There are plenty of articles being published this summer on the subject of how to help lawns and flower beds withstand drought. One often overlooked aspect is the importance of Soil Organic Matter (SOM) and water holding. Did you know that soil with an SOM content of 5% will hold about 1.88 gallons of plant-available water in every cubic foot of soil? If your plant material did not fare well through this summer’s drought, getting some compost into your soil will help improve soil water-holding capacity and reduce drought damage.

Read on for how Agresource has been helping people save money by implementing sustainable landscaping practices.

Sustainable Landscaping at Thoreau’s Landing

Thoreau’s Landing, an attractive townhouse development located in Nashua, NH, is situated at the junction of the Nashua River and Merrimack River. As part of an erosion control plan that was developed by consultants Vannesse Hangen & Brustlin, Inc., a new landscaping plan was adopted by the Thoreau’s Landing Association to help protect the local environment.

In the spring of 2010, the Thoreau’s Landing Association implemented a sustainable landscaping approach that included using AGRESOIL COMPOST made in Merrimack, NH, in a variety of applications:

• Creating wildflower gardens in the buffer zone on the side of the property facing the river using AGRESOIL COMPOST as a slow-release fertilizer.
  
• Establishing a meadow-grass buffer zone between the river and the townhouses in former lawn areas that were mowed weekly.
  
• Using AGRESOIL COMPOST to build up soils to support the growth of low-maintenance native plants.
  
• Installing native shrubs and trees to reduce lawn size using AGRESOIL COMPOST to amend soils.
  
• Reducing lawn size on the side of the property facing the river and in other areas.
  
• Stopping the use of chemical fertilizer and starting a program of aerating and topdressing lawns with AGRESOIL COMPOST.
  
• Replacing wood-based mulch in flower beds with AGRESOIL COMPOST.

As a direct result of changing from traditional landscaping to a sustainable approach, the Thoreau’s Landing Association has saved a significant dollar amount in their landscaping budget, and they have a created a more natural and attractive environment in which to live.

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Hershey Nursery Uses Agresoil Compost

Hershey Nursery of Hershey, PA, has been providing landscaping services since 1905. Their services include, but are not limited to, landscape design, installation and maintenance; commercial and residential grounds maintenance; perennial gardens; and pond and waterfall installation.

Hershey Nursery has been utilizing the AGRESOIL COMPOST made in Burlington County, NJ, for landscaping applications including the installation and maintenance of the numerous flower beds located throughout the Herseypark resort locations. Hershey Nursery received the 2007 Gold Award (Best in State) from the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association for the maintenance work at Hersheypark. The use of AGRESOIL COMPOST to improve the quality of soil in the various landscape plantings has resulted in a cost and resource benefit for Hershey Nursery, as well as enhancing both the beauty and longevity of all the resort location’s flower beds and landscaping.

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U-Conn Green Roof Becomes Reality

The University of Connecticut has its first “green” roof – a garden of more than 300 raised beds of sedum and other flowering plants installed on 3,600 square feet of a plaza at the Edward V. Gant Complex. The green roof is expected to reduce the volume of stormwater that drains into Eagleville Brook.

The U-Conn Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering plans to study several parameters including reduced stormwater runoff, the presence of metals in the air above the garden, and the temperature in the building beneath the garden, among others.

Agresource is pleased to have made the lightweight soil media for the rooftop garden, which was supplied in 4-foot by 4-foot trays by Sunny Border Nursery of Farmington, CT.

Lightweight soil media is among the most challenging soils to make due to the necessity of meeting strict specification standards; additionally, its ingredients are expensive compared to most engineered soils. It is the only soil Agresource makes that must be carefully mixed by weight as opposed to mixing by volume. Every batch has a quality control measurement conducted internally by Agresource staff. The result is a fertile soil media that has the perfect balance of drainage with water-holding capacity.

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Read about Upton's Athletic Fields

Michelle Sanford, staff reporter for The Upton & Mendon Town Crier, wrote an informative piece about Upton's athletic fields going green and, as a bonus, saving money using Agresoil Compost. Read the article here . . . 

Topdressing at Bellingham Plaza

In previous years, Bellingham Plaza had received typical fertilization and had been landscaped with traditional woody bark mulch around its trees and shrubs. The grass was thin and the shrubs were surviving, but not thriving.

Harris Company Landscaping proposed a more sustainable landscape maintenance approach that has helped the grass thicken and the shrubs perk up. It will have a multi-year effect.

The approach involved amending the soil by topdressing with Agresoil Compost and using Agresource’s Performance Mulch around trees and shrubs. Adding compost to the soil will help the grass thrive in the stressful environment, which is sandwiched between a parking lot and heavily traveled street. Tree and shrub root systems will no longer be robbed of nitrogen by the high-carbon woody mulch. Performance Mulch will provide the same weed suppression as traditional mulch while feeding nutrients into the soil.

University of Connecticut Starts Compost Topdressing Research

Headed by Jason Henderson, Ph.D., the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture and Natural Resources started a two-year study using compost donated by Agresource to evaluate the effects of topdressing. The first topdressing was applied in June of 2010. It included three separate plots: compost only, sand only, and a control plot that had no material applied.

The plots will be managed organically and nutrients will be applied uniformly according to soil test recommendations. All plots will receive simulated football traffic in the fall using a traffic simulator. Data collection will include traction, surface hardness, turfgrass quality, volumetric soil moisture, and weed counts. Turfgrass performance will be assessed using digital image analysis to determine color and percent cover. Disease incidence, soil bulk density, and organic matter content will be monitored.

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Connections between Compost, Soil Carbon and Climate Change

Sally Brown, Ph.D., and Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington, discusses managing carbon in our soils. Read the article here . . .