BayScaping helps you grow green yards that keep Casco Bay blue. By being a BayScaper, you can help keep pesticides and fertilizers from polluting the Bay.
While there is snow on the ground when you really want to be digging in the garden, you can spend some carefree hours creating a beautiful BayScape in your mind!
You can incorporate ecological lawn care strategies into planning a new look for your yard, one that will require less maintenance and less expense than the outdated, overrated, “perfect” lawn of old.
Reflect on what you have now and design your ideal yard
Ask yourself, “What would I like my yard to do for me?” Are there areas of your lawn that demand more attention, maintenance, or chemicals than you would like? Are there views from inside your home that you could enhance by planting different vegetation? Do you want to attract birds and pollinators?
Sketch a map of your yard and its features, preferably on graph paper. Include:
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Buildings, driveway (read more to avail the patio pavers), walkways, and borders: neighboring yards, brook, street
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Garden beds, water gardens, lawns, trees, and shrubs
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Current uses, such as, sitting areas, playscapes, sports areas, gardening work areas, or vistas for visual enjoyment
Highlight with yellow marker those areas of your lawn where you have turf challenges: areas that receive little sunlight, experience heavy foot traffic, or are poorly drained. Perhaps you should think of alternatives to grass such as patios of permeable paving stones or ground cover such as bunchberry, partridgeberry, or Canada mayflower. In wet areas, consider placing rain barrels, rain gardens, or bushes that can help prevent runoff.
Now create another map that includes all those elements you would like to have in your yard.
Ask the experts
Bring your ideal yard map to a nursery or garden supply store to learn more about native plants, low maintenance grass seed mixes, and ecological lawn care. The staff will appreciate the company, they will have more time to brainstorm with you, and you may appreciate being around lush greenery.
DON’T pile snow on the lawn
This promotes snow mold disease in the grass.
DO put a BayScaper sign in your yard
Come by our office and pick up a free sign that announces to your neighbors that a green yard and a blue Bay will be the “in” colors for Spring! Request a BayScaper informational packet, a yard sign, or a presentation for a neighborhood association or garden club within the coastal Casco Bay area.
Reach us at Friends of Casco Bay, 43 Slocum Drive, South Portland, keeper@cascobay.org, or (207) 799-8574.
