Our Story

The beginnings of Martin Landscape Supply can be traced back to the summer of 1973 when Raymond was 15 years old. He got a job with a local landscaper by the name of Homer Helfelfinger. Most of the work consisted of mowing yards and weeding flower beds: mulch was unheard of at that time.

A few years later one of his coworkers started out on his own and began using mushroom soil for weed control in in flower gardens. Raymond, having access to his dad’s six wheeled farm truck, began hauling mushroom soil from the local mushroom farms for him.

As others heard of the value of using mushroom soil for vegetable gardens and for weed control in flowerbeds Raymond’s clientel began to grow. Hauling mulch became a sideline job for Raymond as he worked on the family farm.

Because of the PH content of mushroom soil, it could not be used around shrubbery and leafy evergreens. Bagged Southern Pine Bark and Cyprus Mulch began to be introduced at convenience stores and garden centers as a mulching product. Raymond hauled his first load of bark mulch in 1980. He took a load of cattle to Georgia for his brother-in-law and need to find a load to bring back to Pennsylvania. He and his co-driver hand loaded bagged pine bark into a double decker cattle trailer and delivered it to a K-Mart near Philadelphia.

Around 1986, Raymond purchased his first tub grinder and began purchasing bark mulch from sawmills in central and western Pennsylvania, and put it through a grinding and aging process to create a premium grade of bark mulch, which is still the #1 choice of our clients today. In 1988 Raymond purchased his first live floor trailer to keep up with the demand in the wholesale market.

Today Martin Landscape Supply is a family run business run by Raymond and his two sons. We still have some of the same customers that purchased Mushroom Soil from Raymond way back in the beginning, including the one who needed the mushroom soil hauled on the farm truck. Martin Landscape Supply continues to supply mulch and stone to homeowners, landscape companies, and garden centers in the local and surrounding communities, with clients as far away as Ohio, Delaware, and New Jersey.