PLANET - Arlington National Cemetery Renewal & Remembrance
For 12 years, professional landscapers have volunteered their time and resources for a special day of renewal and remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery.
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County Park Ball Field Restoration and Maintenance
In late winter of 2007 we approached the County Judge about
donating our time and as much material as we could
afford to renovating and then maintaining the small ball
field located adjacent the County Extension office in
the County Park. After developing a plan and submitting
it to the Judge, he along with the county fiscal court
approved the purchase of crushed brick for use as a
surface material for the field. We then went in with a
skid steer loader (donated by Bluegrass Rentals) and
removed 9 dump truck loads of material along the first
base line to help with major drainage issues. We then
came in with the crushed brick. We replaced the decayed
yellow fence guards along the top of the outfield fence.
We replaced all of the bases and base pegs. Reset all of
the bases to league specification. We cut in a warning
track with a sod cutter (also donated from Bluegrass
Rental) and placed crushed brick there as well. We took
the benches and had them pressure washed and painted and
then reinstalled them. We overseeded the turf and then
provided mowing and dragging on a weekly basis, turf
chemical 6 times during the year and Aeration 3 times
during the year. Total input was 81 labor hours and
several hundreds of dollars. Our ideas for improvement
this year include, installation of shrubs around the
outfield wall. Under consideration is an irrigation
system, block dugouts, gravel or a concrete walkway from
the parking lot at the Extension office to the bleacher
areas. Concrete or gravel for the area behind the
backstop and under the bleachers. Many of these ideas
are quite costly so we will have to see what we can do
and who else in the community would like to help!
GreenCare for Troops is a nationwide outreach program
coordinated by Project EverGreen that connects local
lawn and landscape firms with men and women serving our
country in the armed forces away from home. GreenCare
has helped over 1,000 volunteers provide free lawn and
landscape services for over 4,500 military families
nationwide.
We heard
about Greencare for Troops at the Professional Landcare
Network?s 2006 Green Industry Conference in Columbus
Ohio in their Key Note Address. At first we had major
concerns because there were no limits discussed. We
loved the idea especially since my dad and 2 of my
uncles served honorably in 199th Light Infantry, 101st
Airborne and Air Force during Viet Nam. I did not have
the honor of serving but have enormous respect and am
thankful to all who have served. Considering that we are
a small company and taking into consideration the number
of deployed servicemen and women in the area we tabled
the idea. Then in February of 2007 I read an article in
Lawn and Landscape Magazine explaining the program
better. We learned that you could choose your
involvement as far as what services you provide at no
charge. We also learned that you could help 1 family or
up to 10 families. We decided that we could afford to
provide Mowing service for 5 families and the rest is
history. We will continue our involvement with this
program until there is no longer a need. It has been a
wonderful experience and we look forward to helping 5
new families this year! www.projectevergreen.com/gcft/
