Paul Beares has lined his garden with a deer fence and planted hearty shrubs that can withstand the nibbling.
But you won’t find excess pesticides or fertilizer in his Cockeysville yard.
“The image that gets projected is that everyone’s yard ought to have massive, lovely, weed-free green grass — but that’s what’s so bad,” Beares said.
Beares is one of more than 500 area residents who have agreed to swear off chemicals and practice only Bay-friendly gardening techniques as part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s new Gardeners for the Bay program.
The gardeners have agreed to reduce the amount of lawn and impervious surfaces and plant native trees and shrubs. They must use organic fertilizers and divert runoff from downspouts to rain barrels or garden beds.
They also become advocates to influence the garden industry and lawmakers.
“We really want to mobilize groups” such as gardening clubs and homeowners’ associations, said Jerry Crawford, director of the Gardeners of the Bay program.
It’s not just big polluters like wastewater treatment plants that contribute to the pollution in the Bay. Homeowners play a role too, he said.
Many people tend to overuse fertilizer, which has the polluting nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus and runs off into the storm drains directly to the Bay, Crawford said.
“It’s totally unnecessary with the kind of lawns most of us have,” Crawford.
The Chesapeake Bay Program, a regional advocacy organization, encourages homeowners to avoid fertilizing their laws in the spring and summer and conserve water by using a rain barrel.
The gardeners’ efforts might not lead to a statewide ban of all pesticides and fertilizers, but they are hoping to change some people’s behavior.
“I’d rather change people’s hearts and minds and change the image of a beautiful garden,” Beares said.
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