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How
to Love Your Turf in
The
Chesapeake Bay Watershed !
What’s the connection between your lawn
and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay? Fertilizer!
Most people and landscaping companies
overfertilize. When it rains, the fertilizer ends up in the water, which
makes too much algae grow. This uses up oxygen (when the algae dies)
and blocks sunlight, causing “dead zones” and seagrass die-off.
These trends are not signs of a healthy Bay.
But what can one little homeowner
do about it? The answer is to sign up for the Turf Love program! Turf
Love is a partner program between James City County’s PRIDE (Protecting
Resources in Delicate Environments) and Virginia Cooperative Extension
Master Gardeners. It uses workshops and home visits to teach homeowners
how to produce a healthy lawn, while reducing the use of fertilizers
and pesticides which pollute our streams, rivers, and Bay.
After a trained volunteer visits your
home, you will receive a report with a soil analysis and a personalized
turf management plan, including best management practices for establishing
and/or maintaining healthy turf. For a fee of only $15, you will learn
what’s best for your lawn, like lime application, fertilization,
aeration, mowing, overseeding, watering, pest management, and insect,
disease and weed control.
For an application and more information, call Virginia Cooperative Extension
at 757-564-2170 or visit www.protectedwithpride.org/turf.html. And look
for special seminars, also posted on the W- JCC Recreation Center on
Longhill Road.
To Download the complete Current Newsletter Click
Here!
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