Tag Archives: US Compositng Council

Let’s Celebrate Compost During ICAW 2019!

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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

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

 

How Black Gold Helped Mercedes Benz Stadium Achieve Platinum

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM

Scott Jenkins is the General Manager of the newly-designed Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Falcons.  Scott had a vision to be #1, and was determined to make that happen when the facility opened in August of 2017.  And Scott got his wish, although maybe not in the way you might expect, as the Falcons fell to the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC Division win that year.

But in the green building world, the Falcons’ home field is on the record books.  Mercedes Benz Stadium is the 1st professional sports stadium to achieve LEED Platinum Certification, which is a Super Bowl-esque sized win for Jenkins and his team of architects, planners, builders and installers.

One of the reasons MB Stadium was able to achieve this prestigious status was its incorporation of compost as part of its landscape and stormwater design plans.  150 tractor trailer loads of compost-enriched engineered soil was amended into native soil on site and  installed in bioswales and other water retention areas to capture, retain and manage high volumes of water runoff from large areas of impervious surfaces.

Many municipal ordinances and best practices require the addition of organic matter to existing soil whenever installation of plant material takes place.  A target of 5% organic matter in soil provides increases in the following:

  • Water retention
  • Nutrient retention
  • Microbial activity
  • Sustainability
  • Physical, chemical and biological properties

In addition, project material costs can be reduced by up to 2/3 when 2″ of compost is applied vs bringing in 6″ of topsoil, while also lowering the project’s carbon footprint.

Want to learn more?  Check out the video below for more information:

 

 

What Business-Boosting Super Power Would You Choose?

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Compost man

Would you wish for improved moisture holding capacity in your soil, so your plants would have increased drought tolerance and stay vibrant all summer?  Would you want to lighten up your heavy clay soils, improving percolation and reducing compaction, or would you want organic slow release nutrients that can steadily feed your plants all season long?

It would be hard to choose, right?  Because each of your projects may have different requirements and specifications, how would you ever be able to pick just one super power?

The good news is that you don’t have to pick just one!  You can actually get all these powers and more by simply incorporating Laurel Valley Soils OMRI Listed Premium COMPOST into your landscapes!

Organic matter has been Mother Nature’s go-to Super Power since 2320 BC.  We challenge you to think about how compost can super-charge not only your customers’ landscape installations, but your business!  Check out the infographic below to see how incorporating compost into your projects can get RESULTS, and elevate YOUR Company above the rest!

Compost-Infographic-18x23-Pg2

Call us today!   We have your OMRI Listed, STA Certified, Super-Powered Premium Compost that is screened, dry, and ready for action!  610-268-5555.

Want LAWN ENVY??? Apply STA-Certified Compost!!

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Do you know how the best looking lawns in the neighborhood get that way?

According to Joe Lamp’l, host of Growing a Greener World, it always begins with a generous topdressing of STA Certified Compost!  It’s the most readily available, economical, and stabilized form of organic matter on the market today.

Joe Lamp’l discusses how to topdress your lawn with compost in the video here:

 

 

We’re Taking Compost to New Heights–95 ft Above Chestnut Street!

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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