How to Compost Leaves in Your Yard

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Here’s a hot take: Leaf litter is not litter.

Instead, fallen leaves are a beneficial byproduct you can harness to create soil amendments, resilient garden beds, and happy, colorful plants — season after season.

And if you know how to compost leaves, you can harvest these benefits with almost zero investment or hard work. Your neighbors may be bagging leaves and dragging them to the curb for collection. But you’ll be stockpiling nutrients and fostering communities of soil organisms for your grass or plantings for years to come.

The best part: It’s free.

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All it takes is a rake, a mower, and a little patience. Here’s Maas Verde’s easy guide to composting leaves.

How to Compost Leaves

    1. Rake or blow leaves into a pile. Shred them with any lawnmower. Maas Verde recommends a mower bag for tidier collection.

    1. Collect leaves into a pile or bin. Here’s a simple setup you can build out of pallets.

    1. Add layers of nitrogen-rich materials. Grass clippings, food waste, and manure are common sources. Create layers 6-10” thick.

    1. Start with a pile several feet tall. Keep the volume of leaves and other materials roughly equal.

    1. Hurry up and wait! You will only turn the compost twice each year. More on that later — stick around, because the reason has to do with barbeque.

    1. Check for moisture periodically. You don’t want to disturb the compost too much, so you can insert an object like a stirring spoon to do this. Samples from inside the pile should be about as damp as a squeezed-out kitchen sponge. If it’s dry, wet it moderately with a hose end sprayer or watering can.

    1. Turn the pile once in summer and once in winter. The key is to aerate the mixture, so you’ll want to use a pitchfork or similar tool.

    1. The mixture will heat up while it processes. Eventually, earthworms will colonize it. And within 12-18 months, you should have dark, crumbly, nutrient-rich compost!

Photo: USDA via Rawpixel

This is the “static pile” compost model. It may sound unusual to anyone who’s used to turning compost each month or two. But one slow-cooked, staple Texan food can shed light on the benefit.

“Imagine you’re cooking a brisket. Would you rather rub it down and smoke it for 12 hours, or toss it in the microwave and call it good?” Maas Verde project manager John Harris said. “If you’re in that first camp, you’re a static pile compost person.”

Enough said.

Harris advised working compost into garden soils by spreading and raking. You can also use it to top dress your lawn in spring or fall, or add it right back into your pile to keep cultivating it, season after season.

Custom Limestone Patio with Steel Edging, Natural Shade

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Priorities: Broad, Consistent Surface for Outdoor Seating, Garage AccessChallenges: Contour Seamless Edges Around Central TreeSolutions: Plan Ahead – Cut Stone on Site

The comprehensive services for this residential overhaul were guided by three main objectives.

    1. Design and construct an expansive, stable space for seating and a specialty gas grill under a shade tree.

    1. Link a covered porch and detached garage with a smooth walkway for stroller access.

    1. Refresh plant beds with new natives and permanent edging.

a stone patio surrounds a tree with plantings

To meet the needs, Maas Verde planned a masonry patio with 2’x4’ Lueders limestone slabs. Our crew would cut the blocks on site to create aesthetic edges and perfect seams.

cutting stones with a saw, placing, and leveling

Grading with attention to detail would be pivotal to facilitating the even surfaces the clients needed. Rattly stroller passages to the alley-facing garage were not an option.

stone walkway approach to a garage and gate

Finally, Maas Verde would pull up generic plastic bed borders and replace them with long-lasting steel edging. After cutting and welding on site, Maas Verde would fill and plant the beds accordingly.

welding steel garden edging

A custom steel planter box with a trellis put the final touch on the design.

a steel planter box

Cutting and welding precisely were the key requirements. Setting “fences” for cuts and laying materials with care made progress methodically. So to keep the timeline efficient, project managers made sure to stay at least one step ahead of the crew.

This way, progress stayed focused and cut men stayed busy.

landscaping crew on site

Native plantings suited to their sun/shade conditions completed this brisk install.

What is Ecological Landscape Maintenance?

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We all know about “mow and blow.” The typical landscape maintenance model emphasizes periodic visits that look the same every time: Mow, trim, weed, then blow the debris into a pile and haul it off.

But this approach is costly, time-consuming, and does not positively engage with ecological processes. Maas Verde wanted a better, ecological landscape maintenance program, so we built our own.

Key Concepts:

    • Soil health

    • Balancing aesthetics and functionality

    • Conserving resources and saving clients money

Ecological landscape maintenance is an affordable and vital component of landscape restoration. The substance of ecological landscaping usually involves site remediation. Restoring soil health and building functioning plant communities that host beneficial wildlife — while satisfying the client’s goals and aesthetic preferences — are the objectives.

So, ongoing maintenance must serve these outcomes. Maintenance performed ecologically can save clients thousands of dollars over mow and blow services, produce healthier landscapes, and conserve resources.

“Maintenance tends to be undervalued. Although, for a restoration project, it’s probably the number one most critical piece,” Maas Verde president and founder Ted Maas said. “You’re trying to steward a system from its current, degraded state into a new, ecological direction. It’s a process-oriented approach, so it requires ongoing maintenance and monitoring.”

At Maas Verde, this takes shape as a low-impact model that focuses on creating healthy soil to propagate healthy plants. We arrive at every job site with all the tools we need — including mowers and blowers. But the most important tool in the kit for the ecological landscape maintenance technician is knowledge of soils and species.

two landscapers discussing a project

Take a south-facing turfgrass lawn that receives all-day sun exposure. Maas Verde will mow and trim this grass selectively, to help the grass survive its hot, dry location. Over-mown grass will refuse to root deeply, leaving it vulnerable to drought and death. Longer blades promote deeper roots, making the plant resilient and limiting dependency on artificial irrigation.

Roots naturally aerate and de-compact soil, encouraging nutrient cycling. Over time, this limits soil erosion (a significant pollutant) and fosters healthier plant communities.

Low-Impact Maintenance

The reality is, most urban and suburban soils are heavily depleted. Soil restoration requires long-term efforts and, in many cases, lab testing. Responsible plantings, well-informed composting, and programmed irrigation are big pieces of the puzzle.

It’s important to interpret each landscape as a system, and many systems involve non-native invasives as well as desired native species. The ecological approach entails an evaluation before you weed or prune a plant.

“Balancing the appearance and functionality of a landscape is important. Native plants, generally, do not want to get cut into boxes by hedge cutters,” Maas said. “So pruning is an art. Nature doesn’t make straight lines, and we consider that along with landscape aesthetics in all maintenance work.”

a maintained, manicured landscapeEcologically-maintained landscapes can serve a function, like this planted dry creek, and look neat and tidy.

For all the desired outcomes of a landscape maintenance plan, there’s also one inherent hurdle: Plant survival. In any landscape that’s not artificial, plants will die. Maas Verde interprets these events not as failures, but opportunities.

“It’s actually good for your site, because it gives us information we can apply to our process-oriented landscaping overall,” project manager Marc Opperman said. “Instead of treating those plant deaths as failures, they’re points of data that allow us to refine and, in a sense, upgrade what we do.”

Plant death is not waste, and neither is leaf litter. There is no waste in nature. Maas Verde’s maintenance model mimics this wasteless system, conserving resources, money, and the environment at large.

That’s the reason we base our maintenance plans on seasons and weather patterns, instead of traditional bi-weekly or monthly visits.

“It’s temperature and rainfall. Plants you don’t want will sprout up after a rain. You’ll have dormancy during a hot, dry summer,” Maas explained. “We ultimately want these landscapes to be resilient — not dependent on maintenance.”

You can start a maintenance plan with Maas Verde here.

Austin’s Rainwater Harvesting Rebate: What to Know

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There’s $5,000 on the table from Austin Water for all customers. All it takes to apply is to follow some basic guidelines and fill out a checklist.

Rainwater harvesting can save you money, especially on landscape irrigation. Anyone irrigating their outdoor space with captured rainwater is not subject to the City of Austin’s watering schedule. Equipment is also tax exempt, and you can treat collected water for drinking and general home use.

Maas Verde performs system installs at scale for residential, commercial, and civic clients. In conjunction with a rain garden or other erosion-resistant landscape design, it’s feasible to store thousands of gallons of rainwater on most properties.

Here’s your guide to claiming a City of Austin rainwater harvesting rebate.

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What the Rebate Covers

This rebate helps offset install and equipment costs on rainwater harvesting systems, up to half the total system cost. The city pays $0.50 per gallon of capacity for non-pressurized systems (no pump) and $1.00 per gallon of capacity for pressurized systems.

Eligible costs include tanks, pads, screens, filters, first-flush attachments, selected piping and all labor associated with install.

The rebate does not cover delivery/shipping, gutters, or irrigation — although the city does make $1,000 in irrigation upgrade rebates available to residents.

Rebates max out at $5,000 per property. There is no limit on system capacity. Examples of rebates:

    • 100 gallons, non-pressurized, $200 cost = $50 rebate

    • 100 gallons, non-pressurized, $50 cost = $25 rebate

    • 1,000 gallons, non-pressurized, $1,500 cost = $500 rebate

    • 1,000 gallons, pressurized, $1,500 cost = $750 rebate

    • 1,000 gallons, pressurized, $2,500 cost = $1,000 rebate

    • 10,000 gallons, pressurized, $20,000 cost = $5,000 rebate

a pressurized water holding tank for irrigationA pressurized water holding tank for irrigation.

Who Can Apply

Any customer of Austin Water or another eligible provider with a bill in their name qualifies for the rebate. The city specifies that the applicant “must be the property owner or utility account holder.”

You’ll also need to agree to let the city perform pre- and post-install inspections on the system, and must “intend” to keep it in service for a minimum of five years (500 gallons or less) or ten years (over 500 gallons).

Austin Water also reserves the right to reference your system in outreach materials.

Rainwater Catchment System Requirements

This rebate applies to any qualifying new rainwater harvesting equipment, including brand new systems or expansions of existing systems. Tanks must be enclosed, purpose-built for rainwater collection, either metal with a lined interior or painted plastic.

Systems with a total capacity of less than 500 gallons face fewer requirements and regulations than systems over 500 gallons. The city specifies that any tank over 500 gallons must have a first-flush diversion system and a level base made of gravel, sand, or concrete. (Maas Verde recommends concrete for this size tank.)

Pressurized systems must meet city requirements for auxiliary water systems. If you’re considering a pump-operated setup, refer to Austin’s Cross Connection Control/Water Protection permits.

How To Apply

For a system that holds 500 gallons or less, all you need to do is fill out the one-page rebate application and send it to the City of Austin along with an itemized, dated receipt. You can do this before or after system install (within 30 days if after). Your check should arrive within 6-8 weeks, according to Austin Water.

For systems over 500 gallons in capacity (including multiple smaller tanks connected in series), you’ll need pre-approval.

Fill out the same one-page application form. Then include the following:

    • Site Drawing: show locations of buildings, streets, existing/proposed tank(s), watermeter, and piping from the tank to the landscaped areas. Identify the size of thecatchment area (usually the roof) and the area you will water with rainwater.

    • System Drawing: sketch plans for the system. Show piping, first-flush diversionsystem, pump location (if applicable), tank material, dimensions, placement, padmaterials (must be gravel, sand, or concrete) and construction.

    • Operation & Maintenance Guide: describe how the system will function and how youwill maintain it.

    • Photographs: show the area the cistern will be located.

(Maas Verde can perform these services for all clients.)

After the City of Austin approves your plan, you can secure permitting and start construction within 90 days. Once installed, you’ll submit a rebate calculation worksheet, itemized and dated receipt, and photos of the finished project.

After any post-install inspection and approval, you’ll receive a check in 6-8 weeks.

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Learn More

Collecting rainwater can substantively function toward resource conservation. Most rainwater catchment systems support general outdoor uses like irrigation or washing equipment.

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) explains some benefits of rainwater, such as its high capacity to support plant growth due to its softness and low sodium content. Rainwater also generally contains fewer particulates from atmospheric gases and pollutants than municipal water, the TWDB points out.

Finally, softer water helps appliances and fixtures last, limiting scale.

In terms of ecological viability, the TWDB found as early as 2002 that rainwater harvesting can help some Texas communities “close the gap” between water supply and demand. Recent examples of this gap include this summer’s closure at Jacob’s Well, following alleged aquifer misuse by a local utility provider.

A Texas State University team outlined one model for rainwater harvesting on a development-scale basis in the Texas Hill Country. Using the hydrologic cycle as a baseline, the team explained how “efficient use of the water resource may be enhanced by ‘tightening’ water loops, using strategies such as residential-scale rainwater harvesting.”

Maas Verde recommends Austin Water’s rainwater harvesting rebate FAQ page as a quick reference. The American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) provides technical information about system install and operation. And the TWDB’s rainwater catchment manual (linked above) is a highly comprehensive resource for anyone looking to learn more.

Expedited Cafe Hardscape Fixes Slip Hazard

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Priorities: Walkway Safety Hazard – Reduce Pressure on Heritage OakChallenges: Tight Scheduling – Balance Elements of Hardscape and SoftscapeSolutions: Task Orientation – Detailed Grading

Live in Austin long enough, and you’re bound to lounge on the shady patio at Better Half Coffee & Cocktails.

The spread itself is broad and welcoming, and the live oak that shades it has been there far longer than any of us have been alive. As the holidays approached in 2022, both the hardscaping and the heritage tree needed some care.

Better Half turned to Maas Verde to fix a sloping stone walkway that had become a safety hazard. The path was too narrow to allow two-way foot traffic, and the granite gravel it was bedded in had started to exfoliate onto the stones.

A stone walkway with exfoliating gravelMessy gravel created slip-and-fall hazards.

Slip-and-fall incidents became too common as customers and staff jockeyed around each other on the tricky slope.

However, the fix wouldn’t be as simple as mortaring in a walkway. Specifications from a City of Austin arborist dictated no impervious surfaces could cover the tree’s root mass. Recently decompacted via air spading, the area must now remain open to water absorption, and resilient to foot traffic.

Finally, Maas Verde faced a scheduling challenge. Cooler temperatures and holiday crowds meant busy days were getting busier, and the restaurant would soon place its permanent winter tents on the patio.

“In every aspect, the project not only addressed aesthetic problems, but functional ones,” Maas Verde founder and president Ted Maas explained. “This eroding slope ended in an asphalt cake, and the granite gravel created a slip hazard. We needed to put in a patio that would secure all that, handle heavy traffic, and float on top of the tree roots with no excavation.”

Maas Verde met the parameters by resetting the existing stone on a decomposed granite bed, then adding a second row.

workers regrading and repairing a stone patioThe narrow path before (left) and during work (right).

A mulch layer around the tree helps cushion any shallowly-buried roots.

Grading the decomposed granite below the stone surfaces, and then coating it with a non-toxic stabilizer, limits its tendency to dislodge.

photos of the stone walkway in completed stateMaas Verde added the larger stones, which tend to to limit gravel shedding.

At the bottom, Maas Verde placed a cut limestone step to provide retention and maintain the overall grade.

a cut limestone step

Maas Verde worked efficiently to get out of the way of the tent install crew. Project manager John Harris visited the site for a final walkthrough days later, after the tent crew had started work.

“It wouldn’t have been impossible to do this job with those guys there at the same time,” he said, pausing. “But it would have been close to it. They were working right on top of our job site — which was also an early test of concept.”

Better Half said the walkway has made the courtyard safer, and reported no further slip and fall incidents as of this writing.

Land Clearing for Future Work Retreat

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Priorities: Remove Dense Brush – Treat for Prevention
Challenges: Tight Corridors – Trip Hazards – Pollution
Solutions: Safety Focus – Teamwork Between Operators and Ground Crew

Supervisory staff at a Central Texas farm supply company had big plans for a 4-acre swath of undeveloped land at its corporate headquarters. But the parcel would need a lot of work first.

The land was choked with invasives like ligustrum (L. lucidum), Chinaberry (Melia azedarach), and Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera). Vines climbed into taller trees in thick curtains. And the site’s close proximity to a major highway, a set of railroad tracks, and a retention lake had led to persistent unsanctioned camping and trash problems.

Plans existed for the site to become a “retreat,” where the company’s corporate staff could take relaxing work breaks in the form of meditation, yoga, and outdoor lunches.

The scope of work included removing and herbiciding invasives, then mowing the remaining brush and limbing trees up to eight feet high to clear the understory.

Safe Implementation

Maas Verde first assessed objective hazards. Trash, both visible and hidden among the thick brush, was an injury and/or disease risk. Narrow corridors meant operators couldn’t drive machines through some areas — and that in others, they would have to work closely alongside the ground crew. Chainsaw operators needed to remain cognizant of trip hazards in between cuts. And a barbed wire fence cut through the middle of the work area.

Key equipment included two skid steers, one mounted with a grapple bucket and one with a forestry mower. The ground crew used chainsaws and backpack sprayers.

The crew cleared the land to spec safely and methodically. Once the ground crew swept an area, the machine with the grapple bucket removed piles of downed brush. The forestry mower then removed remaining vegetation and mulched the area.

Andy Maas, who managed the project for Maas Verde, explained the team’s approach.

“Cutting the unwanted brush and treating those cuts was the main priority. We also thinned a lot of the vines,” Maas said. “This site was so overgrown, and some of the work areas were very challenging. To finish the job without any safety issues was our goal, and we accomplished that.”

Maas Verde hauled off remaining material that couldn’t be mulched, concluding all scopes of work.

Natural Playground Design/Build

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Priorities: Safe Landscaping For All Ages – Engaging Natural Play StructuresChallenges: Poor Drainage – Tight Safety ConstraintsSolutions: Deep Excavation – Expert Auditing – Creative Design Choices

St. George’s Episcopal School needed a long-planned playground rebuild. The existing grounds covered over two acres, but did little to add learning or play opportunities for the school’s young students. Outdated play fixtures and degraded surfaces were the general rule.

The school’s lead administrator, Jerri Thompson, has a career-long early childhood development background with a specialty focus on natural play. A natural playground focuses around play structures built with elements and textures from the earth, instead of plastic or steel.

In concept, natural playground designers create safety-compliant equipment and play areas with components like logs and stumps, boulders, plants, and mixed, natural surface materials. That’s exactly what Thompson and St. George’s wanted.

(Read the full story here. Or, stay on this page for a scope-focused report.)

a pergola with climbing structure logs, and stump steps leading to a sand pit

Design/Build

Maas Verde tasked its in-house playground designer, Marc Opperman, on the project. Opperman brought over a decade of natural playground design experience to the job. He had also developed some familiarity with the site itself by creating previous partial designs for the space.

Maas Verde began deep excavation work in early April, and worked on site daily for the next eight weeks. The final install includes log-and-lumber pergolas, log climbing structures, lawns and drainage swales, multiple new trees, shrubs, and planting areas, and even fountains — all of which meet playground safety regulations.

spiral-shaped fountain (foreground) and pergola (background)

The space breaks down into four main areas: three playgrounds designed for students in different age brackets, and an entryway area with a fountain and some sculpture installations.

Maas Verde measured out prescribed fall zones for play structures including climbing equipment and swingsets. Opperman chose natural materials instead of synthetic options in all applications. Borders between walkways and play pits are Juniper logs instead of segmented plastic edging. And vertical structures like the logs for climbing (fitted with real, commercial-grade resin climbing holds) are edge-chamfered for safety. Ground surfaces like mulches and pea gravel can break a fall but still create a consequence.

log and lumber pergola shading grassy swale (foreground) and sidewalks (background)

Two cambered “race tracks” function the same way. Toddlers and infants race toy vehicles down the slopes, honing their spatial reasoning. Runout zones are grass and mulch berms.

Artificial surfaces and exhausted fixtures came out, improving safety and updating appearance. Maas Verde removed astroturf and rubber bumpers surrounding a playscape, then replaced it with a mulch bed and the site’s signature log borders.

An existing shade sail had failed, so Maas Verde tore it out and installed a pergola. And bright white play sand replaced gritty aggregates in play pits.

a pergola shading a sand pit with climbing log structures

Challenges and Outcomes

Hidden obstacles included hundreds of square feet of unexpected concrete and asphalt buried deep below the existing turf. Deeper excavation was the only option.

A drainage flaw surfaced during one heavy rain. Water pooled on the playground surface and backflowed toward the main school complex. Maas Verde redrew plans to build in a grassy swale that would redirect the water back toward absorbent areas of the playground.

A previously installed, 25-foot-long creek runs on a solar-powered pump. The feature is a design centerpiece, but requires maintenance: heavy weeding and marginal drainage are concerns. Per Thompson’s priorities, Maas Verde will adopt the creek along with its ongoing maintenance plan.

a constructed creek with naturally-designed suspension bridge in the background

Carefully-chosen plantings complete the design. Plants should be visually stimulating but tough enough to survive inquisitive toddlers.

“For me, this is the vision of my entire career,” Thompson said. “Schools are clamoring to install things like these, and you can see why.”

Opperman summed up the transformation: “Before we started, it had the feel of something made in the ‘70s — it was kind of neglected. Now, it’s not only updated but it’s got natural materials and passes safety compliance.”

Balmorhea State Park Comprehensive Irrigation Repair

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Priorities: Troubleshoot Prolonged Irrigation System FailureChallenges: Multiple Failed Prior Attempts – No Plan Documents – One Urgent ScopeSolutions: Trace Underground Faults – Expedite with Key Equipment

Maas Verde received an initial, urgent call from a nonprofit working to donate a handful of trees to West Texas’ Balmorhea State Park. 

The organization needed a fast irrigation repair for an upcoming event held in conjunction with the donation. The planted trees were wilting in the desert landscape, partly because the park’s irrigation system had not functioned since before the current park supervisor’s two-year tenure.

Maas Verde had four days to find a solution for the expedited work order. After that, the team would lean into a repair of the park’s entire system — which tunnels under the park’s turf, asphalt, sidewalks, and even canals for thousands of feet.

(Read the full story here. Or stay on this page for a scope-focused report.)

balmorhea state park pool, overhead viewBalmorhea State Park, home to the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. Photo: Wiki Commons

First Mobilization, Scope, and Challenges

Our technicians loaded up material, troubleshooting tools, and digging equipment at our Austin headquarters and moved out via I-10. 

When they arrived at the park, superintendent Torrey Bonham provided an orientation that was as complete as possible. 

Despite Bonham’s substantial efforts, he could not possibly collect all the relevant information, which had degraded throughout previous administrations. Multiple prior contractors had worked on various pieces of the 12-zone system, but none had resolved its functional issues. 

Maas Verde first determined the system needed a new controller, and that an attempted line to irrigate the new trees had failed. The team determined that rather than remediating the existing equipment, installing a new line was the only viable option.

an irrigation dig site

But the system’s large scale forced us to source components from the nearest irrigation supplier, 90 minutes away in Odessa. The 130 PSI pump pushed water through pipe up to 4” — on scale, the network rivals golf courses. 

The team logged overtime daily to complete the first install on schedule. The only way to expedite the process was to trench and dig with a mini skid steer and excavator. 

trenching equipment and a finished trench at the park

Once Maas Verde successfully added the zone, the full system remediation began. 

Full System Diagnostic and Repair

The team could only locate underground faults one at a time. Technicians could only locate the next electrical failure or pipe leak by tracing it downstream from the last one. 

Scrambled componentry representing the layers of prior installs and attempts made the work more puzzling. An emergency sewer repair was the unexpected cause of one severed wire; the tree-planting subcontractor had destroyed several feet of pipe with an excavator but done nothing to report it; miswired solenoids had shorted out and no longer operated. 

a large, buried irrigation valveBalmorhea’s irrigation system was big, sprawling, and convoluted.

Resolving breakages demanded using a ground fault locator and other specialty tools, but deep landscape experience was critical to success. Reading subtle surface conditions like linear swales and concrete repairs helped the team decide where and how to excavate safely and effectively.

The team solved each fault as it surfaced. Through this process, we began mapping the system and eventually developed an understanding of its full scope and operation. 

pumping overflow out of an excavated hole; wires inside a valve box

Finally, Maas Verde excavated an old valve buried in an obscure location below several inches of natural turf. This hidden component proved to be the last missing link in the system. Our technicians incorporated it into the system, confirmed each zone operated from the controller, and concluded the project. 

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Maas Verde Builds ‘Nature’ Playground for Curious Young Learners

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At St. George’s Episcopal School, a playground overhaul was overdue. When the school approached Maas Verde, our designers knew this would be a big project — the existing grounds covered over two acres, but fell short of inspiring, with outdated play fixtures and degraded surfaces.

Administrators at St. George’s, a nonprofit preschool planted in Austin’s landmark Cherrywood neighborhood, were eager to see long-deferred plans become reality. The earliest drawings to redesign the playground dated to the mid-2010s.

The project’s eventual success owes principally to one woman with a strong background in early childhood education and nature play — Jerri Thompson, St. George’s Head of School. Thompson has devoted her 40-year career to helping children learn through curated exposure to nature.

a female teacher points to a play structureJerri Thompson, Head of School at St. George’s Episcopal.

St. George’s didn’t want just any playground. Students from 3 months old through pre-kindergarten develop skills from problem-solving, creative thinking, math and science education, and even negotiation skills both on a curriculum basis and independently on the updated school grounds.

Thompson explained that learning through nature, with appropriate safety measures in place, is critical to this growth.

“Any school that I’ve worked in, I’ve always been interested in making the outdoors part of our curriculum. This is the most updated methodology in early childhood [education] — create a welcoming space that calls to children, is safe, and is a learning environment,” she said.

Experts Join Forces

Prepared to make a big investment, St. George’s sought a contractor they could count on. Maas Verde was prepared to meet the challenge with its in-house natural playground designer, Marc Opperman.

Opperman brought more than a decade of playground design experience, including specialty knowledge of safety certifications, to the job site.

He saw the unique potential to showcase his and Maas Verde’s abilities at St. George, which was mostly a blank slate. “There were pieces of a comprehensive design that had been drawn by me, pieces that had been drawn by others — but nothing complete,” Opperman explained.

But Opperman had interfaced closely with Thompson, who held a vision for St. George’s playground in detail that was both foundational and intimate.

“Without the right ideas and resources, ‘natural play’ situations can turn into yards with makeshift structures and scattered toys,” Thompson said. “Marc saw my vision, and understood it and the safety requirements.”

tree with pergola in background

St. George’s outdoor space breaks down into four main areas: three playgrounds designed for kids in different age brackets, and an entryway area with a fountain (and eventually, Thompson plans, a sculpture garden).

Concept and Implementation

Meeting the school’s expectations and communicating them to the Maas Verde crew raised a creative challenge.

Spoiler alert: The team measured up to it. Starting the first excavation work in mid-March, Maas Verde spent the next eight weeks working on site daily. The final transformation featured log-and-lumber pergolas, log climbing structures, lawns and drainage swales, multiple new trees, shrubs, and planting areas, and even fountains — that all met playground safety regulations.

two creatively-shaped fountains

“Before we started, it had the feel of something made in the ‘70s — it was kind of neglected. Now, it’s not only updated but it’s also got all these natural materials,” Opperman said.

As the design and its key elements took shape, Maas Verde measured out fall zones for play structures including climbing equipment and swingsets. Opperman chose natural materials that met standards, instead of synthetic options. Borders along the playground’s multiple walkways and features are Juniper logs instead of commonly-used segmented plastic edging. And vertical structures like the logs for climbing (fitted with real, commercial-grade resin climbing holds) were tooled for safety: edges chamfered to keep noggins safe and surfaces that could break a fall but still create a consequence.

a pergola with climbing structure logs, and stump steps leading to a sand pit

The toddler climbing structure is a set of ramp-like cedar logs bolted with industrial-grade resin holds. The structure starts in a pergola-shaded sandpit and ascends a gentle slope. As kids climb up, they build critical upper-body strength as well as confidence. If they fall off, they’ll feel it, Thompson said — but there’s no serious injury risk.

Two cambered “race tracks” function the same way. Toddlers and infants race toy vehicles down the slopes, tightening their cores and honing their spatial reasoning. Runout zones are grass and mulch berms.

a woman walking on playground "race tracks"

The concept is “risky play.” Given age-appropriate risks, kids are free to make their own choices — rather than being told “no” without understanding why.

To reduce those “no’s” and improve overall safety, artificial surfaces and exhausted fixtures came out. Maas Verde removed astroturf and rubber bumpers surrounding a playscape, replacing it with a mulch bed and the site’s signature log borders. A shade sail that was supposed to protect one area of the infant playground had failed, so a pergola replaced it. And bright white play sand replaced gravely, gritty mixtures in pits. 

‘The Vision’ of a Considerable Career

With any install this big and comprehensive, unforeseen challenges lurk. Maas Verde found hundreds of square feet of unexpected concrete and asphalt buried deep beneath the existing turf. For 12 pallets of sod and dozens of plantings to propagate and thrive, it all had to go.

A drainage flaw surfaced during one heavy rain. In it, water pooled on the playground surface and backflowed toward the main school complex. Maas Verde pivoted on the fly, redrawing plans to build in a grassy swale that would redirect the water back toward absorbent areas of the playground.

log and lumber pergola shading grassy swale (foreground) and sidewalks (background)

Maas Verde also needed to integrate one big, existing feature into the design: a 25-foot-long creek that runs on a solar-powered pump. Built prior to Maas Verde’s involvement, it’s central to the “big kid” playground but grows weeds prolifically and creates its own drainage challenge. Maas Verde adopts the feature along with the maintenance plan. Far outweighing its imperfections with its character and utility, it puts an exclamation point on the space at large.

“The creek is such a great tool,” Thompson said. “Kids love water, and here, they actually control it.” Functioning hand pumps feed it up to an inch deep, and kids can float leaf “boats,” balance on bridges across it, and monitor plant life.

a constructed creek with naturally-designed suspension bridge in the background

Carefully-chosen plantings complete the design. Plants should be visually stimulating but tough enough to survive inquisitive, tumbling toddlers.

Kids are also resourceful, Thompson pointed out — left to their own devices, they’ll eat anything. Especially a bright-colored, pungent flower. That’s why Thompson’s staff teaches their students to use their “science eyes” and “science ears,” she said. Not everything is for touching.

In Thompson’s considerable career, the project is a capstone.

“For me, this is the vision of my entire career. Schools are clamoring to install things like these, and you can see why,” Thompson said, then drew my attention to the students.

As Opperman and a crew member troubleshot faulty irrigation heads, children watched with quiet interest. Suddenly, one head popped off its tubing, and a geyser broke forth.

“Remember how much they like water? Watch this,” Thompson said, smiling.

At the plastic tables surrounding the spectacle, not one three-to-five year old screamed, ran toward the action, or even stood up from their seat.

two irrigation professionals perform work in front of crowds of children

They just observed it all — “science eyes” wide open.

Streambank Stabilization on Gulf Coast Watershed

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Priorities: Stabilize Creek Bank – Bioengineered Solution – Army Corps of Engineers ComplianceChallenges: Objective Site Hazards – Downstream Impact – Heavy Equipment Safety and environmental concerns – Heavy Rain Events During Implementation –Solutions: Mission-Aligned Mindset – Network with Proven/Reliable Subcontractors

Two segments of a tributary of the Colorado River near the Texas coast required stabilization due to increasing erosion concerns. The scope of work existed under a recent Army Corps of Engineers infrastructure project that relied on the creek for functional drainage and stability.

A state government agency and an international engineering firm identified that the two segments, separated along the waterway by about a mile, were important drainage zones. Flood events are common in this watershed. And if the creek overflowed its banks significantly during these events, it could undermine the new infrastructure project at these two critical points.

The prescribed solution was bioengineered. In concept, the project would install riprap toes as foundations for soil lifts along 1,100 linear feet of the existing streambed. Technicians would harvest 32,000+ live willow cuttings from a nearby location and install them in the lift structure for long-term soil stabilization.

The project’s designers estimated it would take six months to complete. Maas Verde earned the contract, then vetted and recruited subcontractors, and completed the project one month ahead of schedule, causing zero safety or environmental reportable incidents — despite experiencing two flood events on site during mobilization.

an excavator works on a streambe stabilization project

A project debrief follows.

Scope

Key Concept: Encapsulated Soil Lift Construction

Implementation demanded multiple scopes of work, with extensive earthwork at the core of the project.

First, each work site required conditioning and stabilization for safe operation of equipment up to 40,000 lb. excavators and tk dump trucks. Site preparation also required dewatering and diverting the creek in both areas. At one site, a 45-foot-long, 9-foot diameter culvert installed decades prior to the Army Corps of Engineers’ involvement would need to be removed.

removing a large culvert

Reshaping and regrading the streambanks followed. Installation of riprap check dams and toes to spec took place in conjunction with soil lift construction, as operators manipulated excavators closely alongside workers with hand tools. Willow harvesting and install occurred simultaneously.

All cuttings and soil lifts needed irrigation to succeed, which also required a system design. Finally, each site needed restoration from impact. Specifications dictated reseeding five acres of compacted soil, then monitoring both sites to ensure success rate of selected species for one year.

Based several hours away in Austin, Maas Verde would also need to mobilize and demobilize from the site.

Maas Verde Leads Critical Contract Change

Key Concept: Expert Recommendation on Flawed Plan

The clients first issued their request for proposal (RFP) of the streambank stabilization project in January, 2021.

Maas Verde surveyed the materials and scope and recognized a critical issue with the willow cutting timeline.

Maas Verde knew the cuttings needed to be harvested while the plants were dormant. Failure was guaranteed if any contractor took the cuttings while the plants were active. Only one location within a 100-mile radius harbored willows, so it represented the only solution.

The initial RFP specified Feb. 4 as the mobilization date. Maas Verde’s president and founder Ted Maas knew from his Master Naturalist training that willows in the region stay dormant until mid-March.

Targeting this critical date while drafting a schedule for the project, Maas realized the harvesting window was too tight. He advised the project designers this was the case. The decision effectively removed Maas Verde from the bidding process, regardless of costs sunk in research and development toward responding to the RFP.

However, the project designers reviewed Maas’ findings and realized he was correct. They then bumped the RFP date to August.

When it arrived, Maas Verde picked it back up, incorporating its previous progress. Maas Verde earned the contract and prepared to mobilize on the new date — Nov. 1.

Site Visit and Subcontractor Recruitment

Key Concept: Safety First

Maas Verde visited the job sites throughout August and September. Project managers planned efficient material drop-off areas and evaluated the site for safety and necessary modifications. One high priority involved working around the access road, which had no construction or drainage structures and would not support heavy equipment or material delivery during any rain event. Another key task was to create stable pads for excavators along the streambed.

Maas evaluated subcontractor candidates with safety as a primary concern. Equipment operators for a small local company stood out and earned a contract. Maas Verde also signed a contractor from outside the state with strong soil lift construction experience.

Building sound relationships with nearby equipment dealers would also factor into Maas Verde’s success.

“For most companies, it’s a long way to travel,” Maas said, noting multiple contractors from Houston and Austin visited the site but eventually balked. “And with an environmentally sensitive work site that’s also a safety challenge, it’s important to hire the right people.”

Mobilization, Site Prep, Dewatering

Key Concept: Take the Time to Create Stable Work Sites

Maas Verde mobilized to the job site as planned on Nov. 1.

Riprap deliveries arrived steadily throughout the month, totaling 1,300 tons. Maas Verde prepared the site by setting up its mobile office, installing silt fence, and preparing to clear and grub key areas.

Maas Verde conducted dewatering and diversion of the creek in-house. The team’s dam solution utilized steel I-beams and timbers. After constructing and placing the dam, the team installed a diesel-fueled pump with float valves to regulate water levels upstream and displace overflow downstream.

a dam for dewatering and creek diversion

The dam’s modular construction later facilitated fast rebuilds after both flood events.

As dewatering proceeded, Maas Verde identified build sites for heavy equipment work benches. Many of these sites exhibited a highly unstable soil structure: Clay topsoil several feet deep slid on top of a sandy layer loose enough to promote measurable water flow. Another clay bed began about 12 feet down.

The soil was essentially “upside down.” Maas Verde knew that operating equipment on the sand layer would create a hazard to every worker on site, and performed necessary remediation. Operators cut the sandy layer out to create a wide pit at every bench site, then replaced it with a stable clay mixture. Timber mats were placed on top to distribute weight and create reliable, regular surfaces.

Construction

Key Concept: Sequence Workflow to Keep Crews Tasked

The team first shaped and excavated an existing ditch with six 24” pipe culverts that drained stormwater off roads from a higher elevation. Backfilling it with riprap to promote functioning drainage, Maas Verde then started soil lift construction in the main channel.

Sequencing multiple work scopes across operator and hand tool crews was key to efficiency. Earthwork like shaping and grading came first, then riprap placement (each process involves excavator work only). After that, hand crews worked alongside operators in soil lift construction to lay fabric, pour soil, close the structure, and plant it with willow cuttings.

“As we’re doing earthwork and placing riprap in one location, we’re rolling out our fabric for our encapsulated lifts in another — to keep moving. It’s an orchestra, and the general contractor’s job is to conduct it,” Maas explained. “What do we need to be doing right now to set us up for the next two days — the next week — and stay on the critical path?”

Maas Verde was committed to taking any extra steps critical to safety, but also knew unpredictable weather could cause time sinks. So while the work was moving forward, it “needed to be seamless,” as Maas put it.

Floods Test Project Infrastructure, Methodology

Key Concept: Do Not Leave a Job Site Vulnerable to Severe Weather

Maas Verde had made significant progress at the first work location when two floods ripped through the creekbed.

The early January events tore out the temporary dam we had installed (which was expected, based on the flow rate). But the I-beam and timber construction allowed Maas Verde to reconstruct it quickly and efficiently. Dewatering the work area again, the team found its work still fundamentally intact.

That reflected the attention to detail Maas Verde paid to the project phases. Instead of partially-constructed soil lifts or unsecured work benches, the surging waters plowed through a job site that — though not yet complete — had more finished structures than partial ones.

“Engineers had urged us to ensure our work was ‘armored’ whenever the forecast got marginal,” Maas said. “We kept that advice in mind at the job site, and it became invaluable.”

Management rallied subcontractors to stay on task through work schedules that became stringent. Once the dam was reinstalled and the site was workable again, Maas Verde moved fast to minimize progress lost in any further flooding. Morale and safety came into sharper focus as work hours expanded.

The second flood did occur — just two weeks later. And with a further optimized dam design, Maas Verde needed just three days to remediate damage to the site and move forward to completion.

Unstable forecasts created more pressure as Maas Verde transitioned to jobsite two. (One prior contractor had attempted to implement a stabilization project there years before, but a flood ruined their progress and they abandoned the job.)

Systems experience and a simpler jobsite made fast work there. Maas Verde needed just over two weeks to shore up the site and report substantial completion during the first week of February.

Irrigation, Site Restoration, Monitoring Challenges

Key Concept: Follow Through

Maas Verde designed and installed a gravity-fed, 5,000-gallon PVC irrigation system to ensure the cuttings rooted and stabilized the soil lifts. Next, the team decompacted soil in all heavily-impacted areas and moved on to seeding a specified hillside adjacent to jobsite one.

Maas Verde would need to return to the jobsite periodically for one year to monitor success of the grass seed and soil lifts.

Unfortunately, both threatened to fail at first. A spring drought followed the winter floods, and the hillside grass seed (a mix of native grasses and Bermuda) did not propagate. And while the irrigated willows rooted aggressively to the soil lifts, an infestation of dodder vine threatened to choke out the trees at jobsite two.

Maas Verde initiated their vegetation management plan by first addressing the parasitic vine. As part of their ecological approach to vegetation control, they removed it by hand instead of spraying, preserving the site’s ecological integrity.  Volunteer pollinator plants grew below the willows and Maas Verde realized the site now acted as a biodiverse, native habitat.

plants in a streambed alongside a roadwayBy fall 2023, willows in the streambed (middle background) had grown to 25 feet tall at a 6″ caliper.

“Because of our watering efforts, these willows were thriving, and so were these understory plants. And where there would be a stem getting choked out by dodder, there would also be a healthy sprout below it. We knew it could all come back, which was why we didn’t spray it,” Maas said.

Seeding followed, but not immediately. Because the seed had died even with agricultural-grade sprinkler irrigation, Maas Verde recommended re-addressing it in September. The solution to first spread compost, then seed it with the same grasses, succeeded.

Maas Verde now confirms completion of all project phases and zero reportable safety or environmental issues.