Maryland Department of Environment: MDE B.4.1 Bio-Retention Filter Media is designed to meet the Maryland Stormwater Design Manual, Appendix B.4.1, MDE B.4.1 Bio-Retention Filtering Media
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Landscapes
Quality soil is the foundation of every great landscape. Our Enriched Topsoil is the highest quality, best performing all-purpose landscape soil, and we ensure unparalleled consistency from load to load, year in and year out. Enriched Topsoil is a well balanced loam soil with a rich dark brown color, is screened to a half inch, and is stored out of the elements in an expansive covered building. Because of our large scale infrastructure and state of the art equipment, we are able to stockpile inventories so that we can provide our soil year round to meet our customers’ needs, whether that be one truck load for a residential landscape or a thousand truck loads for a highway infrastructure project.
Laurel Valley Soils’s Premium Compost is an STA Certified, high quality all-purpose compost for landscapes, gardens, farming, commercial, reclamation, DOT Projects and soil blending. This high end yet practical compost is our go-to workhorse, thanks to its high organic matter content, broad spectrum of slow release nutrients and beneficial microorganisms.
We use Premium Compost as a core ingredient in most of our soil blends and it stands on its own as a great topdressing and in situ soil amendment. Premium Compost is made from a blend of the highest grade agricultural feedstocks, composted at our state of the art facility and tested regularly through the US Composting Council’s Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) Program to verify and ensure quality and consistency. Applying compost is the best way to build fertile, productive, and healthy soil.
Garden Soil is the choice for when a little more ‘oomph!’ is needed. Specifically developed with customer input, Garden Soil was designed for raised garden beds and other applications where a more organically rich soil is desired. However, there are unlimited useful applications for this mix. Customers are using it for regular planting beds, finish grading under sod, filling in divots, and topdressing just to name a few. Garden Soil is made from a 70/30 blend of Premium Compost and native loam soil. This richer soil blend has increased fertility and water holding capacity.
LVS Bio-Retention Soil is designed specifically to absorb, infiltrate, and filter stormwater runoff into the ground where it can safely recharge our groundwater systems reducing or eliminating surface flooding and potential related damage. The goal of a bioretention basin is to capture and divert stormwater runoff displaced from impervious surfaces. Well-designed basins also filter out untreated pollutants that otherwise might flow directly into waterways. Many bioretention basins are large in scale and while they can have attractive plantings, these utilitarian designed basins are generally located out of sight, at the low end of a parking lot or downslope from a building or road. LVS Bio-Retention Soil is also designed to be used in Rain Gardens. Rain Gardens are basically smaller versions of bioretention basins and usually planted with a more ornamental and colorful planting design. Rain Gardens are used for both new construction and retrofitting older properties to bring them into stormwater compliance. These aesthetically pleasing rain garden features are typically designed to blend into the greater landscape design of the property.
A stormwater management plan is now a requirement with all new construction that creates impervious surfaces. Water must be contained on site or at least slowed down to prevent harmful flooding and pollutant movement. Bio-Retention basins and Rain Gardens are part of the building code and are required for most building projects including renovations and expansions.
Rain Garden Soil is designed to manage stormwater much like bioretention soils; however, they are generally used in smaller scale applications with more ornamental and visually pleasing plantings. This is because rain gardens are often located close to and around buildings and are integrated into the larger aesthetic landscape design. These smaller scale features are a more convenient choice for old sites that are required to upgrade their stormwater infrastructure to meet current building and zoning codes. Rain Gardens are effective because they can be implemented in multiple small installations interspersed in multiple locations around a property that collectively capture the total volume of displaced stormwater.
A stormwater management plan is now a requirement with all new construction that creates impervious surfaces. Water must be contained on site or at least slowed down to prevent flooding and pollution. Bioretention basins are part of the building code and are required for most all building projects including renovations and expansions. The understanding and design of these soils is evolving rapidly.
Other industry names used are Bio-soil, Stormwater Soil, Filter Media, Amended Soil, Engineered Soil.
PWD Planting Soil was originally developed by the Philadelphia Water Department as part of a large green infrastructure policy. The benefits of greening an urban environment are numerous. Trees and plantings absorb rainwater, provide shade, animal and insect habitat, clean the air and beautify the landscape. PWD Planting Soil was designed for urban tree plantings and has since been adopted as a great all-purpose landscape soil. PWD requires blenders to certify their compliance of this mix twice a year. Laurel Valley Soils has been involved with the PWD Green Infrastructure program from inception and has been an approved supplier every year. The performance of this soil is extremely consistent, adhering to a specification which ingredients are blended to meet a very strict set of parameters. LVS PWD Planting Soil is a well-balanced loam soil with a rich dark brown color, is screened to a half inch, and is stored out of the elements in an expansive covered building. Because of our large scale infrastructure and state of the art equipment, we are able to stockpile inventories so that we can provide our soil year round to meet our customers’ needs, whether that be one truck load or a thousand truck loads.
Many projects have unique site conditions and landscape design criteria which can require custom soil solutions. We can create most engineered custom blended soils to fit your project’s design and performance requirements and in the absence of a specification we can offer one of our many off the shelf engineered soil options or collaborate to develop a site specific mix. We can make biosoils, rain garden soils, structural soils, light weight soils, planting soils, rootzone sports turf soils, divot mixes, container/planter soils, paver soil, other aggregates and more. We also provide CU-Structural Soil.
For Engineers and Landscape Architects looking ahead to incorporate new specifications for future projects, we can help with that as well. We can provide guidance and consultation for creating new custom specifications.
Cyclone Compost is a lightweight topdressing specifically designed to be applied with a mulch blower truck, and is always made fresh on an order by order basis to ensure the best performance. Cyclone Compost is 99% weed seed free, has a fluffy soft fibrous texture that flows smoothly; to avoid bridging and clogging, and makes fast efficient work of topdressing. Blowing Cyclone Compost is great for large commercial applications and sports turf, but it really excels as a solution for hard to reach areas that cannot be serviced by traditional topdressing machines (think erosion control on steep embankments or the little patches of lawn in a residential community interrupted by sidewalks, driveways and flower beds). Cyclone Compost can also be used as a seed tackifier on bare ground or even used as light organic mulch in garden beds. Late season applications will extend the time turf will stay green by providing rootzone insulation and slow release nutrients.
An elite product, Horticultural Compost is the choice for the most discerning horticulturists when landscapes require superior performance and the best quality compost. Horticultural Compost is a great choice for high profile landscapes, like public and botanical gardens, upscale ornamental plantings and turf. Horticultural Compost is STA Certified and made from only the highest quality agricultural feedstocks, composted at our state of the art facility, and tested regularly through the US Composting Council’s Seal of Testing Assurance Program (STA) to ensure quality and consistency. Horticultural Compost is rich in organic matter, essential nutrients, is chock full of beneficial biology, and has a fine granular texture that gives this compost a lighter, more friable quality, making it a pleasure to work with.
Fresh Mushroom Compost (FMC) is the best quality, lowest cost, all-purpose organic matter source available in the compost industry. Fresh Mushroom Compost comes fresh from the mushroom growing beds immediately following the mushroom harvest and a steam pasteurization treatment. Unscreened, and without additional processing, this mushroom compost is our most economical offering and is also light enough to be efficiently hauled in larger loads on tractor trailers. Also known as Mushroom Soil, Mushroom Mulch, and Mushroom Substrate, FMC is great for mulching gardens, spreading on crop fields, and topdressing lawns. It is also ideal for use in large industrial scale soil remediation projects.
We provide many types of mulch, including Triple Ground Aged Natural Hardwood, Black, Brown, and Red Dyed, Playground Certified, Aged Pine Bark and Pine Bark Fines, Double Ground Natural Hardwood and Wood Chips. Mulches are shipped in either tri-axle or tractor trailers, depending on the service area.
