The Friends of Casco Bay (FOCB) use the term BayScaping; the Maine Board of Pesticide Control (BPC) coined Yardscaping. Whatever it is called, it is a unified attempt to help Mainers understand that the herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and fertilizers they put on their lawns and in their gardens end up in varying degrees in Maine waterways — streams, rivers, lakes and ultimately, the ocean — and, once there, can raise havoc. They can cause algae blooms that use up the oxygen needed by other marine organisms or harm small marine animals and lower level plant life.
The message is “Less is better,” which includes fewer applications of yard care chemicals, less lawn, less watering, less obsession with a “perfect lawn.” The programs provide simple steps people can take to help protect the health of Maine waters and the plants and animals that live in it.
This campaign gained its first momentum in 1997 when the legislature directed the pesticide board to work with the University of Maine and non-profit organizations to reduce Mainers’ reliance on pesticides. Gary Fish of the BPC says that over 2.9 million pounds of yard care pesticides were brought into Maine in 2004. This is three times the amount recorded in 1995, and coincides with a tripling of the number of yard care companies in Maine. Traces of these pesticides, and of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from fertilizers, have been found in storm water samples collected by FOCB volunteers near heavily populated areas with intensively managed lawns.
Yardscaping (a more general, statewide term) and BayScaping (more specific to Casco Bay) guidelines do not insist that people abandon the use of pesticides and other lawn care products. Rather, they advocate applying fertilizer only in areas that need it, using pesticides specifically and only when needed, and using herbicides only on areas heavily infested with weeds.
Fish says the BPC sees two major problems concerning the use of lawn and garden preparations. “One is a lot of homeowners don’t have the background to understand how to use the products and often use them in the wrong way,” he says. “They go out and buy a weed-and-feed product with fertilizer and herbicide and treat the whole lawn with a broadcast application. Even some professional lawn care companies do this.” Rather than use unnecessary broad scale applications, he says homeowners and lawn care companies need to separate the two tasks of fertilizing and weed control and determine if and where each is needed.
The second problem concerns where fertilizer is applied and the care used in putting it down. “People often apply much more fertilizer than they need and they put it on at the wrong time,” Fish says. “The best time to fertilize is in the late summer or early fall up to Columbus Day. A spring application is not taken up by grass as well, and it also promotes feeding weeds. If people do it in the late summer or early fall, the grass takes up the nutrients.”
He adds that the other facet of the problem is that professional lawn care people and homeowners use a broadcast spreader for fertilizers and often considerable amounts will go onto sidewalks or paved driveways. “This goes unimpeded into the water unless it is swept up,” he says. “If people pay attention to this, it’s a fairly easy way to drastically reduce the amount of harmful material that goes into the water.”
BayScaping and Yardscaping offer simple guidelines for sustainable lawn care practices. They include minimizing lawn turf area by using ground cover and native plants wherever grass isn’t needed and in low sun areas where it will not grow well; using a grass mix proven to thrive in Maine with minimal fertilizer and pesticide applications (The first specific BayScaping blend is being sold by Allen, Sterling and Lothrop of Falmouth, and the University of Maine is in the process of developing other Maine-friendly blends. Information is available on the BPC web site.); using soil tests to determine any adjustments needed for pH and nutrient levels and calibrating applications for specific needs; irrigating the lawn deeply, infrequently and during early morning hours; mowing the lawn frequently to 2.4 to 3.5-inch height and leaving clippings; controlling thatch levels and reducing soil compaction; monitoring, identifying and evaluating pests and accepting some level of pest populations (specific levels are suggested); using pesticides only as a last resort, and when necessary, spot treating areas.
Within the next two years, the pesticide board will complete a Yardscaping demonstration project at Back Cove in Portland across from the Hannaford shopping plaza. There, visitors will be able to see Yardscaping plans suitable for four different locations: urban, urban/suburban, suburban/rural and rural. There will also be an example of using a buffer next to the water to catch any runoff from chemicals applied to a lawn. Fish says this can be specifically planted or people can simply let 8 to 15 inches of land next to the water revert to wild growth.
Help is available from many sources. The Yardscaping web site of the BPC (www.yardscaping.org) or BayScaping site at FOCB (www.thinkfirstspraylast.org/bayscaper) have clear explanations of steps to take to promote sustainable landscaping, gardening and lawn care practices. Each provides links to partner organizations that might be near to a particular area. Information packets are also available by telephone: BPC at 287-2731 or FOCB at 799-8574. People who use BayScaping and Yardscaping practices are eligible to display a plaque in their yard.
Fish admits that the task facing promoters of Yardscaping and BayScaping is huge, especially since nationwide advertising campaigns for weed and feed products have led people to see them as the norm for lawn care. “What people see as the accepted way of doing things is causing problems,” Fish says. “The big challenge is to show them they can still have a yard they can be proud of and not use as much of the materials. They can monitor lawns and treat problems prescriptively, apply materials only if they are really needed.”