The Story Behind Soil Mender

The story behind Soil Mender products.


Item # 99813 		Soil Mender 'Turf-Mate'

Each $23.95
Soil Mender® Compost - 40 lb bag
Item # 99744 		Soil Mender® Compost

One 40 lb bag $23.95
  • Topic: Soil
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: soil, Soil Mender, compost, mulch, amendments, Products
  • Date: July 2003

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Soil Mender. It’s a name you hear a lot of at Santa Fe Greenhouses because it’s an exclusive, sold nowhere else in Santa Fe County.

For the next few weeks we’ll be focusing on those products (and putting them on sale!) as well as some of our other products like Yum Yum Mix, Greensand and Planters II, which are also put out by Soil Mender.

And the story behind Soil Mender is worth telling.

Three brothers—Keith, Bob, and Greg—grew up “dairying and farming” in Texas. Then about twelve years ago they got to looking at their fields of organic cotton and lots of cow manure and decided to compost it.

“And that’s what got us started in the compost business,” said Greg Birkenfeld. “We first called ourselves KBG Compost, and for the first seven years sold only in bulk to golf courses and the agriculture industry.”

In the beginning mostly Texas agribusinesses bought their product. Soon golf courses in the Southeast became interested. The brothers, who are still partners, eventually got the idea to start bagging their product.

Today they have three product lines and sell 30 products; and each one lends a different approach to amending soil. But Birkenfeld said, “In any situation you want to mix our products with your local soil. All soils have good qualities and if you’re planting native plants, you want those native qualities to be there. For soil building the following Soil Mender products are recommended:

“Soil Mender Blend”

The texture is fine and light. Along with composted cotton burrs, this product blends well-aged, composted cattle manure. One third of this product is manure. “Because of the manure, Blend is the fix-all,” said Birkenfeld. He also said when first developing this product he worked with David Salman, president and chief Horticulturist of SFG.

“He had the cotton burrs and the manure, and I suggested seeing what would happen if he put them together,” Salman said. “I otally believe in their products. They’re really top rate.”

“Soil Mender Top Soil”

The texture is also fine, but a little denser. This is a mix of ative Texas topsoil and cotton burr fines, fines being what’s left over after being sifted. Birkenfeld said it’s composted for nearly a year and is good for creating the base or bulk in raised beds. Again, combine it with your existing soil. In time he says the added topsoil will bind with the local soil.