Mulch

By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer WILLIAMSPORT - The end of the line for many tree limbs, leaves and other lawn debris comes in the form of two large piles, each about 20 feet tall, at the Washington County's rubble landfill. But it also is a beginning. Like many communities wishing to save both landfill space and money, the county began recycling lawn waste into shredded brown mulch two years ago. This year it went a step further, selling the material for $12 a ton. "We're providing a valuable material and I feel we're obligated to recoup at least some of our expenses," said county Recycling Coordinator Harvey Hoch.

Mayor wants Washington County Commuter bus service BOONSBORO -- Boonsboro Mayor Charles F. "Skip" Kauffman Jr. asked Monday that the Washington County Commuter buses extend their service to the town. He said that at one time the public transportation service was available to residents in Boonsboro. "We no longer have that," Kauffman said. "The county commuter system now has these vans that don't cost as much to operate. I'm sure (town residents) would love to have public transportation available to them.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com SCOTLAND, Pa. - Greene Township gives away hundreds of tons of compost and mulch every year to township residents, a figure that likely will increase with state approval of a $333,520 recycling grant, Supervisor Dave Jamison said. State Rep. Jeff Coy, D-Franklin, announced Tuesday the township will get the money through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources' Recycling Development and Implementation program. "We processed probably 800 to 900 tons last year.

For $1, you can have a chance to win a new yard - or a least a cleanup and restoration of your tired-from-winter one. For $5, you can have six chances to win "Your Day in the Garden," four or five hours of yard labor from an enthusiastic and energetic volunteer crew of Hagerstown alumni. The crew will prune, weed, clean up, mulch and plant according to a plan devised by Sandy Scott, retired horticulture consultant for the Maryland Cooperative Extension in Washington County.

If you would like to have a beautiful yard without doing all the work, read on. If you would like to have someone else do the work and have it cost you less than what you'd pay for a gallon of gasoline for your lawn mower, read further. A team of HCC alumni volunteers will provide four hours of labor right in your back yard - or front yard. They will clean, weed and plant your garden or yard. The team will do patio or porch pots, clean flower beds, plant annuals, mulch and lightly prune shrubs.

Enough with the snow, already. We’re ready to find fun in our own backyards. Spring is the time for outdoor entertaining. So for tips on fuss-free ways to design a party-perfect yard, we went to the source: Participants in the upcoming Flower & Garden Show at Hagerstown Community College on Saturday, March 12, and Sunday, March 13.   Each year, vendors tout the latest and greatest in gardening during the yearly fundraiser for the...

By JOE LAMP'L Scripps Howard News Service In referring to my book title, "The Green Gardener's Guide," someone asked me recently, "Aren't all gardens green?" That simple yet serious question stopped me in my tracks. Little did he realize how well he summarized the incorrect assumption of millions of gardeners out there today. Allow me to state for the record: All gardens are not green. In fact, according to a recent National Gardening Association survey, only about 5 percent of gardeners adhere strictly to organic-gardening methods.

WASHINGTON COUNTY --A number of local organizations on Thursday celebrated Earth Day through projects intended to spruce up the community. In Clear Spring, Grosh's Lawn Service teamed up with a group of Clear Spring Middle School students to plant, mulch and tend the area around the town's library branch. Tom Grosh, owner of the lawn service, arranged with the county - which maintains that area - for the project. Businesses involved in the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET)

Get rid of the deadwood Not all gardening tasks are glamorous. In fact, most of them aren't. They range from the mundane, such as weeding and spreading mulch, to the downright laborious, such as digging trenches and hauling stone. One of the least glamorous of all gardening chores is dealing with deadwood. If you have a lot of trees and shrubs in your yard, chances are you often have deadwood. That's because the branches of trees, even the healthiest ones, occasionally die, sometimes for no apparent reason.

Commissioners hear tourism report Thomas B. Riford, president and CEO of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, presented the group's annual tourism update to the Washington County Commissioners Tuesday. More than 2 million visitors spent $250 million in Washington County in 2007, both of which are up from the previous year, Riford said. Those numbers do not include visits to retail malls, Riford said. While hotel occupancy was down slightly in 2007, revenue was up because rates increased and two hotels were built in the county, Riford said.