Patrick M. Graziano of Oakville owns and operates the company, which makes mulch in different sites and sells it bulked and bagged. That mulch can be purchased by garden centers, retail stores and garden designers, thanks to executive sales representative and Watertown resident Lisa Smart.

The pair, however, boast much more than a run-of-the-mill cover for your soil. Sweet Peet mulch is a 100 percent organic product - though, not certified organic - made from composted ingredients harvested from local farming operations.

"Other mulches rob from the plants," said Mr. Graziano, whose company's corporate office is at P.O. Box 609 in Watertown. "Sweet Peet is superior to other mulches because there are no weeds and it feeds the plant. It produces a higher level of flowers and vegetables."

Non-organic mulches often are made from construction debris or shredded trees, both of which may be contaminated and harmful to what you are growing. That is especially troubling to those tending to their yards in Connecticut, where gardening is the number-one hobby per capita, according to Mr. Graziano.

As such, Sweet Peet's arrival in the state has been a long time coming, considering that such mulch has been available in the United States for over 30 years. It has been in Connecticut for just five.

Mr. Graziano is licensed to make and sell Sweet Peet in both Connecticut - except Fairfield County - and Florida. Currently, the organic mulch is produced in bulk in the Connecticut towns of Bethlehem and Cornwall, while it is produced and bagged in Oxford, Fla.

While the company's contract does not allow it to bag the product in the aforementioned Connecticut towns, it has a deal in motion to create a plant in Plainfield, where such activity can take place.

According to Mr. Graziano, Sweet Peet is in negotiations for several more plants in the state.

Ms. Smart, a home gardener herself, admitted that she did not realize the benefits of Sweet Peet mulch until she experienced its advantages firsthand.

"I wouldn't have known that there was much difference between mulches until I used [Sweet Peet] myself," she said, hinting that she is trying to get the word out so others can bask in this rich mulch's glow.

That glow is provided, in part, by the mulch's high water retention value, making it "excellent for perennial, ornamental and vegetable gardens, and around the base of trees and shrubs," according to the company's web site, www.sweetpeetct.com.

It also makes for a good soil conditioner, being that it is fortified with farm manure. In layman's terms, Sweet Peet nourishes plants and is beneficial to your soil, while also being aesthetically pleasing.

For example, according to information provided by Mr. Graziano and Ms. Smart, it beautifies borders and edges, prevents drying and crusting soil surface, suppresses weeds, has little or no erosion, prevents soil compacting and helps neutralize acid rain. These benefits have encouraged many state businesses to buy and sell Sweet Peet.

In the interest of documenting its scope, here are the many businesses that Sweet Peet considers clients: Aspetuck Gardens (New Preston), Back to Basics (Terryville), Bethlehem Masonry and Supply (Bethlehem), Blue Seal Feeds (Litchfield), Brierwood Nurseries (Morris), Brothers Associates (West Hartford), CLI Services (Thomaston), Connecticut Wells (Bethlehem), H.I. Stone and Sons (Southbury), Harken's Gardens (East Windsor), Hosking Nursery (Watertown) and Kenecticut Hardware (Oakville). Also, S & S Asphalt Paving (Woodbury), SLS Landscape and Supplies (Waterbury), Southbury Stone and Supply (Southbury), Spak's Green Acres Landscaping (Oxford), Stonehedge (Newington), The Stone Construction (Southbury), Vaszauskas Farm (Middlebury), Washington Supply Company (Washington Depot), Wheeler Landscaping (Northfield), Winterberry Gardens (Southington), Wojtusik Nursery (Bristol), Young's Nurseries (Woodbury), Quality Landscaping (Watertown) and White Flower Farm (Litchfield).

For more information on Sweet Peet, visit www.sweetpeetct.com, where you can find a contact list with e-mail addresses if you wish to buy the product or just want to learn more.