Healthy plants need healthy soil

Urban Organics is a family-owned composting company focused on producing high-quality soil products that help plants thrive naturally. Founded in 2002 by Michele and Mark Bishop, the mission has been to produce the highest-quality horticultural products so plants can thrive without constant care. The idea is simple—if your soil is alive, your plants will thrive. It’s the principle behind everything they’ve done from the start.

That philosophy came to life through Urban Organics’ signature product, Sweet Peet. At the time, mulch was mostly sold as a decorative top dressing based on price, not quality. The Bishops saw it differently. They focused on what was happening below the surface, where soil biology determines how well a plant actually grows.

Sweet Peet is made from locally sourced horse stable bedding, a blend of manure and softwood shavings that provides the nitrogen and carbon needed to drive a strong composting process. Today, Urban Organics processes bedding from more than 3,000 horses across Northeast Ohio, along with herbivore material from the Cleveland Zoo. This creates an ideal mixture for quality compost. Instead of going to landfills, the material is recycled. The result is an organic, fully composted product with an earthy aroma and the rich, dark color Sweet Peet is known for. 

As the material breaks down, microscopic biology does the real work. The manures and urea provide slow-release nutrients and fuel beneficial bacteria and microbes that feed plant roots. As these microbes multiply, they generate heat that breaks down wood fibers, releases tannins and converts urea into plant-available nitrogen. These processes also support beneficial fungi, helping unlock minerals and improve overall soil performance.

For many local gardeners, the difference shows up in a simple way—healthier plants, fewer inputs, and more peace of mind that what they’re putting in their soil is actually working and is safe to use around their families and pets. 

Mark’s son Eric, who helps run the company now, says they control every part of the process to ensure peak performance.

“With other composts, like leaf-based options, you don’t always know what you’re getting,” he explains. “Over the years, Sweet Peet has resonated with a growing audience seeking organic solutions for their gardens and landscapes. People are more conscious than ever about how they are treating their soil.”

Building on that foundation, the next generation expanded into Deep Roots Living Soil. Through vermicomposting, worms process compost into worm castings, refining the material at a deeper biological level.

Deep Roots Nightcrawler Castings are produced in a climate-controlled environment, where worms are fed a blend of compost along with organic grains. The result is a product with high microbial diversity and plant-available nutrients in a gentle, slow-release form.

Perfect for gardens, raised beds and houseplants, its real value is the biology it introduces back into the soil.

Deep Roots Soil Reviver builds on this by combining compost, worm castings, biochar, sphagnum, humic acids and mycorrhizae fungi into a full-spectrum amendment designed to bring depleted soil back to life. “It’s like a multivitamin for your soil,” says Eric. “It helps support root development and creates the conditions plants need to thrive.”

For growers, gardeners and homeowners, the takeaway is straightforward. When soil biology is active and balanced, it supports stronger growth, healthier gardens and more consistent results.

“More people are starting to recognize that the health of the soil is directly connected to their own health. What we grow, and how we grow it, matters.”

Urban Organics

Headquartered in Brunswick Hills, Ohio

SweetPeetOhio.com

GrowDeepRoots.com