The Less Lawn More Life Challenge was in the national news, recently. The Homegrown National Park is collaborating with Plan it Wild and now making the Challenge available on demand (LessLawnMoreLife.com or at PlanItWild.com).
Meanwhile, back at home here in Baltimore, we see signs of this Challenge taken up in our neighborhoods and where we live. See a photo here of a “front yard-turned-meadow” at the city’s Backyard Basecamp (Bliss Meadows) at 5111 Plainfield Avenue, 21206 (https://backyardbasecamp.org/), a wonderful BIPOC nature education center in northeast Baltimore. –For myself, I started several years ago by carving out 2 areas for adding native bushes and plants to. In this lower area, I move a garden frame around each year, or bi-annually, for annual veggies and sometimes pollinator perennials. This year I planted in the frame some shishito peppers, Jimmy Nardello peppers and fish peppers (with seeds from church friends, Sara & David). Though deer got into part of the garden bed (left side), the basil, garlic and mint I planted help to keep deer away, generally, from the peppers and tomatoes. –Melinda Fowl
