Farmers offer lawn care tips

For decades, farmers have been testing their soil, carefully measuring their fertilizer and plotting which plants will grow best in which spots.

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Now they want their neighbors in the suburbs and cities to give those practices a try, as they are both good for the environment and the pocketbook.

That's the thrust of a new educational-marketing campaign from the Maryland Department of Agriculture, dubbed "Take it From Maryland Farmers."

"What the farmers do is good practice for the bay," said Roger Richardson, an Eastern Shore farmer...