Ian Ferguson Nature's Way Interview

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But to have you with us this morning. We are
going to get down to the ground, to the ground level,
to the foundation for success in gardens. This hour, we're
going to talk to Ian Ferguson from Nature's Way Resources,
and Ian and I are going to just have a
little fireside chat visit here talking about some of the
secrets of success with plants that begin basically in the soil.

(00:23):
And you know, how do you make a quality product
and how do you create the environment for a plant
to succeed? And it's from taking a tip from nature,
and that's why they call the place Nature's Way Right
ever since John Ferguson created the place way back in
the day to now sun Inn running the same quality,

(00:44):
the same workmanship, basically the same Premiere Green waste recycling facility.
We're talking about how do you have success with plants?
And it all begins there in the soil. And I'm
going to head out here and see if we can
grab Hey, Ian.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Are you there, Hey, Skip, how you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
I'm good, I'm good. Welcome to Garden Line. I'm so
glad you took some time out for us today. Looking
forward to kind of talking soil with you. I hope
you're I think that's something you probably do a little
bit here and there. Don't you talk about soil?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, that's right, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Lookad you bet you bet well. One of the things
I say on Guarden Line a thousand times a show,
it seems like, is brown stuff before green stuff, meaning
before you PLoP a poor plant into an unprepared plot,
get that soil ready, get the root zone where it
needs to be so that the plant makes you look good.

(01:46):
And I know you guys are all about that there
at Nature's Way, I'd like to visit if we could
today about some of the ways that you guys go
about making what you make, uh and uh, some of
the products that you have and uh basically secrets for
success for gardeners that are out there and want to

(02:07):
have a better a better a garden bed, a more
beautiful landscape, a more bountiful garden and so on. Uh. Now,
there's there's different ways of making composts on a commercial
scale there. You know, people talk about static piles and
they talk about windrow piles, and can you talk a
little bit about what's the difference between those what do
y'all use it? Nature's Way and and why do you

(02:30):
do what you do?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay? Yeah, So there's two main ways to do composting.
You have the static pallem method which we use, and
there's also the windrow method that a lot of other
companies use. We have different objectives in these two different
types of methods. The wind road method is really good
for volume reduction for companies that have a lot of
waste coming in a lot of times they're partnered with
the cities or municipalities, so they just have those large

(02:55):
volumes and they're most volume reduction, unlike the static polem
method which we use, focused on the biology the quality
of the product, and it's a very long slow process.
Ours takes the minimum of one year, are composted in
about two years. And so if you're getting large point
of these waste, it's not the ideal method. And in
both have their purposes. Either one is necessarily bad or good,

(03:17):
but one does prove to produce a superior product.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Okay. And so with the with your static piles, first
of all, for people going what's a wind row, what's
a static A wind row focuses like a long pile
of composte, very huge, tall pile that a machine runs
down and turns it outside the inside and we're just
looking at huge long strips of compost. A static pile

(03:43):
is a pile that is basically kept there as a pile,
and I know you guys will move them around some,
but basically you're looking for a pile that has a
a quality time component in it, where the microbes that
you're utilizing that are there in nature can turn that

(04:07):
into something that is good for plants without some of
the problems like poor aeration, like a soggy pile, or
a pile that gets too hot, or a pile that
you know has too much water content, and you guys
are monitoring that stuff right.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yes, we have to monitor all the time. We're looking
for water roughly around fifty percent water moisture. We have
to make sure we hit temperatures of a minimum one
hundred and thirty degrees to kill any type of pathogens
and weed seeds. And then we let our piles for
like a quarter of a year before we move it.
And it's that long period that looks like the fungal
hyphee and the bile. You really increase in the pile

(04:45):
because when you're turning them frequently, like you do with
the window, you're just ripping all that stuff apart, and
that's where it makes it more bacteria dominated compos I.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
See, okay, And so the the natural way in the
forest is going to be at It won't be a pile,
but it will be a static process where slowly, as
you're talking about, fungal hyphie and stuff were growing through that. Now,
when I'm talking about Nature's Way, I often refer to
your leaf mow compost, which, by the way, was born
there at Nature's Way resources. And now a lot of

(05:16):
people sell leaf moll compost and then versus a fungal compost.
What's the difference between like a leaf mold and a
fungal compost.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
So the ingredients in the time it takes to make it.
So our leaf mold compost, that's kind of what we
built the company off on. There's only four ingredients. It's leaves, grass,
horse newer food waste, and we mix that in two parts.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Brown.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Your brown feed stocks would be your leaves and grass.
Then your green feed stalks would be like the horse
manure and your food waste. So we mix that together
and it sits about eighteen months. And to make sure
you're blending it properly. We have a phrase here that
we like to say, two parts brown, the one part
green keeps everything smelling fresh and clean. So when you're
making your piles and you're trying to prevent problem within
the piles, that's a good way to manage your feed stocks.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
I like that. And then I've never heard that before.
Two parts brown, one part green. Okay.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
And then like our fungal composts which we're having to
sell on right now, it's actually a multi derivative. So
we compost our mulches nine to twelve months, but when
it passes that twelve month part, it doesn't perform well
as a mult shore compost really, so we can go
ahead and let it compost out, so we need to
sell it. And coming from that woody material, that makes

(06:33):
the fungus a lot more prevalent. And so that's why
we say fungel based composts compared to our lease mold
so just because it has a higher ratio of fungus
in there and it's an extremely mature problem. And then
for your plants, correctness to all amendments, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
And you screen it down too, what like different particle
size so you're dealing with initially, you know you're dealing
with as you were talking about leaves and wood chips
and all kinds of different materials that could be part
of a of a decomposition process. But then you screen
it down and tell us a little bit about like
what size of a screen or how tell us about

(07:11):
the screening process, how that works.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
So we have these machines they're called Trammel screens. Its
purposes to separate the large material from the finished product
of the finer material. And we have two different sizes
that we screen our composts too. Specifically with our leaf
mold compost, we have a three eighth minus that's our
fine screen. That's great for top tressing your grass. You
can use that as a soil amend. And also and

(07:37):
then our other size is three quarters of an inch
and that's good for a soil amendment. You have a
little bit larger material to provide a little bit more aeration,
water can insert the soil a little bit better, and
you have more food for the microbes once it is
in your soil. So it's going to add nutrients back
to the soil a little bit longer than the fine screen.
Just because it has more of a larger material in it.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Okay, good, And so you mentioned you guys are running
a special what's your deal on the fungal compost right now?

Speaker 2 (08:06):
So our funnel compost is thirty dollars a yard. It's
normally priced at eighty. But we have an overstalk issue.
Back in twenty twenty one when Snowstorm Uri came through,
we accepted a lot of woody material and so this
is just material of the number for that and we
need the space so we're trying to get rid of
it so we can take in more materials and more feedstocks.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Wow, well it's had plenty of time to slowly go
through that natural process. So that's suck some pretty good stuff.
So I remember the storm and that sure created a
lot of greenways. So as I said, y'all are premiere
Greenways recycling facility. And so hey, we got to go
to a little break here. I we'll be right back,

(08:47):
and I got some more questions, folks. If you have
a question about how compost is made or any kind
of thing like that, feel free to give me a
call here on Guardline. We're going to this hour stick
our questions to this compost process and the products and things.
As we're talking with Ian Ferguson and Nature's Way Resources,
here's a number seven one three two one two five

(09:08):
eight seven four. Give me a coffee you have a question,
we'll be right back. Hey, welcome back to the Guardline.
Thanks for tuning in this morning. We're visiting with Ian
Ferguson from Nature's Way Resources and we're just talking about
kind of an inside view of the composting world, how
compost is made, the proper ways to do it, and

(09:29):
the way they do things there at a Nature's Way.
Uh Ian, I want to welcome you back. I appreciate
you joining us this morning. Good to have you with us.
We were picking his brain a little bit there on
some various aspects of composting and talking about leaf mod
composts versus fungal composts themselves. It's you know, both products though,

(09:54):
Ian are excellent, and I know a lot of times
we're using the leaf mold for the compo stop dressing.
But you're saying the finer screened your three eighth I
believe you said screen would be good for top dressing
a lawn as well.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yes, that's correct, we screen it to that smaller size,
so it'll sit between the grass blades much easier, and
you won't see any residual compost on top of your
lan after it gets spread in.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
That's good, you know. Another advantage of having a go ahead,
excuse me, go ahead, Oh, I would.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Say, but it's not only just for top dressing lawn.
You could also use it as a soil and mix
it into your gardens. It'll work well there also.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, it's sure would it sure would.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Another advantage of compost top dressing that isn't talked about
a lot, but it's the fact that when you put
something on the ground that falls in between the grass
blades of your lawn, it is shading the soil surface.
Now it's not like a three inch malt shading out
weeds and stuff, but it is helping a little bit.
It is creating a lower light level hitting the soil

(11:01):
where when weeds try to germinate and get started, they
have a little more difficulty in doing that. So I
think that's another cool advantage of it. I'd like to
talk to you a little bit if we could shift
gears about composted mulch. You go through a period of
months there where you are composting the mulches and stuff

(11:21):
regarding weed seeds or other issues that might be in
the multi Will you talk to us a little bit
about the process of composting mulch there at Nature's Way Resources.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, So, I guess first of all, we get our
feedstocks from local landscapers arborous tree companies, and they're just
bringing trees they cut down from their projects from around
the local area. And so the first thing that we
have to do is put it through one of our grinders,
and that's like a puliminary ground or a single ground,
and that's the beginning of the mulch. Once it's in

(11:55):
the multipile itself, the next thing we have to do
is get water on it. Waters the major catalyst for decompositions.
So the faster we get water on it, the faster
it starts decomposing, and we can sell the product about
a year later, because our process is nine to twelve months.
But there's a few reasons we compost our melch that long.
So when feed stocks are coming in, we don't necessarily

(12:16):
know what's been on those trees, if it's any type
of herbicide or pesticides or if they were diseased and
that's why they're cut down. So our process is that
long to make sure those diseases, the pathogens are composted
out so we're not reintroducing that into somebody else's lawn.
The half life of those chemicals are shorter than the
composting process, so those are removed. And then finally, we

(12:37):
want to make sure our mulch is adding nutrients back
into your garden. But we still wanted to perform like
a mulch. We have another staying around here that we
like to say that this year's mulch is next year's compost,
So our moult is literally going to feed your gardens,
so next year it'll be in a better position than
it was this year.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's a good point. You know, sometimes surprised and somewhat
amused when I get a question and this happens. People
are talking about mulching, and they're thinking, you need to
scrape out all the old mults when it starts getting
thin and put fresh new mulch in. That's the term.
They use fresh new mulch into the bed. And it's like, well,

(13:19):
think about nature. Nature drops leaves on the ground in
the forest and nature doesn't rake out the old leaves
just when they're starting to get good and then put
new leaves down on top. The next fall. It just
drops the new stuff on top of the old and
you get that all the benefits of all the nutrients
that are there. I heard one time in that seventy

(13:40):
five percent of the nutrients a tree takes up during
the year or in its leaves. A lot of nutrients
go to the leaves. And so why would you get
rid of stuff just when it's starting to become really
good for feeding the plants? In addition to that mulching
at the surface, and I think you probably would agree,
you don't get rid of the old multch. That's just
when it's getting good. This year's what'd you say, this

(14:01):
year's mulch is next year's compost or something.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, that's correct. This year's mult is next year's composts.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, that's good. Well, so you're getting rid of any
disease it might be there, because there are diseases out
in nature, that's just part of things. And weed seeds
also are getting killed by that. How deep do you
recommend people mulch? And I know you have different kinds
of products with different sizes of chunks than the mulch.

(14:31):
But how deep would you suggest people put mulches down.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
We always recommend two to four inches. That three inch
mark is probably a great medium, and that's what I
use personally. If you wanted the little extra performance, you
can do four, but if you're doing a little cost saving,
you can get by with two. But you're really trying
to accomplish three main things when you're putting a mulch down,
which is weed suppression, water retention, and some erosion control.

(14:56):
So a little bit thicker of the mult kind of
really helps with that and create that insulative barrier which
protects your root zone of your plants.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Mm hmm. And I know when you when you shred
up a hardwood kind of material or a mixed material
kind of thing, that mulch sort of locks interlocks in itself.
You know that the particles and stuff aren't as prone
to just floating away as as some kind of little
little bark chips might be prone to do. Uh. And

(15:27):
it really stays in place pretty well.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, So during the grinding process, one of oh sorry,
go ahead, go.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Ahead, No, we got a delay on my apologies. Go ahead.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Part of the grinding process, it rips the tree trunks
apart and it makes it very fibers that that helps
it to interlock in holding place so it doesn't wash
out during heavy rains.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Right. I get questions from people sometimes in about stuff
growing in the malts, like they'll they'll maybe stir the
mult or accidentally like kick it with their foot when
they're walking by and they see this white strands growing
in there, and they're worried that they've got a disease,
it's going to hurt their plants, and when in reality,

(16:16):
that's that's actually nature's organisms that are used to turn
trees back into forest floor rich soil. And then sometimes
we'll see the scrambled egg fungus on top. I don't
know if you've heard that term. I'm sure you have,
and other kinds of things, but that's all part of
nature and nothing to worry about. Any thoughts on any

(16:38):
comments on that or.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, So the scrambled egg type fungus that you're mentioning,
we call it dog puke fungus because it's not very
appealing to look at, but it is a positive sign
that you're multi is decomposing when you move the top
layer of mult away from your garden. You'll probably see
the white mycelium that is also a very beneficial fung guy.
That's that's in your mulch. So if you see that,

(17:02):
those are good signs that you have a healthy garden
and a quality mulch.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
There you go, that's that is that is true for sure.
So when we're putting the mulches out and we're topping
them off and stuff, you know, I have some ariasm
of my yard and I've used a number of y'all's mulches,
and as I generally do, i'll use products from sponsors
and so I have first end experience on them and stuff,
and they do work very well. And I notice sometimes

(17:29):
when I let my maultch get a little thin, I'll
start to see some weat seeds popping up through it.
And you know, it's it's not really a panic thing.
You can just take a rake and stir it up
a little bit. Those little tender seedlings can't tolerate that well,
and then throw some fresh mults up on top of
it and just just kind of keep going as part
of maintaining that mulch.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, that's that's one of the easy things to do.
I know one thing you said is about fresh multch.
When I hear that, I think about young multch in
a you really don't want to put young multch on
your garden. If you have like a very raw most
it's just been ground, it'll actually extract the nutrients from
your garden to help decompose, and that's just gonna hurt
your plants. So that's another reason that we try and

(18:16):
compost our multis to make sure we're not robbing any
nutrients from your plants and it's actually providing nutrients. I
know I didn't mention that earlier. I just want to
throw that in.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
That's a good point. That's a very good point. And
even in bed mixes sometimes when when a company uses
stuff that's not fully decomposed, the first time people plant
on it, the plants look scrawny, they look yellowish, they
lack vigor because that nitrogen is being tied up. And
I think you've made it clear that you know that's

(18:47):
one of the reasons you guys take your time and
let it hit a further along the decomposition process before
it goes out there and goes in somebody's garden. So
I think that's good. Let's tell me a little bit
about you. Guys have a product that is called a remineralizer.
What exactly is you know what?

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Lee?

Speaker 1 (19:07):
Ian? As I'm asking this question, I'm looking at the
clock and I have got a absolutely rock card stop
here at eight o'clock and eight thirty, I mean, and
so I'm not going to open that, but when we
come back, I would like to ask you about remineralizer
that you have. What does that mean remineralizer and what's
in it? And we can kind of pick our way

(19:28):
through that for those of you who are wondering what's
going on right now, Well, I'm visiting with Ian Ferguson
from Nature's Way Resources. Nature's Way Resources is up there
toward Conro up forty five. If you head up forty
five from the Houston area where fourteen eighty eight comes
in from Magnolia, instead of turning left to go to Magnolia,
you turn right, cross over the railroad tracks Sherbrick Circle,

(19:50):
and you're there at Nature's Way Resources, where you can
pick up stuff by the bag, by the bulk if
you got a trailer or something, or where you can
order for having them deliver it. Within a reasonable distance
out there. Lots of quality products right out there, and
we're going to be right back with Ian after this
news break. We are visiting with Ian Ferguson from Nature's

(20:12):
Way Resources about all kinds of things related to the
production of quality products for your soils, for your garden beds,
for mulches and things like that. We're going to start
off right now. Ian, I've got a fellow here, Steve
from Deer Park. Let's see justin. Do I bring Steve

(20:34):
in or do you need to bring him in so
we have them both here on the same time. All right,
We're going to go to Steve and Deer Park. You're
on the air with me and An. How can we
help Steve?

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Well, I had some questions just about making composts. I
have a compost pile, and I was wondering, can you
a couple of questions if it's okay, do you have
to sift your compost all the time, or can you
sometimes just like dig under the underneath it and get

(21:07):
that dirt and just dig it in with your your
garden spot or whatever.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, so you don't have to sift through the composts
if you don't want to Uh, you'll have a little
bit larger chunks in there, probably, but again that's just
going to feed the microbes in your soil, especially if
you're mixing it in with your garden beds. I know
when I was young my dad, one of my chores
was tending to our compost piles. We had a like
a four foot by four foot bind and we made

(21:40):
the bottom panel word to flip up, and so I
just literally took the shovel and scooped out the compost
from the bottom, and then everything above it just kind
of settled down. We closed it back up and just
continued the process.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Should you put fertilizer and water on your compost pile?

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Sorry I didn't catch that. Could you repeat that?

Speaker 3 (22:05):
Please? Yeah? Do you water your compost pile and do
you add fertilizer to it?

Speaker 2 (22:14):
You don't have to add fertilizer. The compost is actually
make the fertilizer the nutrients within the fertilizer available, but
it's not going to help the composting process too terribly much.
What's going to be much more beneficial is keeping your
pile moist. We here at our facility, we try to
maintain a fifty percent water moisture in our products for
often composting. And as long as your your compost is

(22:35):
not in a hole, it's kind of out of the ground,
so you can water it until you see water coming
out the bottom of it, and then gravity is going
to pull the excess out. Uh. And that's going to
be your best bet for getting your your compost to
speed up and compost correctly.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Okay, I had one more thing. I heard you say
that you sell the compost by the yard. Can you
pick can you buy pick up loads? Or where are
you you.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Can buy it by the yard? We do bulks. We
also have bags. We have about thirty five retailers around
the Houston area that span from here to Galveston, Beaumont
out to Katie and Uh. We are located on the
north side of the Woodlands south Conro off of fourteen
eighty eight and forty five. You can bring a pickup truck,
you can bring a trailer. We'll load you up half yard,
full yard, or as much as you can carry.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Okay, Well, thank you for that that uh and I
appreciate it you. I'll have a good weekend.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Thanks Paul.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
There you go, all right, folks, Well, there you have it.
H now, Ian I wanted to get onto this remineralizer.
What is me remineralizer? What's in it?

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Uh? So? The remineralizer is a trace element package just
to get all the micro nutrients back into your soil.
And it is a combination of three different mineral sands.
It's Texas green sand, granite sand, and basalt sand. Texas
Dream sand is from the Hill Country. It was made
a few million years ago when Texas was an inland sea,
so we got all the nutrients from that. Then the

(24:10):
granite sand and the salt sands they provide other nutrients
and we bloom that together and you get to use
it in your lawn or for your food crops. You
spread it like you would a fertilizer. You can put
it into your fertilizer spread and walk behind it. You
could throw it out kind of like chicken feed. But
again it's trying to get the micronutrients back in your soil.
So it's not something you do multiple times a year
like you would a fertilizer. You do it maybe once

(24:31):
a year, once every other year, just to make sure
those micronutrients are in there. But it's great for a
nutrient density and food crop. And then if it's being
applied to your ornamentals or your turf grass, it's gonna
make it more resilient to pests and diseases. And if
you just have a healthier plant, you have a bug
that comes along and wants to eat it, it's gonna

(24:52):
have a little bit more lignian than the plant itself,
and then so that's gonna be tough for the bug,
so it's gonna move on to a weaker plant. So
it's all about train dignity and trying to make your
place to help the as possible.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
That's good. And you know, I read from time to
time about the nutrient density of foods and you start
to get somewhat of a depleted soil in things, and
it affects that and these are the things we're using
to fuel and build our bodies, and so it definitely
makes sense. And I would encourage everybody that's listening out there,
you got to have your soil tested from time to time,

(25:25):
see what the nutrient levels are that you have, and
you're going to find that. You know, every soul is different.
Your garden and your neighbor next door's garden may not
have the same levels of things, and it always helps
to have a good stock. Ian. I refer to it
as the bank account of nutrients and the soil that
the plants can make their withdrawals from on a day
to day basis. And you want to start off with

(25:46):
the bank account being loaded up with good things. And
I know that's what your your mineralizer does. I think
it's cool that we actually have these mineral compounds, these
deposits here in Texas where we can we can look
at stuff like Texas green sand or granite sand from
Texas or basalt sand.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
I think that's kind of cool. So that's that's good
to hear. Uh listen, Uh. We talk about roast soil
all the time, Ian, and can you talk a little
bit about your rosa. I know that nature's ways where
rose soil was born again like some other things. You know,
other companies now make something and call it roast oil
or some version of that. But it all began with

(26:28):
your dad working with the Houston Roast Society. Will you
tell us a little bit about your rose soil.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah, So, like you said, my father worked with the
Houston Roads Society. They were unhappy with some of the
soils that were on the market, so they wanted to
generate a premium one kind of using our products. So
it's the Houston Roae Society formula using our products. It's
one of our our premium products. I call it a
true plug and place oil because we have the remntalizer
mixed in there. We also mix the microfe fertilizers in there,

(26:57):
which is a great organic fertilizer. So all you have
to do is really put your plants in there. The
molt on top. It supports not just roses, but it's
good for vegetables, other ornamentals. It's a very good soil
for all around.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, that's true. I was talking to somebody the other
day and they asked me. This wasn't on the air,
but offline. They asked me, can I use roast soil
for growing vegetables? And it just reminded me. It is like,
you know, I think it's a good name to call
it rose soil because that's how it was born with
the Houston ROAs Society. But in some ways it makes

(27:32):
people think, well, you can't use that on vegetables, but
you absolutely can. It's an outstanding soil for vegetables and
flowers and a lot of other things that people might
want to grow. So I think that's good. Hey, we
got to go to another break. We got one segment left.
I tell you the time flies when you're having fun,
and we'll be right back with Ian Ferguson for our

(27:53):
last segment of the day from Nature's Way Resources. We'll
stick around all right, folks. We are visiting with Ian
Ferguson from Nature's Way Resources and we're talking about all
kinds of things related to soil and multus and whatnot.
We just got through talking about the roast soil and
all of the things that are in it. Boyd is

(28:14):
chock full of all kinds of good stuff. As he
referred to it as a plug and play, meaning basically,
you just put it down. It's already got backroline fertilizerment,
it's already got very mineralizer in it, and it's a
quality organic blend of ingredients that is going to give
you that success when it comes to plants. Ian, I'd
like to talk a little bit about now the we

(28:35):
guess has got a very short time in this last segment,
but the retail nursery, your native plants and other things.
We tell us a little bit about the plants out
there at Nature's Way.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, so on the north side of our property we
have an in nursery. Its about two acres in size.
We have a wide variety of things. We have native plants,
we have birds, we have vegetables, a lot of annuals
and perennials. Of course, we've got citrus, tree and shrubs,
a little bit, a little bit of everything. And uh
so we want people able to get some plants and

(29:07):
stop in and get some souls also, So it's kind
of like a one stop shop. But we like to
think of it more than just a nursery. We're trying
to make it a destination place. So we have a
sandbox for the kids. We have scavenger cunts hundred hunts
for the kids so they can stay busy. We also
have quite a few picnic tables in the back, so
if you'll wanted to come out here and have lunch,
you could do that. Bouls come out here and have

(29:28):
some meetings, garden clubs come out here and meet us.
We also have kind of a I call it a
breakfast note for lack of a better word. But right
next to our waterfall that's covered. We have plants around that,
just a nice environment. And so yeah, we want people
to come out here and see how our products work.
They can see the display gardens, they can see how
we use our products and what type of results you'll achieve.

(29:50):
And then you also get to see plants in their
mature forms, so you kind of see what they look
like in their in their pots and when they're mature.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Yeah, and I've watched that garden grow over the years
and it is really a nice place to wander through.
In fact, I would recommend that people do take time,
bring the kids out there with the little sambox and whatnot,
and just enjoy wandering through. You guys have a lot
of quality plants. You do focus on natives, but you

(30:20):
got things that aren't natives as well, And I think
if people need to there's also the possibility of pre ordering.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Is that correct, Yes, that is correct. We try and
encourage people to actually do some pre orders so the
next time we're putting in an order, we can make
sure we can get any type of specific point if
it's specialty, or if you just need a certain quantity
for a project, so you can get everything at once
and you don't have to make multiple trips.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
All right, good, Well, I'll tell you one time when
people can for sure get their plants picked up out there,
and that's coming up September nineteenth. A certain radio show host,
you'rs truly going to be out there for your fall festival.
Let's talk about that fall festival a little bit. What's
going on with that?

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, So on September nineteenth, we're having our Fall Festival.
It's just trying to attract customers. It's kind of like
a farmer's market feel right now. We have twenty five
vendors set up, anything from bake goods to woodworking, landscape
companies offering their service, just anything that's kind of surrounded
the horticulture industry. And we'll have live music games for
the kids. We're trying to make it a you know,

(31:29):
family for funding environment.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
That is, and it really is I always enjoy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Then, yeah, like you mentioned, you're going to be there
also kind of helping people with Q and A if
they have any type of specific gardening questions. Of course,
our staff is extremely knowledgeable, so we'll answer any questions possible.
Just yeah, come out and enjoy see what it's about.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
I'm looking forward to that. I always enjoy going out
to those because you do have a lot of great
vendors and you know people that are selling things, but
also people that are just providing good information as well.
And I'll be in the back typically, I mean usually
you got me back there in the back underneath the
big tall, beautiful trees. That'll be a nice shady weather.
No matter what the no matter what the sky looks like,

(32:16):
We're gonna have a good time visiting about all kinds
of things. And that's an opportunity too for people. If
you got a question with a plant, or you need
a weed, identify it or a bug or something. You
put it in a plastic bag and bring it in
and we'll identify it and I'm gonna have some good
handouts as well there. So encourage people to come. That

(32:37):
is September nineteenth, the Fall Festival at Nature's Way now
by the way. If you want more information on Nature's Way,
I would recommend that you start at their website and
that is Nature's Way Resources dot com, Nature's Way Resources
dot com. The addresses there, the phone is there, the

(33:01):
hours of operation or their information on all the different products,
and stuff that they carry or there and someone asks about,
you know, buying them. There's a little button at the
top of the website that says you know where to
buy the stuff, where to buy it, and you can
find the map and all through the region find out

(33:22):
where Nature's Way some of their products are going to
be available. So something you need to do is start
at that website. Please, a lot of good information in
any other things or anything maybe I left out as
we were talking. I guess we could talk all day
with all the things that are to talk about when
it comes to soils.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
No, we covered quite a bit. I guess. One other
thing I'd like to mention we're very pet friendly around here,
so if you join us for the Fall festival or
any other time, feel free to bring your dog out here.
We have a couple of our own that like to
greet people, so just another way to get out.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Very good. So I want to remind you guys that
they're still having their fungal compost sale and it is
what did you say, thirty dollars a QP card. It's
a good pride, really good price for fungal composts. And
if this is a chance, if you need to get
a bulk delivery and go out there and pick it up.
I don't know. Is that sale available for bulk delivery

(34:22):
or is that just for people to come by and
pick them up at that price.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
It's available for both. We still have several hundred yards
of material we're trying to get rid of our deliveries.
We could do one yard up to eighteen yards in
the same truck. If you do need more, we can
get in dump twenty five yards material. But yeah, we're
trying to get rid of it any way we can.
But the sale is only for the bulk materials because
we're trying to get it rid of it in quantities.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Okay, good, And for anybody that's going to the website
just check this out too. There's a lot of articles
in the article library that have been written really over
like I said, the years or the decades, that are
really really helpful and informative. And so scroll down or

(35:11):
up at the up at the top, there's a thing
called resources where you can see the article library. You
can see it by topics. If you want to read
more about mulches or about organic fertilizers or soil amendments
or whatever. Those are all categories there, and just remember
that they also have the soil coverage calculator. So if
you're thinking, well, you know what I need to do

(35:32):
a multch application. I've got a bed that's this wide
and this long. You just plug in the numbers and
you know exactly how much to have. They also have
information on the weight of the products by the yard,
how many bags are on a palette, you know how
many cubic feed are in a bag and stuff, so
you can figure exactly what you need and that way
when you go shopping, you don't end up with too little.

(35:54):
I heard something one time in and it said that
when you're buying mult you always need to take the
number of bags you need and multiply times two, and
that way you'll only be three bags short. I find
when I apply MULTZ, I always need a little more
than I thought I needed. Thanks for being on Guarden

(36:15):
Line today, man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me. I had a great time.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
All right, there you go, Nature's very resource. Sean Ferguson.
Good having with us today, folks. We're gonna put this
one in the books and we'll be back for the
next hour of Garden line. If you've got gardening questions,
we're going to open it up. Call about anything you
want to talk about. Here's the number seven one three
two one two five eight seven four seven one three

(36:44):
two one two fifty eight seventy four and put that
September nineteenth on your calendar