What is PHS Philadelphia LandCare? What is “cleaning and greening”?
Answer
PHS Philadelphia LandCare Program (PLP) is a nationally recognized model of landscape treatment to address the widespread challenge of land vacancy plaguing many Philadelphia neighborhoods.
PLP creates a “Clean and Green” transformation by removing all debris and weedy vegetation, grading, adding compost-enriched topsoil, planting trees, sowing grass seed, and installing a wood post and rail fence around the perimeter of designated vacant lots. These landscape installations occur in the spring and fall and take place over a six week period.
Landscape installation and ongoing maintenance is performed by city-based landscape contractors selected through a competitive bidding process. Typically, 15 to 20 contractors are chosen annually, most of them are minority-owned companies or community organizations with landscape maintenance ability. All “Clean and Green” sites are cleaned and mowed twice a month from April through October.