland Master
Gardeners.
Our Vision: The Maryland Master
Gardener vision is a healthier world
through environmental stewardship
Our Mission: to support the University of Maryland Extension mission by
educating residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural
practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.
UME- St. Mary’s
26737 Radio Station Way, Suite E-2
Leonardtown MD 20650