Laurel Valley Soils

High-quality compost products since 1979

Let’s Celebrate Compost During ICAW 2019!

ICAW

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International Compost Awareness Week: a Perfect Time to Support Your Soil & PHS: City Harvest, too!

Compost provides soil with organic matter, nutrients and biology to grow healthy, nutritious food!  Have some fun while checking how much biology is present in your garden soil by “planting” a pair of 100% cotton undies.  Leave the waistband showing, and in 8 weeks try to pull them up out of your soil!  If you get just the waistband, you have lots of hungry, beneficial microbes!  More about #SoilYourUndies here….

International Compost Awareness Week is May 4-12, 2019  Once again, we will have our Premium Compost available at events all over the Delaware Valley to promote compost use, and will donate to PHS: City Harvest for every  purchase!

BYOB:  Bring Your Own Buckets or Bags and fill ’em up with compost for $5.

We will be at the Rittenhouse Flower Market, May 4 & 5 and

New Garden Growers Market, May 4 &11

Garden Flowers, Plants and Tools on a Sunny Background. Spring Gardening Works Concept

Need more than a few buckets?  Visit a participating Garden Center who will donate $3 per yard of compost purchased, and Laurel Valley Soils will MATCH that for a total of $6 per yard donated to PHS: City Harvest!

Achin Back Garden Center, Pottstown PA
Behmerwald Nursery, Schwenksville PA
Copeland’s, Stanton, DE
Delaware Hardscape, Wilmington, DE
Haines Farm and Garden, Cinnaminson NJ
Primex Garden Center, Glenside PA
Pughtown Agway, Spring City, PA
West Chester Agway, West Chester PA  

Have questions?  Call us at 610-268-5555 or email Suzanne@LaurelValleySoils.com

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Compost For Cupboards

May 5-13, 2018 is International Compost Awareness Week, and once again we are celebrating by supporting local food banks and food assistance programs. We hope you will join us!

Through our #CompostForCupboards program, Laurel Valley Soils has partnered with PHS City Harvest and Fulfill as the beneficiaries for this year’s #ICAW2018 campaign.

For more than a decade, Laurel Valley Soils has teamed up with PHS to provide Premium Compost, Garden Soil and Enriched Topsoil for their LandCare Program and Urban Farms, such as Bartram’s Garden and Mill Creek Farm.

Here are several ways we can all help to feed our soil and feed our neighbors during ICAW:

  1.  Visit the New Garden Growers Market on May 5 and 12, 2018, purchase Laurel Valley Soils Premium Compost and 100% of the $ of your purchase will be donated to PHS City Harvest!  BYOB  (Bring Your Own Bag or Bucket) or BYOT  (Bring Your Own Truck) for larger quantities of compost.
  2.  Visit Bartram’s Garden on May 5, 2018 from 12pm-2pm and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag or Bucket) to pick up some Laurel Valley Soils Premium Compost for all your spring gardening needs.  100% of of your $ donation will go to PHS City Harvest!
  3.  Visit a participating Garden Center, (Molzon Landscape Nursery, Achin Back Garden Center, Primex Garden Center, Delaware Hardscape, Behmerwald Nursery, Pughtown Agway, Haines Farm and Garden, West Chester Agway, Feeney’s, County Line Nursery) and purchase Laurel Valley Soils Premium Compost for your spring gardening needs, and $6 per yard of compost purchased will be donated to PHS City Harvest (or Fulfill when Premium Compost is purchased at Molzon’s).
  4.  Join Laurel Valley Soil’s  Joe DiNorscia at Primex Garden Center, where he will share his knowledge of all things compost at 11:30 am on Saturday, May 5! Check out a demo of live mushrooms growing in compost, and then learn how that same compost helps you grow robust gardens and landscapes! Joe will be will be available after the workshop from 12:00pm – 2:00pm to answer all your compost questions.
  5. Donate!  Thank you to Surburban Contractors Association for their donation!

Have questions?  Call us!  610-268-5555 or email Suzanne.

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Like Top Chefs, We Know That Quality Ingredients, Blended Perfectly,

Create MASTERPIECES!

Portrait of a female chef preparing a dish carefully

Compost can be derived from many different types of materials, including yard trimmings, food scraps, leaves, manure, and post-harvest mushroom compost.  In the previous two blogs, we discussed why you should use compost, and why you should use STA Certified Compost.  Here, we are going to explain the benefits of using post-harvest mushroom compost from Laurel Valley Soils.

Many types of compost are made using whatever unused products are available at that time, sort of like when your Mom would make soup from all the leftovers at Thanksgiving.  Creating Laurel Valley Soils Compost is more like baking your Great Grandmother’s famous, award-winning upside-down carrot, macadamia and bourbon cake.  It requires using only the finest ingredients and carefully following the recipe, as there are high expectations on the line!

Because our compost is initially created to grow fresh mushrooms, we follow a strict formula containing only the highest quality, purchased and inspected ingredients including hay, straw, recycled horse bedding, cocoa shells, poultry litter, corn cobs, and gypsum.  After the crop of mushrooms is complete, we take back the post-harvest mushroom compost, let it compost down some more, and then upcycle it as premium compost or repurpose it to create enriched topsoil.

So why should YOU specifically select Laurel Valley Compost? What separates LVS from the crowd?

  • STA Certified: which means it meets the quality and consistency requirements of the US Composting Council
  • PA Certified Organic
  • Stored indoors.
  • Screened and Dry
  • Consistent recipe = consistent reliable performance
  • DNREC and PennDOT Approved
  • Punctual delivery for wholesale clients
  • Widely distributed through garden centers for homeowners

At Laurel Valley Soils, we specialize in providing the exact product you need, including creating custom engineered soil blends.  Whether you are looking for straight compost, compost-enriched topsoil, or blends for bio-retention basins, rain gardens or any other need, we have the skill, expertise and experience to meet all your project requirements.

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Certifications Image

Good Housekeeping, Energy Star, United Laboratories, USDA Organic.  These icons invoke a comfort level; a feeling of trust, safety and quality endowed on the products that carry these coveted seals of approval.

For compost, the United States Composting Council is the governing body which sets the standards for this product.  Like the certifications listed above, the Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) assures you that the compost products you are purchasing meet all the quality requirements set forth by the USCC by independently testing products on a regularly scheduled basis.

So how does the STA Program work?

  • STA Certified compost products are tested on a regular schedule, which assures the production of consistently high quality products.
  • Test results are completed independently by appointed accredited laboratories, and available upon request from, the US Composting Council and the manufacturer, for your peace of mind knowing exactly what you are buying.
  • STA products meet or exceed all related product quality and testing requirements prescribed by state and/or federal regulations, assuring you purchase a safe, eco-friendly product.

Because compost can be created from many different types of feedstocks, and with some manufacturers the components can vary dramatically from one batch to another, it is important to purchase compost that has been STA Certified.  You want to make sure that your soil receives a safe, healthy and nutritional amendment.

Here is where you can purchase STA Certified compost at an Eastern PA/NJ/DE metro region garden center near you, or ask your lawn care provider to apply Laurel Valley Soils Compost and Compost-Enriched Topsoil.  If you are a business interested in purchasing our products wholesale, please contact us at 866-LV-SOILS.

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Smiling blond woman in the vegetable garden.

Think Gardens Like This Only Exist on Pinterest???

Not So! The simple, not so secret, secret ingredient behind robust gardens is COMPOST!

And don’t worry—if you don’t make your own compost, you can buy Premium STA Certified Compost at your local Garden Center.

Adding compost to soil provides the following benefits:

  • Increases the organic matter content of your soil
  • Improves soil structure allowing for both better percolation and moisture retention.
  • Adds organic nutrients
  • Stabilizes pH
  • Improves disease resistance
  • Supplies beneficial microorganisms, bacteria and fungi
  • Increases soil’s cation exchange capacity, helping the plant to absorb more nutrients from the soil

As a reminder to apply compost to improve the health of soil and the plants it grows, The US Composting Council has developed the “Strive for 5” Campaign.

Logo_StriveColor_HiRez-no background

Most native soils contain between 1-3% organic matter, which is too low to grow!

Increasing SOM (Soil Organic Matter) to 5% or higher provides the benefits outlined above, and creates the ideal conditions to grow beautiful and healthy lawns, turf, flowers and vegetables.  And to top it off—applying just 2” of compost in lieu of the traditional 6” of topsoil can reduce project material cost by up to 2/3!  Now you know why it is referred to as “Black Gold”.

To celebrate the beginning of International Compost Awareness Week, (ICAW), here is a cool video featuring Joe Lamp’l, host of Growing a Greener World, discussing the benefits of using compost in your yard.

Need Help?  Have questions?  Have photos of you compost projects?  Contact Us!

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Cira-4

Cira Green, Philadelphia’s first elevated public park and first blue-green roof, is a 1.25 acre park located on top of Cira Centre South in University City, which sits ninety-five feet above street level!  The oasis was built on a parking garage roof which overlooks Center City, University City and the Schuylkill River, and is an integral element in developing the Schuylkill River Greenway. The roof is both “blue” and “green,” with the blue roof  located under the paved walking areas to provide storm water management by capturing rain water which is then directed to irrigate the planted “green roof” areas.

Laurel Valley Soils was founded in 1979 by a handful of the nation’s leading mushroom growers who had the foresight before “sustainability” was a hot keyword to realize the opportunities available for upcycling their abundant, high organic matter, post-harvest mushroom compost. “Mushroom farmers from around the world visit our 120 acre facility located in the Mushroom Capital of the World to learn how to emulate our state-of-the-art practices.  We feel great pride to be leaders not only in mushroom compost production but environmental stewardship” notes our own Joseph DiNorscia, Manager of Laurel Valley Soils.

450 cubic yards of our “black gold” was blended into the growing media provided by rooflite® and used for Cira Green’s various green roofs as well as lawn areas and planters containing trees and perennials.

Cira-3

When selecting a location to kick off the nationally-focused 2016 International Compost Awareness Week being held May 1-7, 2016 and features the theme: Compost – The Soil and Water Connection,  the “blue” & “green” Cira Centre South was the perfect choice.  Events, including tours and education highlighting the benefits of incorporating compost into the engineered soils required for green roof projects are scheduled nationwide throughout the week.

DiNorscia, in conjunction with The US Composting Council (USCC), The Composting Council Research and Education Foundation (CCREF), The Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, and other notable industry leaders are kicking off the celebration on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at 1:30pm at Cira Green with a summary of how this project was constructed and the role of compost in its success.

As a visitor to Cira Green, it’s hard to imagine that this complete aerial ecosystem is man-made and was previously a parking garage roof.  But one thing is for sure – with the warm weather upon us, it is proving to be a popular and dynamic green space in the city for all to enjoy!

Want to attend the ICAW Kickoff Event at Cira Green on Tuesday, May 3, 2016?  Contact me!  We would love to see you there!

Suzanne Longacre

Suzanne@LaurelValleySoils.com

866-LV-SOILS

© 2022 Laurel Valley Soils. A subsidiary of Laurel Valley Farms, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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