A Goodman's Landscape Maintenance crew member gives instruction to volunteers on how to install irrigation drip lines to the plants.

You can see the midway point in the development of the tortoise habitat. Included is a perimeter boarder which will keep tortoises from escaping and also will deter unwanted guests. A small water feature doubled as a water source as well as a place for the tortoises to escape the heat.

This project came into our office as a pro bono opportunity to help out a local school as well as teach the basics of landscape installation techniques. The job called for a tortoise habitat to be constructed in a corner of the playground of Copperwood Elementary School in Phoenix.

The design for this project was supplied by an employee of the school. Services such as labor and coordination were supplied both by volunteers and by Goodman's Landscape.

Once on the jobsite, the first step in the project was for the landscape team to remove all grass from within the designed project area. The next task was to lay down trenching for irrigation and all other needed utilities such as electrical wiring. The trenches were cut with a Groundhog trencher.

Following the trenching came the boring for fence posts surrounding the project area. Plant material was then installed along with the tortoise habitat and features of the habitat.

Many techniques were employed, and many tools were used in this project besides the Groundhog trencher. These included a Bobcat loader, jackhammers, which were utilized mostly for compacted digging, and a plate compactor for foundation compacting surrounding the newly installed habitat.

Plant material was supplied by local nurseries and irrigation supplies were donated by Horizon Distributors. Hurley Trucking provided the container to house all building supplies throughout the project build. ABC sand and gravel was donated by Granite Express. Lafarge pavers were supplied by Phoenix Pavers. Supplies such as wheelbarrows, shovels, picks, rakes and dig bars were all provided by city of Glendale, Ariz.

Once all the plant material had been installed, we were left with a few tasks. First we needed to bore holes that would act as the post housings for the surrounding chain link fence. Secondly, the crew had to lay down a nice layer of 1/4" minus Madison Gold that will keep the dust down and looks a little bit better than the ground that was exposed after the existing sod was removed.

All in all, this was an amazing opportunity and an amazing show of coordination of the volunteers that helped make this possible. All of us at Goodman's are grateful for the opportunity to provide Copperwood Elementary School with our landscape renovation services.