About Us

The Sun Land Garden Products story began back in the 1950’s when an enterprising young man recently back from the Air Force, with a new family to support started raising poultry. Ed Minasian began hauling sawdust from the Harris Pine Mill in Watsonville to use for the bedding in his large chicken ranching operations, Sun Land Poultry.

When he found himself out of the chicken business, but with lots of sawdust he had contracted to remove from the mill; he found growers and nurseries throughout the state interested in using it. Soon, he was acquiring more raw materials as growers began requesting additions to the sawdust for use in growing media—and Sun Land Garden Products was born. Because Ed has always been concerned with quality, soon he was not satisfied with just piling these materials together and mixing it all up with a loader, as most soil companies still do. Together with his talented engineer Al, Ed designed and built one of the first continuous mix lines in California.

Sun Land now has two fully computerized state-of-the-art mix lines, blending many ingredients in precise amounts. Like a fine micro-brewery, we mix our soils in small, controlled batches and send samples of every single one out to an independent lab for testing, before we put our name on it.

One day, Ed was contacted by the Monterey Bay Mushroom Company to see if something could be done with their smelly substrate (the product left over once mushrooms are harvested) to keep it out of the landfill. That’s when Sun Land started the first composting operations next to the Monterey Transfer Station. More recently, when the state mandated curb side recycling of yard waste products, Sun Land was again asked to step in. Today, this composting facility has expanded to 60 acres, and is certified by the United States Composting Council. Our product One Earth Organic Compost is OMRI listed.

Throughout the history and development of Sun Land, we have maintained strict rules regarding the purity and quality of all products coming out of our facility. Our aim is to supply the best product for the least amount of money with the best possible customer service.  For the last 21 years, Sun Land has mixed and distributed Orchard Supply Hardware chain’s private label soil mixes and amendments.

Today, Sun Land employs 50 full-time employees and delivers amendments and mixes to growers throughout California. We have expanded our retail sales, offering the home gardener the same professional quality and service. Ed has maintained his role as an advisor, but has turned the day to day running of operations to his son, Brian who continues to carry on the family tradition of innovative product development, quality goods and an undying commitment to customer satisfaction.