GroundKeeper's beginnings go back to the mid 1990s. Dan Thiessen, an owner of Ceres Industries, got into a friendly turf war with the neighbor. He didn't start the fight… but he finished it! Dan's front grass was shared with the neighbor's, and they would take turns mowing and caring for it. The neighbor hired a lawn care professional to care for the grass, and when they fertilized and mowed they took great care to ensure that there was an invisible but distinct line between the yards. Game on! Because of the knowledge of and access to various fertilizers and resources a lawn fertilizer formula was blended, which later became known as "Dan's blend" and was the birth of GroundKeeper lawn fertilizer. The amazing results were undeniable when comparing the two lawns; Dan's lawn aggressively grew thicker, and turned a beautiful dark green color.
Later that summer the fellow that was doing the professional lawn care for the neighbor came to Dan's door and asked what he was using and jokingly told him to stop because it's making him look bad. The secret was kept.
Further testing enabled us to perfect the proportions of the formula and introduce a non- staining iron source. Dan's blend, now GroundKeeper, was tested and only made available to friends and family of Ceres for over 10 years before Wayne Thiessen and Jerald Thiessen decided to create the GroundKeeper brand and share our secret with the amazing customers that we now have.