RESOURCES TO HAVE BETTER CONTROL OF MULCH AND TOPSOIL SUPPLIES
Bobcat skid-steer loaders are kept busy at Denchfi eld Landscaping’s garden and supply center, shown here moving a pallet of fresh sod.
It was named Mount Denchfi eld, and it felt an overwhelming and unsightly mess. Kurt Denchfi eld describes it as a 30- to 40-foot pile of dirt that accumulated during seven years of his company’s landscaping projects. It no longer exists, thanks to some forward-thinking research.
Kurt Denchfi eld is the owner of Denchfi eld Landscaping, and with his son, Taylor, researched and identifi ed a way to recycle the dirt at their garden center, thereby eliminating the need to pay for someone to remove it. Now the company has better control of its topsoil needs for landscape installations or sale to the general public.
Denchfi eld Landscaping is in its 20th year of business, the last seven at a 3.5-acre site in
Hyattsville, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. The current site is home to the company’s offi ce and a full- service garden center that is open to the public.
“Having a garden center makes it much more effi cient to run the landscape operation smoothly,” Kurt says. “We have our plants, mulch and soil onsite, and we have enough room for our trucks and equipment, including three Bobcat® S650 skid-steer loaders and attachments.
TOPSOIL MADE ONSITE A topsoil screening machine helped the Denchfi elds overcome their mountain of dirt. Today, they continue using the machine to screen fi ll dirt, remove rocks and other debris, and reuse the dirt for new landscaping installations.
“It’s costly to haul away dirt,” Kurt says, “and it’s the kind of thing when you try to get rid of it you have to pay for someone to haul it away, and when you need it you have to pay to get it. Taylor had the good idea to seek out and fi nd the topsoil screening machine that would work for us, for this application. Now we can load the dirt into the screen, using our Bobcat skid-steer loaders, and make topsoil
26 WORKSAVER SPRING 2013 FOR LANDSCAPING PROFESSIONALS
that we used to buy. We keep up with our own production and keep well stocked. We’re taking a product that we had to pay to get rid of and turn it into something we can reuse or sell.”
MULCH-MAKING MACHINE Like the topsoil screening machine, the Denchfi elds researched and eventually purchased a mulch grinder to convert yard waste and organic debris into reusable mulch.
“Previously, we would take debris and yard waste from our landscaping jobsites and store it here until it was a ginormous mountain,” Kurt says. “In the offseason, we would pay to have it trucked to the landfi ll. It was costing us a fortune. We made an investment in the grinder, and now we can take a lot of our yard waste and turn it into mulch. In spring, when we’re back to landscaping, we put the shredded hardwood mulch in people’s yards.
“The mulch grinder can make some very nice products. We’re taking waste that we previously paid to get rid of and turning it into a product that we can sell for good money. It’s a nice system. It’s green, it’s effi cient and it’s a good way to recycle, so it’s good for the environment.”