Laurel Valley Soils is thrilled to share the exciting news that we are producing the planting soil medium for the Longwood Gardens Reimagined project.
The soil will be installed in the new conservatory. It is humbling to be part of this iconic once in a lifetime project; a local treasure our community is proud to share with the world.
Sure, we are located just a short way down the road from Longwood Gardens, but that’s not why we were awarded the project. It was the 25 years of putting in the work every day to build the knowledge base and expertise required to qualify for a project of this caliber.
Last year we partnered with Bancroft Construction and BR Kreider & Son, Inc. to provide our Horticultural Compost as a component of the amended soil produced for the new allée which connects Longwood’s original conservatory with the new conservatory.
Mixing onsite, B.R. Kreider blended reclaimed topsoil that had been excavated from the construction site with coarse sand and our Horticultural Compost.
The blend ratio had to be precise and Kreider used loaders with bucket scales to measure the ingredients down to the pound.
In a few weeks, at our facility in Landenberg, PA, we will commence blending the new conservatory’s interior soil. It has been a long process of sampling and testing the individual mix components, and then creating test blends of the complete mix to ensure conformance with the specification.
This custom blend consists of various ratios of specialty sand, pine bark, peat moss, and reclaimed Longwood Gardens topsoil. We will be working once again with Bancroft Construction along with soil and plant installer, ambius.
While we are excited to get underway, the production of this technically challenging mix will occur in the midst of our busiest time of the year. However, it wouldn’t be fun or rewarding if it wasn’t pushing us to continually improve our game. We are proud of our hard working and dedicated team members, and we can’t wait to see the finished product when Longwood Reimagined opens on November 22, 2024.
